By: Michael Sarko | March 10 2011
Posted in Seattle - Find It - Seattle

Oregon Beef at Rain Shadow Meats. Photo by: Michael Sarko

Back in the early 1960s, there was a grassroots citizen's movement in Seattle known as "Save The Market". It was an effort to keep the Pike Place Farmer's Market alive in the decade's unfriendly atmosphere of supermarket culture. As we know today, the local producers who favored Pike Place and the Big Agro industry that supplied the supermarkets found a way to coexist peacefully, but it was a real battle for a while. On the front lines were the city's butcher shops, the personable meat providers who saw a lot of their business swallowed up by lower prices and mass-packaging at bigger stores. Today, it's that same boutique style and personal attention that keep Seattle's best butchers thriving.

The Local Dish has already given the spotlight to rightly famed Bill The Butcher, the local chain of neighborhood shops known for their high-quality, organic meats at several locations throughout Seattle and the surrounding suburbs. That doesn't mean folks in the downtown core have to truck outside the grid to get good cuts.

Perhaps most famously, Don and Joe's Meats (in the main arcade of Pike Place Market) have been slinging fresh slices in one form or another for over a century in Seattle. They're the natural continuation of the market's first butcher, Dan Zido of Dan's Better Meats. Don Kuzaro and his brother-in-law Joe Darby bought Dan's shop in 1969, and have kept it in the family ever since. Though the fish-throwers next door steal a lot of thunder, their products demand plenty of attention. Don and Joe's is one of the best places to go for classic cuts of beef, chicken, and lamb - both because most of their meat is sourced from the Northwest, and because their staff are especially good at advising customers on which cuts work best for which dishes, as well as the best marinating and cooking methods for delicious results.

For those who live in the hilly east end of downtown, Pike Place can be a bit of a jaunt. That's why the availability of Rain Shadow Meats at Melrose Market is a hidden gem. The quality of meat at Rain Shadow is every bit as high as Don and Joe's, and with comparable prices. They also carry a few rarer and specialty-style products like duck confit and rabbit, and each item's origin is labeled directly below the price.

Galantine, a work-intensive delicacy. Photo by: Michael Sarko

There's also Bob's Quality Meats in nearby Columbia City. Their "28 Days Later" items go through an aging process that transforms ordinary beef into gourmet steaks like those found in the best restaurants. Bob's carries some of Puget Sound's finest aged beef on a regular basis, so it's definitely worth the excursion to bring home something special for dinner.

Regardless of where you go for your meat in Seattle, it's the guarantee of individualized service and locally-sourced products that set small butcher shops apart from the plastic-wrapped blandness of supermarket fare. Our butchers fought for these principles fifty years ago, and their efforts paid off with several options for Seattleites to prepare great meals today.

Stock your fridge with more quality meat from around the city:

Seattle Locals Love: Salumi Artisan Meats

A Seattleite's Mission with Meat: Bill the Butcher 

 

< Prev		Next >