Joseph's Finest Meats

My original post on Joseph's was lost in the shuffle.

This past weekend I found myself on a search for the perfect piece of prime rib. After calling everywhere in my area and getting quoted a price between $20-$25, my uncle suggested Joseph's finest, no relation or connection to Joseph's on Irving. I had no idea about this places existence until now, even my dad who grew up in the area had not been there until this past weekend when we went.

Joseph's is one of those little neighborhood butchers that has withstood time and continues supplying the residents of the neighborhood with fresh meats of all variety's. They make their own sausage on site including hot/mild Italian, veal, breakfast, green pepper, Polish, wieners, garlic and a few im probably forgetting. The real star of the show though is the in house "dry aged" beef.

Joseph, an older really nice Italian runs the shop with help from his sons. Right behind the meat counter you can see the locker where they do all the aging. I got to go in it and check out the process which is a 21 day aging. All the beef is supplied fresh from north Aurora packing company, they supply many major steak house's including weber grill.

If its a cut of beef that can be dry aged (tenderloin is not dry aged) than they have it for you, the porterhouse's looked beautiful. The reason I came was to get a bone-in dry aged prime rib and at $10.99/lb, I couldn't of been happier. I got a 5 bone piece fully trimmed and ready to cook at an amazing price...it tasted even better with my "da salt lady" seasoning alaea salt from Hawaii and fresh ground pepper rubbed all over.


Prime rib ready for cutting.


Prime rib, twice baked, caramelized green beans and Yorkshire pudding.

Looking for a reasonable price on nice pieces of dry aged meat? GO TO JOSEPH'S!

Joseph's Finest Meats
7101 W Addison St
Chicago, IL 60634
(773) 736-3766

Good looking roast! A touch too medium for my tastes, but to each his own...

How did you cook it? Low and slow then blast it with heat? or maybe hot to start then lower?

mhill95149 wrote:Good looking roast! A touch too medium for my tastes, but to each his own...

How did you cook it? Low and slow then blast it with heat? or maybe hot to start then lower?

This was my first prime rib roast (of many more). Most of the advice/research said I should cook it at 450 for 20-30 minutes to start and than 325 after, so I followed that. It did come out a little to medium for me as well but that piece in the picture is the slice directly after the end piece, the middle slices were rarer. I figure next time I will take it out 10-20 minutes earlier and let it finish cooking while resting.

It looks great, but unless you saw the USDA Prime stamp on the roast with your own eyes, I have trouble believing it's not a wonderful, dry-aged, USDA choice rib roast.

Of course, if you're using "prime rib roast" to refer to the cut rather than the grade, you can ignore me.

I too tend to say "prime" rib when I should say choice grade rib roast.

It just does not roll off the tongue quite as well as prime rib...
I tend to cook the cut in the style of Alton Brown with a low and slow roast in a 225˚oven and the internal temp of the roast rising to 117˚ and then tented with foil until it hits at or about 125˚ and back into a 500˚ oven
to brown up and then out to rest until it hits about 130 or so

gleam wrote:It looks great, but unless you saw the USDA Prime stamp on the roast with your own eyes, I have trouble believing it's not a wonderful, dry-aged, USDA choice rib roast.

I was at Joseph's Finest today and they were cutting up a side of beef. The USDA PRIME stamp was clearly visible. They said it had been aging in their cooler for three weeks. Looked incredible so I had them cut me off a nice thick bone-in ribeye...$12.99/lb.

teatpuller wrote:

gleam wrote:It looks great, but unless you saw the USDA Prime stamp on the roast with your own eyes, I have trouble believing it's not a wonderful, dry-aged, USDA choice rib roast.

I was at Joseph's Finest today and they were cutting up a side of beef. The USDA PRIME stamp was clearly visible. They said it had been aging in their cooler for three weeks. Looked incredible so I had them cut me off a nice thick bone-in ribeye...$12.99/lb.

