Summer grilling: Best meat markets, butcher shops for your July 4th BBQ

If you’re seeking butcher-quality meats to toss on the grill this summer, you have some good local options, markets stocked with holiday-worthy cuts.

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Here’s a mini-guide to local specialty meat markets:

The Butcher and the Bar

This hybrid business pairs a full-service butcher shop with a casual, full-service bar and restaurant that specializes in quality meats, house-made pickles and local products and serves cocktails and local beers on tap.

At the butcher counter, you’ll find grass-fed beef and pork, steak cuts that include rib-eye, New York strip, tri-tip, ribs, tenderloin. The pork and beef sausages are made in-house as are the various types of pickles (jalapeños, green tomatoes, classic dill). Charcuterie meats are cured in-house and the bacon and ham are smoked onsite. There’s house-made mortadella, scrapple and kielbasa as well as local eggs from Holman’s Harvest Farm in Loxahatchee Groves.

“We have literally anything you need for an outdoor barbecue,” says butcher Logan Gates. “We even make our own hot sauces and pickles.”

Open in Boynton Beach since August 2020, The Butcher and the Bar offers indoor and outdoor seating and serves brunch, lunch and dinner.

• The Butcher and the Bar: 510 E. Ocean Ave., Unit 101, Boynton Beach, 561-903-7630, ButcherandBar.com; butcher counter open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., closed Mondays

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Okeechobee Prime Meat Market

A bustling part of the Okeechobee Steakhouse family, this specialty meat market offers the same prime meats that are served at the iconic steakhouse. It stocks a variety of dry-aged and wet-aged steaks, steakhouse burgers, Wagyu beef and all-beef Angus hot dogs, plus a range of other quality meats.

Steakhouse fans may appreciate the market’s prepared and packaged foods that include steakhouse entrees, popular sides and desserts. Add to that wines, boating provisions and proprietary Okeechobee Steakhouse sauces and you’ve got options that outsize the cozy space.

• Okeechobee Prime Meat Market: 1959 Wabasso Dr., West Palm Beach, 561-570-7200, OkeePrimeMeats.com; open every day from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. 

Palm Beach Meats

High-grade Wagyu beef from Japan and Australia is the focus at this West Palm Beach meat market and pop-up venue.

“Ninety percent of what we sell is Wagyu,” says co-owner Eric San Pedro, who opened the shop in June 2021.

Increasingly popular at the market is the Australian Wagyu picanha, a classic Brazilian cut that’s picked up mainstream appeal in this country.

“It’s the most tender part of the sirloin, tender and boldly flavored,” San Pedro says.

Also popular in barbecue-ready meats is the Australian Wagyu brisket that comes from pedigreed, or “full-blood,” cattle, he says.

Wagyu is pricy, be it from Japan or Australia. At Palm Beach Meats, Australian Wagyu cuts sell for anywhere from $40 a pound to about $90 a pound, depending on the cut and grade. Japanese Wagyu cuts range in price from $130 to $150 a pound.

• Palm Beach Meats: 4812 S. Dixie Hwy., West Palm Beach, 561-623-7471, PalmBeachMeats.com; open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Mondays

Joseph’s Classic Market

Popular for its extensive variety of prepared foods, this family-owned, local specialty market chain offers butcher-quality meats that are hand-cut at each of the market’s three Palm Beach County locations.

For those who prefer to grill fish, there are fresh-catch options at the market’s fish counter.

Weekly specials are posted on Joseph’s website, JosephsClassicMarket.com.

• Joseph’s Classic Market: In Palm Beach Gardens at 4409 Northlake Blvd., in Delray Beach at 8918 W. Atlantic Ave., in Boca Raton at 6000 Glades Rd.

Doris Italian Market

With locations in North Palm Beach and Boca Raton, this is one of the county’s go-to markets for Italian goods, from imported pastas to freshly baked bread loaves.

The butcher counter, which sells everything from classic “Sunday gravy” meats to prime steaks, offers regular specials and packages for holidays.

• Doris Italian Market: In North Palm Beach at 11239 US Hwy 1, in Boca Raton at 9101 Lakeridge Blvd. (Yamato Road, west of Lyons Road); DorisMarket.com 

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Carmine’s Gourmet Market

North county restaurateur Carmine Giardini got his start as a butcher and opened his first South Florida meat market in Broward County in 1972. His focus on high-quality meats continues today at his bustling Carmine’s Gourmet Market, where the butcher case boasts a variety of steaks including Japanese and Australian Wagyu beef cuts.

The butcher counter is adjacent to Carmine’s seafood cases, which display a decent array of fish and seafood.

Specials for both, the butcher and seafood counters, are posted on the market’s website at Carmines.com.

• Carmine’s Gourmet Market: 2401 PGA Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens, 561-775-0105

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: July 4th BBQ: Best meat markets, butcher shops for holiday cookout