I was a bit nervous when I first came by this place last week. I know where all the supermarkets are in this neighborhood, but alas they're all a pretty far walk and I was feeling a little under the weather. But I was on a mission. That mission required chicken breast meat cutlets. While looking to my left and right and trying to count in my head which direction's supermarket was a shorter walk, my eyes glanced over "K&T MEATS" across the street. I shrugged and figured, "kay, they sell meat - huzzah!".
Upon entering it smelled like meat. No, not like nasty, rancid animal corpses - but like the smell of the meat section at a supermarket. To be honest I had never purchased any cuts at an actual butcher shop so I didn't really know what to expect. I took a look at the meats provided, took note of the prices and absorbed all the signage by the butchers. I knew I wanted chicken and so I ordered about 2.5 lbs of chicken breast. It was supposed to be $1.99 per lb, but my meat totaled to exactly $10.95.
My math skills told me this was wrong but I didn't inquire because at this point this place just because convenient as I was willing to pay more than I needed to (this place is a short walk from my boyfriend's house - I'll be back but next time I WILL inquire as to how they arrive to their pricing). It did get on my nerves that I wasn't really shown how my meat was being weighed. Supermarkets are generally pretty good about telling me the price and letting me make any adjustments if I want to...
The (very good-natured) butcher taking care of my order asked me how I wanted my meat prepared and I asked for it to be pounded and "butterfly cut" since I was going to do it myself. I wasn't sure if "butterfly cut" was a widely known term since I had gotten it off an old recipe I found online for cheese/spinach stuffed chicken, but he seemed to know what he was doing. He thought it meant thinly cut, I thought it meant sliced through the middle - halfway - to allow the chicken breast to be stuffed with something, but whatevs, this was probably my fault for assuming Pinterest recipes know "chicken butchering" terms, lol.
When I got to my boy's place and began getting to work on my newly acquired meat (lol) I found that they were all evenly sliced (thickness wise), all nicely sized, no nasty fatty parts and the coloring was good and healthy - no weird reddish or brown splotches signaling bacteria problems or old meat. I made Italian style, chicken stuffed with muenster cheese (I wanted mozzarella, but remember my supermarket dilemma?
Yeah, K&T Meats DOES have a corner section with gourmet-like [and imported!] gnocchi, pasta and cheeses - but mostly Greek & Italian offerings but NO mozzarella :-/) and garlic roasted potatoes. I used some leftover chicken the next day for grilled chicken sautéed in a lemon, butter, white wine sauce - it was delicious, cooked thoroughly quickly and tasted great (no matter how good of a cook you think you are, if the meat isn't good then you're SOL).
I love supporting small local businesses and I will definitely be back here for more chicken and to try other meats they had (see my pics for all their meat products!) - may even pick up their gnocchi as well. My experience here was certainly a 5 star one, but I knocked off a star because I'm still confused as to why my chicken was $11 for an amount that wouldn't cost me $6 at a regular supermarket - but either way, I still wholeheartedly recommend this gem of a place :). read more