Prime, schmine, any place that is actually cutting a side of beef if pretty far ahead of the curve these days! I'm glad that Joseph is still around.

teatpuller wrote:

gleam wrote:It looks great, but unless you saw the USDA Prime stamp on the roast with your own eyes, I have trouble believing it's not a wonderful, dry-aged, USDA choice rib roast.

I was at Joseph's Finest today and they were cutting up a side of beef. The USDA PRIME stamp was clearly visible. They said it had been aging in their cooler for three weeks. Looked incredible so I had them cut me off a nice thick bone-in ribeye...$12.99/lb.

awesome news. I now live much closer to Joseph's, too, so I'll be sure to visit them soon.

Here's my steak, which fed three of us.



sorry for the lousy photo, i'm no ronnie_s


end product


I'm not a big steak eater, but this was the best steak I've had in a looooooong time.

I'd suggest calling Joe or his son Bennie a day or two in advance. Pre-cut steaks were boneless and about 3/4 inch thick.

teatpuller wrote:

Damn! That cooking job would probably even make a bad steak taste good. Nice!

I really have to check Joseph's out the next time I'm in the area.

=R=

This happens alot on LTH, an old thread pops up the day I went there or someting like that. I'm headed to Joseph's tomorrow to pick up my own set of cowboy ribeye's (2.5 inch thick, bone in) for a xmas eve dinner. I somehow missed the follow up's to my OP but yes everything is USDA Prime and dry aged in house at Joseph's. I totally agree with them having some of the best steaks in the city, as long as you can cook one that is, and you cant go wrong with the bone in ribeye, they're as good as they get. Fantastic looking steak you did up there, Teatpuller is right in that your going to want to call ahead if you plan on asking for your steaks specially cut. This place is old school on so many levels and Joe himself is one of them.

Remember this Joseph's is on Addison and not Irving Park. Just like Nottoli, there are a couple and they have no relation as of now but maybe did at some point?

Da Beef wrote:Remember this Joseph's is on Addison and not Irving Park.

Joseph's on Addison



I am hanging my head in shame for never having been to Joseph's, this place is right in my wheelhouse, actually its right in the wheelhouse of pretty much every LTHer I know with the exception of vegetarian paris4life.



Friendly, quick with a comment, suggestion, joke, the knowledgeable fellows behind the counter are are a dieing breed of old school butchers. The comparable that springs to mind is Al's Meat Market in Wilmette.

Prices for prime dry age meat are reasonable, quality is high. Aging done in-house.

Part view of Joseph's meat locker



Part view meat case



Joseph's makes a number of sausages in-house, the hot Italian is high on my must-try list. No idea if pies are made in-house.

Sausage line-up



Though he looks serious in this picture, Joe is quick with a smile or joke.

Joe, Joseph's Finest Meats



Crown Roast of pork in process



Da Beef, thanks for turning us on Joseph's, given the Whole Foods of the world where dry age prime runs in the high $20's and the odds of getting knowledgeable counter help one out of five, Joseph's is a breath of fresh air.

Joseph's Finest Meats, count me a fan.

Enjoy,
Gary

Joseph's Finest Meats
7101 W Addison St
Chicago, IL 60634
773-736-376

Al's Meat Market
1165 Wilmette Ave
Wilmette, IL 60091
847-256-0070

The racks of lamb I bought there were terrific...domestic and never frozen. A bargain at $17/lb.

Great breakfast sausages ($4) make me want to try the other varieties.

Only problem is they are closed on Sundays which is when I tend to shop for the coming week. Guess I need to adjust my schedule.

We stopped in on Friday and picked up a couple of ribeyes. I cooked them up on Saturday and they were every bit as good as described. I can't believe I've never been here before. Especially since my brothers bar is close by. It'll be on the regular run now and yes, they are very friendly and accommodating.

