Best Butcher Shop in Chicago?
 

FP and great site.

Just moved to Chicago from San Diego and wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations in the Chicago land area (preferably Northern Suburbs) for a good BBQ friendly butcher (I do mostly ribs but am looking to venture out a bit). I cook on an UDS and don't compete (yet) except for style/flavor points from my family and friends. Quality is more important than cost but both would be nice.

Thanks and keep smokin

Guy

Hi and welcome! :-P

Here are two that I use if I want something special:

Jerry's Quality Meats
3706 Dempster St
Skokie, IL 60076

and

Holzkopf Meat Market
6155 N Broadway St,
Chicago, IL 60660-2501
(773) 764-0714

Haven't been there in a long time, but Excellence in Meat in Northbrook, corner of Dundee and Landwehr used to have great meats. Also try the Restaurant Depot in DesPlaines

Welcome, BTW

BTW, I know you said north burbs, but when you have time, go to Peoria Packing in the city, and while you're in the city, checkout Northwestern Cutlery and Supply, you won't be sorry

Northwestern Cutlery and Supply
810 W Lake St
(between Halsted St & Green St)
Chicago, IL 60607

Peoria Packing
1300 W Lake St.
Chicago, IL

Paulina Market expensive but neat place

I like Paulina for the sausages. The linguica, brats, cajun, etc are great. Their city hams are very nice too. And honestly, the smell around the place in a 2 block radius. It's smoked meat heaven.

Further up in the burbs, Tony's Butcher shop in Libertyville and Grayslake are good.

I will now have to check out some of the other recommendations.

Zier's in Wilmette is hands down my favorite butcher. It's on Ridge just off of Lake Ave (and maybe 4 blocks or so west of Green Bay Rd). I live in the northern suburbs now, but I would drive up there just to go to Zier's when I lived in Chicago. As a bonus, The Backyard Barbecue store is in downtown Wilmette... About two minutes from Zier's.

Every kind of beef is cut to order right in front of you. There's nothing quite like seeing them take a big honking strip loin and cut off the exact size that you want. THAT'S what I look for in a butcher. You can also order special cuts that he can get within a few days.

The service is impeccable. One time I bought a chuck roast to try a new chili recipe. Dave Zier asked me what I was making. I said chili, but that I wasn't looking forward to cutting the three pounds of meat into a 1/2" dice. He said, "Oh, let me do that for you." within like 3 minutes, I had 3 pounds of chuck cut into a PERFECT 1/2" dice. Unbelievable! They will also trim anything down for you if you just ask.

It's all prime. The New York strip steak tastes like butter every single time. He even has Kobe beef if you want to try.

They also smoke quite a bit of their own meat to sell. I've been there many times when they've had something smoking and the smell is heavenly.

I went to a hog butchering seminar about a year ago, and when Paulina came up in the q&a about meat sourcing, the instructor mentioned that Paulina buys the same hogs that you get at Peoria Packing.

I never did any research on my own to check the validity of the statement, but worth mentioning.

Hog butchering seminar - where? Sounds interesting. Rest. Depot is my source for meat these days. Butcher shops just keep dying out - killed by Costco and other mega mart low prices.

Thanks to all. Too much meat and not enough time. I'll have to start making my rounds. The whole BBQ/food culture here is a completly different than in San Diego. Folks her take their food SERIOUS in a way that people generally don't in Southern California. Just a richer and more diverse culinary culture and history I think. I love Mexican food but beyond that SD and SoCal don't have much of an indigenous cooking tradition.

I love the Brawts from Tony's . So much I make Sister mail them to me halfway across the country back here to the Seattle area :mrgreen: