Reasonable place to buy meat in San Francisco/Bay Area?


 
L

Laura D

TVWBB Fan
Hello Everyone - I did a search on this and now can't find the thread I found before.

I am looking for a good place to buy meat in San Francisco or just outside of SF. I already have places I enjoy - Whole Foods and Guerra's and Lucky's, depending on what they have on sale and what's good.

I know people have said Costco in the past but I don't have a card - is it worth joining just for the meat?

I thought I had heard some BBQ friends say Smart and Final but the one in SF is bunk, bleah.

Any thoughts are helpful - I especially want to get St. Louis Spareribs so I can make more ribs. I got my first batch on sale at Whole Foods (enough to feed four people for $10!!! Total deal!). But Whole Foods can be super expensive, and not where I want to be buying my bigger pieces of meat unless they are on sale like that.

Thank you!

Laura
 
Maybe one of these is the post you're looking for?

http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?27164-Source-for-Brisket-in-San-Jose
http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?18141-Brisket-is-next
http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?13066-Choice-Prime-Briskets-in-the-Bay-Area
http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?31912-Bay-Area-CAL-(South-Bay)-Butcher-Store-recommendation

Smart & Final in Mountain View and San Jose have USDA Select or sometimes USDA Choice whole packer briskets. I also buy St. Louis style spareribs there (Farmer John brand). Cash & Carry is related and has a huge walk-in meat cooler in San Jose with lots of good cuts. No membership required at either one.

Costco does have good quality meat. Great source for loin back and whole spareribs, pork butts, and whole chickens. Sometimes they have shoulder clod, a huge cut seen in Texas as an alternate to brisket. When I've seen brisket at Costco--and that's not very often, at least in my neighborhood in San Jose--it's just brisket flat, not the whole packer. Oh--and a great source for whole and partial standing rib roasts. And we're not even mentioning USDA Choice and USDA Prime steaks, tri-tip roasts, etc, etc.

Find a friend with a Costco card and go along for a shopping trip. Or, get a Gold Star household membership for $55 and shop for several months. They have a membership satisfaction guarantee: Costco will refund your membership fee in full at any time if you are dissatisfied.

Regards,
Chris
 
Great - thanks everyone! I will definitely consider a Costco membership - I think you can have a freebie day where you go in and browse to help you make up your mind whether you are going to buy the membership card or not. There's one in SF, I'll check it out.

Laura
 
Laura, just a friendly reminder.....a retail Costco location is NOT the same as a Costco Business Center. Members are welcome in either, but the latter has CONSIDERABLY more choice for the serious BBQ'er, e.g., Choice packers instead of just brisket flats, both Select and Choice options for the same cuts of meat, large cuts--such as chuck rolls.
 
Thank you, I didn't realize there was a difference. I'll see what is in my area. I have a friend who has offered to see me to the three closest ones so I can check it out.

Thanks again -

Laura
 
Great info about the Costco Business Center. I did not realize they had restaurant-grade meats there. I always assumed it was non-food business stuff. Looks like I need to plan a "field trip" to Hayward soon. :)

Also, good comment from Gene_N about Restaurant Depot. You need a business license to get in, and I have one, but when they found out I wasn't going to buy $1000 worth of stuff every few days, they declined to give me a membership card and instead gave me a pass to come inside and buy the single pack of beef ribs I wanted.

Then I read in the most recent KC Bullsheet newspaper that KCBS had a deal with Restaurant Depot that gave KCBS members access to Restaurant Depot, but that the deal had expired and they were working on getting it back in place. That's good to know, as that place has got some good meat, too.

Regards,
Chris
 
Everybody should definitely pop into the Costco Business Center and at least check out the meat. They don't have the individual cut steaks but all kinds of great stuff in the cryopacks. The Hayward one has had choice brisket packers for maybe 10% more than the select packers every time I've been there, and they always have beef ribs and other things I've never seen at the regular Costco. They also have things like whole lamb, and 40 pound bags of Lazzari mesquite lump charcoal for... I think it was $10. Huge chunks (logs, really) in that bag though, I'll have to take a hammer to some of them.
 
Guys,

Thanks SO MUCH about the information on the Costco Business Center. I have a Sam's Club just about walking distance from my home (literally) and the nearest 2 CostCos are both about 40 minutes away. One of those happens to be about 15 minutes from my job AND happens to be a Business Center (Morrow, GA).

I'll be picking up a membership sometime after Thanksgiving (or maybe during lunch tomorrow :eek:).
 
Costco Business Center? That appears to be a new concept, there don't appear to be any in NVa. I spend less than $150/month at the RD. I had no problems getting a card. I told them I do small scale catering. They welcomed my business and have become a regular customer. I notice there are many mom/pops shopping while I'm there.
 
Chris Allingham said:
Also, good comment from Gene_N about Restaurant Depot. You need a business license to get in, and I have one, but when they found out I wasn't going to buy $1000 worth of stuff every few days, they declined to give me a membership card and instead gave me a pass to come inside and buy the single pack of beef ribs I wanted.

Regards,
Chris
Click to expand...

That's odd, Chris. I got a Restaurant Depot membership using my loan out corporation and have never had a problem. I probably don't spend much more than you would. I'd go in and try again, maybe a different person on a different day will yield a different result.

I really like Restaurant Depot. The quality of the food is quite good and they have all the supplies you could ever need.

I've never heard of the Costco Business Center, I'd love to try it out. I wonder if they have one anywhere near where I live.

Bill
 
Yeah, my experience may have just been a one-off thing. I was very happy with the ribs I bought that day, though. :)

Regards,
Chris
 
The business centers have been around for a long time but there aren't nearly as many as regular Costcos. They have something like 50% overlap - they have some things the regular ones don't, and don't have some things the regular ones do. To find one hit the Costco website, look for a button that says find location, and find all the nearby costcos. If there's a business center it'll say in the name.
 
Doug Wade said:
The business centers have been around for a long time but there aren't nearly as many as regular Costcos. They have something like 50% overlap - they have some things the regular ones don't, and don't have some things the regular ones do. To find one hit the Costco website, look for a button that says find location, and find all the nearby costcos. If there's a business center it'll say in the name.
Click to expand...

Thanks Doug. I found two that are about 20 miles south of me. I probably won't make a special trip there, but if I'm in the area I plan to check them out.

Bill
 
Chris,
I would say go back to RD again and try. I have a business license and I shop about once a month and spend about $100 each time. They never said anything about not spending enough. You can not beat the pricing they have either.
 
Bill Freiberger said:
Thanks Doug. I found two that are about 20 miles south of me. I probably won't make a special trip there, but if I'm in the area I plan to check them out.

Bill
Click to expand...

Definitely pop in even if you don't have any immediate need. It's good to know what your options are for later, and the business ones seem to be fairly consistent in what a particular location carries.
 
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