Last Saturday finally made it to Joseph's with two cooler's in my wagon because I had two more stops on my way home.
I found the butchers to be extremely knowledgeable and ready to accommodate any request. While my steaks were being prepared (not just simply cut but trimmed exactly as i wanted by asking me specific questions) I watched the older butcher use a meat slicer to get thin steaks off what looked like a round of beef to me, carefully trim and use a Jacquard device to tenderize for an older customer. No where would you get that knife of labor intensive treatment today.
There is a cooler where the aged primal cuts are kept. I thought I had seen primal cuts but most of what I have seen must have come wrapped in cryovac because these primals had big fat deposits and long tails that in the case of the fat is trimmed away upon order but the tail is up to you. I ordered two Prime 'Cowboy' style rib steaks and a 4" thick Prime Porterhouse. The rib steaks that size will of course serve two to three and is how i prefer to cook my steaks-thick.
The Porterhouse had the tail left on. I told the butcher that I usually boned out the tenderloin and strip while the bone went to our Australian Labradoodle who gets a raw meat diet with appropriate additions. She is now 5 years old, weighs 80+ pounds and is excellent health.
Anyway there was so much meat on the tail that it went for a burger, the dog loved the bone but I'm sure whether Choice or aged Prime, it's all the same to her.
Joseph's only carries Prime and Choice tenderloin in the cryovac so this was the only way to obtain an dry aged fillet.
The fillet was seared, pan roasted in a 450F oven to about 105F and rested 15 minutes, it ranks right up there with the best fillets any of us have ever had.
All told I was in Joseph's for probably 30 minutes while my steaks were being cut, trimmed and wrapped. If your used to you local market and picking up a few things quick, this is not the spot for you.
There is no doubt in my mind I will be back with a bigger cooler!-Dick

Yes. I agree. Joseph's has become an addiction for me lately. I've been eating my way through the meat case. Last time I was in, I got some of their breakfast sausage, which was very good! The links were slightly larger than standard Jimmy Dean's and had a wonderful, well balanced taste.

I've been following this thread since the beginning and while I have a fantastic butcher much closer to home, I was grateful that during a stop at Mr. D's yesterday, LTHer gleam reminded me that we were just a few blocks away from Joseph's. With a cooler on-hand, it was the perfect time check it out . . .


Joseph's Finest Meats - 7101 W Addison St, Chicago

I was pleased with the overall selection, especially the 10 or so types of housemade sausages that were in the case, as well as freshly-baked breads (from a nearby bakery), produce, etc. The selection of fresh meats was wide, too. The meats in the case looked good, though maybe not as marbled as I would have expected for prime. Having never been there before, I asked Joe -- the young man pictured above, who was waiting on us -- if he had some dry-aged prime strip strip steaks. He went to the case (clearing up my unasked question about whether the meats in the case were prime or not) and pulled out 4 good-looking steaks for us. I also loaded up with several types of sausages, including Barese, sweet Italian (they were out of hot), breakfast and kabanoszy.

Last night my son, his friend and I shared one of the kabanoszy. I thought it was really well-made, with perfect amounts of garlic and smoke. It was tender and the chew didn't finish with a mouthful of hard crumbles, which can often be the case with this type of sausage.

This morning I cooked the breakfast sausages for my family and we all thought they were really good. I liked the pronounced hit of sage and my wife said they were some of the better store-bought sausages we'd ever had. I agreed with her in that they were made exceptionally well. They weren't underseasoned, had great defintion, and lots of juiciness. I wasn't entirely crazy about the entire seasoning set, though, and wished they'd been a bit spicier but that's just a matter of personal preference. They were very good, by any measure.

Tonight, braving heavy rain, I set up my 9' patio umbrella over my grill area and fired up the Weber kettle. I cooked the strip steaks, as well as the Barese and Italian sausage . . .


Strip Steak cooked over lump charcoal



Italian (thick) and Barese (thin) Sausages, cooked indirect over lump charcoal

I thought the steaks were very good. I'm used to having my steaks cut to order from the primal and prefer them a little thicker. However, being that this was my first trip to Joseph's, I wasn't comfortable making any special requests. Still, they were very tasty. Given the level to which I cooked them, they were a little drier thatn I was expecting but again, this wasn't the most marbled beef to begin with. The bottom line is that the steaks were very good, with a subtle minerality that lasted throughout the chew. And at $15/pound (iirc), they were priced very fairly, especially since they were very closely trimmed. Next time, I'll definitely ask for some thicker steaks.

