When bigger does not mean better – A case for The Meat House

A large, new (and I won't name it) super market opened on Six Forks Road, across the street from Her Imperial Majesty's office and the local Chick-Fil-A. It was foretold to be what North Raleigh needed; the cornerstone of a new culinary identity that the zip codes north of Interstate 440 have wanted for years. It was to be, in short, 40,000 square feet of green, environmentally friendly Foodie Paradise.

No longer would people like me need to drive inside the beltline (or to Chapel Hill or Durham) for the ingredients we need to live and cook The Good Life. Produce would be fresh, organic and beautiful. Breads would be artisanal. Meat and seafood would be humanely and locally raised. The building itself was to be "Green", conserving rainwater in cisterns for later use. Customers were encouraged to bring their own re-usable shopping bags. Carry out from the "hot bar" would be served in bio-degradable paper to go containers instead of plastic or Styrofoam.

So I went there during the opening weeks and joined the throng. It looked less a crowded supermarket and more a crowded but well lit nightclub. Parking was problematic and once inside, people were everywhere. Sure, the lettuce looked great, but it's was all wrapped and served up in plastic bins. Nobody told me that re-usable shopping bags are a great place for e. Coli to breed. And the paper "to go" containers? They got soggy after about 20 minutes.

Green and environmentally friendly? I'm not so sure. It felt more like a conceit, a way of gift wrapping gluttony so that it was more attractive, or at least, less ugly. It is sort of like believing that baby foxes and unicorns come out of a Prius' tail pipe: one can drive a car and still "Save the Planet " through thoughtful and conspicuous consumption. It's amazing that one can sell moral vanity at a premium, but perhaps there is no other way to sell it. Its parking lot is full.

Scott Morra and a selection of cowboy rib steaks.

I remember the way it used to be. There was a place in Madison. NJ, down the road from where I lived called Esposito Brothers. They had the most beautiful meats and cheeses with a smattering of fresh produce – everything one needed for dinner save the wine, which had to be sold a "Package Store" down the street. One could walk in and walk out with a feast in 15 minutes. Talk about paleo food, this was truly Old School.

Such a thing exists today in North Raleigh. At the corner of Millbrook and Falls of Neuse Road is The Meat House, a glorious throwback to the butcher shops of my youth. In it, wide selections of beef, pork, lamb and poultry are laid out behind glass cases. The produce is NOT wrapped in plastic. There is no vainglorious preening about how they're saving the environment. The owner, Derek Wilkins, first saw the concept while visiting family in Maine. He went with his brother to pick up dinner and was blown away.

"I stood there awestruck," he said during a recent phone conversation. "[My brother] picked up the meat, the veggies and the beer and we were gone. I just couldn't get the thought of The Meat House out of my mind."

Derek and his father Craig own both Triangle locations of The Meat House (the other is in Cary). It is, to quote Derek, "'the modern re-visualization of the neighborhood butcher shop". At 3,500 square feet, it's not nearly as big as the (unnamed) behemoth on Six Forks. And that is a big selling point.

"One of the important things about The Meat House is that you can get in and out and 15 minutes," he said. And he's right. Because it's not so big, I did get in and out in 15 minutes.

The concept originated in New England and is franchised across the US. They currently have 26 locations. What they carry is dinner; prime and top choice meats, veggies, and sides. They also carry a wide array of pre-marinated meats that are ready for the grill or skillet.

"We make it very simple," he said. "We've done a lot of the prep work for you."

So, is it the second coming of Esposito Brothers in Madison? They've actually done it one better. The Meat House sells wine and has a classically trained sommelier on staff in the person of Lawrence Kobesky, to help with the pairings of wine with dinner.

In the end, it is an old school butcher shop. But it's also more. It's like a convenience store for foodies. It works because it's simple and unpretentious, unlike some other grocers in the city. And the meat is truly magnificent.


Two Triangle locations:


1225 Kildaire Farm Road
Cary, NC 27511-5523
(919) 465-3082
 
5045 Falls of Neuse Road
Raleigh, N.C. 27609
(919) 809-8914.