In late December, I stopped by Butcher Bar, a new spot in Astoria focusing on local, organic, and grass-fed/pastured meats. It’s part butcher shop, part barbecue restaurant. The barbecue is pretty dang good, but I must admit that it’s the butcher shop aspect that excites me the most. I order most of my meats through my CSA or online, so it’s really cool to have a place I can just walk to if I want some fresh pastured meats.
While I was there, I got into a conversation with the owner, Matthew Katakis, about the shop and his reasons for opening it. Essentially, he came to understand that grass-fed/pastured meats are superior in many ways, and felt that now was the time to bring them to Astoria. I agree with him on all points, and am particularly happy to see someone who is so much a part of the community doing this. The people behind Butcher Bar are the same ones behind Pita Pan, a popular Greek spot on 30th Ave in Astoria.
They head upstate every Monday and visit the farms and pick up their meat. This allows them to have a closer relationship with the people that raise the meat, and since a lot of the farms are local, the meat fresher. They also work with Heritage Foods, and stock D’Artagnan products. Across the board, they are sourcing from places that humanely raise their animals, which is important to me.
The sell a number of cuts, some whole and some of the meat is ground up. I hear from very reliable sources that the “Bob’s Burger” is fabulous – 80/20 brisket and… bacon. The delicious smokey bacon fat melts into the rest of the meat and makes for a real taste sensation.
