Pam the Butcher has dropped the moniker for the moment. After a lifetime of working with meat, Pam Ginsberg has laid down her cleaver to set up camp as cheese maven at Bowers’ Fancy Dairy Products in Eastern Market. Despite a bumpy transition, Ginsberg is content in her new residency across from her father’s former butcher’s stall in South Hall.

Pam’s status as one of Northwest’s best butchers was established long before press accolades in DCist and the Washington Post Magazine. “She walks down Connecticut Avenue and she’s like a rock star,” said one resident. Yet the Post’s profile, in particular, upset Brookville owner Mike Shirgia, since it did not mention the market beyond the headline. “I’m so mad at you for being in the Post Magazine,” paraphrased Pam of her boss’ response. Shirgia requested that she stay home from work for awhile, or at least long enough to “calm down” after feeling slighted.