Richard K.
Yelp
I hate Valentine's Day because not only is it just another commercialized holiday, not only does it have the cheesiest colors, and not only is it quite possibly the costliest one, but it's the most sexist one where men have to fork out top dollar to pay for overpriced flowers, chocolates and other crap to try to fulfill the expectations of their significant other - where seldom do we even meet their expectations.
Regardless, I like to make the wife happy because you know, "happy wife, happy life", so I still ended up doing all the things required on V-Day, but luckily my prudent wife knows that eating out on V-Day is for the noObs (daters, newlyweds, etc.).
This year, she wanted prime rib so I set out trying to find the best cut of meat I could find. I went to the Korean butcher, but they did not sell bone-in rib-eye. I went to the carniceria, but all they had were skirt steaks. I went to the Whole Foods in both Glendale and La Brea, but again, they did not have the bone-in rib-eye that I was looking for citing something like "oh we only have that during the holidays"... When nearly all hope was lost I decided to finally use my Yelp mobile app and voilà, like the light at the end of the tunnel, Huntington Meats came up.
Huntington Meats is located in the Farmer's Market adjacent the Grove and they've been around for nearly 30 years. Therefore, I was really dumbfounded that I had never noticed them before because after my experience with them, I can attest that they are the best butchers in town!
Being a butcher is not about just cutting meat. It's about being knowledgeable and personable and Jim was both for me. I explained to him what I wanted and what I was planning to do and he not only gave me the best USDA cut of prime bone-in ribeye, he offered to cut the bones off and tie them back together so that it would be easier to eat. Also he gave me instructions on how to cook the 4.35 pound bad boy and he gave me a free 3.25 ounce container of Lindberg-Snider Porterhouse & Roast Seasoning.
While I have to admit that I did not follow his instructions on how to cook the prime rib because I had my own recipe, I did use the seasoning he provided and it really added an awesome tastation (taste sensation).
So aside from fantastically marbled prime rib they are renowned for their tomahawk steak that consists of a 2.5 pound ribeye with this foot-long rib attached to it giving it a tomahawk shape. They are also famous for their award winning sausages as well as their unique sausages like alligator, rabbit, and wild boar, and I hear that their beef jerky is amazing.
The well-marbled beef that they offer comes mostly from Harris Ranch in Coalinga, CA (you know that part of Interstate 5 filled with cows where it smells like the biggest stinkbomb ever?) and they also have grass-fed beef from Estancia. The lamb is all-American, and none of their meat is ever frozen.
Let's just say that I'll be cooking prime rib a lot more regularly now and seeing the master butchers at Huntington more often. It looks like for me, pinks, reds, and whites associated with Valentine's will be strictly for well-marbled cuts of beef from Huntington Meats from now on!
* They validate so bring your ticket with you.
Pictures:
Prime Rib @ Huntington
http://bit.ly/134gMNa
Prime Rib that I cooked:
http://bit.ly/134iOg8