Pittsburghers: Where yinz buy your meat?

[jpeisen]

Enjoying the city, BUT... where can I go to find a normal weekend brisket/pork butt in this town? I live in the Edgewood/Swissvale area, so something near there would be excellent.

The rest of the story:

I moved to Pittsburgh from Tulsa, OK early this year. New town, new house, new smoker. So far I've mostly done ribs in the pellet grill, save for one SRF brisket I ordered a while back. Moving here from Tulsa, the lack of large cuts in the grocery meat departments took me a bit by surprise. I mean, I understand not having a dozen whole briskets or Boston butts available, but here I'm just not finding any. The one exception was a weekend where my local Giant Eagle had whole pork butts "buy one get one free." Had I known they would disappear for the rest of the summer, I'd have stocked up. I know it now for next year, at least.

So are there groceries/etc. in the area where I could walk in with a good chance of finding a few choices of these (or similar) cuts? I'm aware of sources for prime/specialty meats, but I'm hoping there are some options for picking up a brisket/pork butt/etc. without it being a big deal.

Thanks!
-John

 

[ckoss]

I’m a little north of Pittsburgh, but apparently Costco down there now carries prime packers for a decent price. There are a few specialty meat shops up my way that have beef cows and slaughter their own, so there are more options.

 

[mattmountz94]

I am not familiar with the area but i am from PA. Grocery stores around me never have the meat. I went to several different farmer markets in the area along with butchers and found the one i liked best. I found out if you are nice and become a repeat costumer they generally will knock down the pricing slightly for you.

 

[BKish25]

John, what part of town are you in? There are a number of good butcher shops north of the city in Butler County.

 

[Beer/Meat/Victory]

Restaurant Depot in the strip, join KCBS, print a stack of day passes and you're good to go. I live in Millvale but originally from Houston, TX, and yes the grocery stores generally are pretty terrible in comparison. My local Sam's always has Ribs and Pork Butt, and occasionally a couple packer briskets just not a huge amount if you like to sort through to pick the best one. If you find brisket in Giant Eagle, it will likely be a flat and you'll need a second mortgage to buy it.

 

[CopyNPaste]

Go Steelers!

 

[Evil-g]

jpeisen welcome to the burgh, your not very far from me (Penn Hills) so the stores I mention are within striking distance for you.

GFS in Monroeville is where I get choice briskets $2.59-2.99
Whole Slab ribs $1.89, Bone-in Pork Butt $2.39 (2 pack)

Costco in Homstead (Waterfront) for Ribs $2.49 SLCs

Chicken Thigh & Drumsticks are always on sale somewhere for .79-.99

Tri Tip I get from Weiss Mts about 20 minutes from you $4.99, though sometimes $2.99

Ground Beef 80/20 $1.99 (GFS) or some store always has it on sale

Walmart usually has choice Briskets for $2.99

The time to get Briskets and Pork Butts for a decent price is now, stock up. Brisket will only go up until Passover.

Stay away from Giant Eagle unless the sale is to great to pass up. (Highest prices in town).

 

[jpeisen]

Thanks everyone! Trying to keep this reply short, so I'm replying in bulk:

Evil-g: It sounds like GFS in Monroeville is a good match for what I'm looking for, so I'll give it a try.

Beer/Meat/Victory: I'll probably check out Restaurant Depot since I'm already a KCBS member. I like the strip, but I don't tend to go very often.

BKish25: I said it above, but I'm in the Edgewood/Swissvale area -- on the east side down near I-376.

ckoss: Sadly the Homestead Costco doesn't carry whole briskets -- just choice flats. They do carry whole pork bellies though, which is interesting. But without the briskets I let my membership lapse, since that was specifically why I had it in Tulsa.

mattmountz94: I started this recently & get the weekly text from The Kennedy Farm. But I'd need to arrange to buy a brisket in advance w/them. Maybe not so for others, so I'll keep looking.

CopyNPaste:

Thanks again everyone. If there are other suggestions, keep 'em coming.

-John

 

[mcdeadstein]

Costco in Cranberry has the Prime Briskets (call first)
GFS for Choice Briskets
Rest Depot for Choice Brisket, whole Beef Short ribs, and Pork (bone in shoulder) and ribs
Any Costo for Pork Shoulder (boneless only usually), also good for ribs, chickens, sometimes pork belly

For sausages - Parma and Labriola's (Labriaola is my personal fav for italian style)

Sams has Kiolbassi brand sausages

 

[Texas409]

I take weekend trips to Pittsburgh and the Cranberry area often. You gotta travel all across town to different stores just to find a decent cut of meat at a reasonable price. Welcome to the club. But I know the struggle of moving to a different region. You ain't in Oklahoma anymore, hombre.

 

[jpeisen]

mcdeadstein - Thank you for the breakdown, that's really helpful.

Texas409 - I wasn't expecting Oklahoma, but ... yeah. I visited Tulsa a few weeks back (taking our kid back to OU) and checked out groceries on a 1 mile stretch of Memorial drive -- 5 stores -- 27 whole packers, including a dozen USDA prime at Costco. Sigh.

Having the information from this thread is going to help me a lot though. I really do appreciate all of the responses.

-J

 

[whenyeastattack]

You can get choice packers and other hard-to-find-arahnd-here cuts like whole pork belly and plate rib at Strip District Meats. You'll pay a premium, though. They usually break the ribs down to short rib, so if you want a whole plate call first and ask them to hold it for you. Unfortunately, the one time I bought them there it was $7.99/lb.

Wholey's has choice packers & pork bellies, too. Again, kind of expensive because they're in the city.

As others have mentioned, Costco really upped their meat game locally this year. Cranberry is my closest store. I think the selection at Homestead is similar. They now have whole prime packers for $3.59/lb whereas their choice flats are something like $5.89. Lots of other prime cuts, too. They have cryo-pak'd pork bellies in the case now. They stopped carrying belly for a couple years and you used to have to ask for a whole one; now they're right out in the case. $2.59/lb, IIRC. Spares & back loin ribs are a good price there, too, though I think the back ribs are a bit too meaty but if you got a boning knife you can take the extra meat off and save it for sausage.

 

[jpeisen]

As others have mentioned, Costco really upped their meat game locally this year. Cranberry is my closest store. I think the selection at Homestead is similar.

I'll check the Homestead location again, but when I checked in May they did not have whole briskets - just choice flats - and no empty spot to look like they were out of anything.

Thanks though,
-J

 

[Schmoke]

Go Steelers!

Let's Go Pens!

 

[Smokey Lonesome]

Was at the Homestead store last Saturday and only choice flats were available. Pork bellies were available.

 

[ooothats]

Hi everybody! (Im from Penn Hills as well) just east of the great city of Pittsburgh.. Is Labriola's still open? They had fantastic meats back when i lived there. Although i usually shopped at Macioce Market since i worked there, lol

Sent from my LG-K540 using Tapatalk

 

[wihint]

Just chiming in here, lets go Steelers!....

I get almost all of the meat for BBQ when I am in the burg from the strip district. Good luck brother.

 

[whenyeastattack]

Hi everybody! (Im from Penn Hills as well) just east of the great city of Pittsburgh.. Is Labriola's still open? They had fantastic meats back when i lived there. Although i usually shopped at Macioce Market since i worked there, lol

Sent from my LG-K540 using Tapatalk

Labriola's in Marshall Twp is open. I haven't checked their for large BBQ cuts. Maybe I should...


Here is my haul from Cranberry Costco this morning: