Lobel's Prime Meats

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You could call Lobel's Prime Meats the grandaddy of boutique stores. Family-owned and operated since 1954, the tiny Upper East Side butcher shop offers the choicest, most exclusive meats at the steepest prices. Shopping here is no errand; it's an experience. Mounted deer and elk heads, taxidermied pheasant, and red plastic letters that spell out the family's iconic name give the tidy, oak-paneled shop a 1950s Adirondack vibe. Men in white aprons (there has yet to be a woman behind the counter) nonchalantly wield cleavers and hacksaws, busy but at the ready with help and cooking advice. In the refrigerated glass case, you'll find fresh�no meat is ever frozen here�milk-fed veal; Kurobuta pork; all-natural lamb; free-range geese, squab, and duck; and Lobel's signature product: dry-aged, flavor-intense, buttery-soft beef. They stock only the richest, most densely-marbled beef, including the Cadillac of cattle, Wagyu, which comes from the same breed that yields Kobe. The budget-wary can opt for Italian sausages, English bangers or all-beef hotdogs. Or daily ready-to-eat items like house-made meatballs, stew and pot roast or sticky barbequed ribs and picture-perfect pot pies. Roast and fried organic, free-range chickens line the storefront racks, alongside bottles of the tangy-sweet house-label barbeque sauce. If you're not in a buying mood, you can always peer through the picture window that looks into a meatlocker from the sidewalk. — Colleen McKinney

Extra

For mail order, call 877-783-4512.

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