The Italian sausage was also tasty and just like with the other sausages, it was very well made. You don't just luck into this kind of definition. I'm not saying it takes a lifetime to master but it's definitely a sign of experience that shows through. The Barese was the best I can ever remember having. I'm certainly no expert when it comes to this variety of sausage but in addition to the perfect definition that all the other sausages possessed, these were just bursting with flavor and juiciness. I was extremely pleased I'd chosen them.

I'm really glad that yet again, LTH (tip of the cap to Da Beef) has brought me to another place I'd never been before. As I mentioned above, I've already got a butcher I love near my home and Joseph's is very far from home but I'm glad to know it's there and can definitely foresee going back when I'm in the area. I'm also going to recommend it to friends and relatives who live nearby because I can do so confidently and I think they're really going to dig it. Plus, if I end up having to eat at their houses, at least I know the meat will be good.

=R=

Ronnie,

I'm glad you enjoyed Joseph's. For future reference, they will (and often do) cut steaks to order right off the primal.

I love this place. I went there Friday afternoon. I got Barese sausage and polish sausage both were fantastic. I got a couple of pound of the ground chuck which I made burgers sous vide that were amazing. I also got a one and a half inch rib-eye steak. The older gentleman in the picture above cut if from a large roast and trimmed it while I waited. I love the quality and the prices. I look to be giving them lots of my business going forward.

Oh Yeah, come to daddy!

I can't believe I have never wandered in to this place. It is 4 blocks from the house I grew up in and my folks still do. I will have to visit there this weekend!

We were back at Joseph's yesterday before lunch at Italian Superior Bakery. I love this place. Joe waited on us and he couldn't have been more friendly and helpful. I cooked up the breakfast sausage (both types) this morning and they are definitely our new favorite. I should have bought more!

probably going to go here for a Ho-Ka turkey for 11/5. Can anyone confirm that they carry them year round? Just checking. Thanks

Chitown B wrote:probably going to go here for a Ho-Ka turkey for 11/5. Can anyone confirm that they carry them year round? Just checking. Thanks

I'm sure Ben Camarda can. Give the shop a call. (773) 736-3766.

I picked up 2 30 day aged bone in ribeyes for my boyfriend's bday yesterday. We have eaten many steaks in our day and have relatives who cook or have cooked in steakhouses here and in Vegas. These steaks rank up there with the best steaks I've ever had the pleasure of eating. The meat is of the highest quality and it didn't hurt that it was cooked perfectly by yours truly. This was my 1st visit to Joseph's but now I want to buy ALL my meat from there. I can't say enough good things about this place. They have a banner that says "quality is remembered long after price is forgotten" I can't agree enough. I do have some pics I will be posting soon...... true food porn.

I have benefited from my participation in LTH to no end. I have tried dozens of recommended eateries over the years. I've visited wonderful stores, had great beef, subs, steak, fish, ribs, -you get the idea. DaBeef recommended Joseph's some time ago, so as it is fairly close, I tried it. I have been a fan since. Great beef and pork products . The sausage is terrific as well. In addition to the usuals, he also has a number turkey sausage varieties that my wife loves. I am a big fan of his breakfast sausage , though anything homemade there is a winner. My experience says that If it is recommended by an LTH'er, it is worth looking into.

Monday night off at home with the bride, big a** strip steak from Joseph's Finest Meats on the Weber Kettle







Joseph's Finest Meats, count me a fan!

Four years since the last post Joseph's Finest Meats is same ol' same ol', in other words a terrific old school butcher shop.

Dry-age strip on the Weber grill along with Nick Kindelsperger's Serious Eats Hash Browns technique, which worked like a charm.






Joseph's Finest Meats, count me a Fan!

Extremely gracious people on my one visit here. I was searching for an extra thick prime porterhouse and all they had were some fairly average (1"?) thickness steaks pre-cut in the case. Cutting to order wasn't a possibility that day, either because the carcass they had still needed to be broken down or there wasn't one available. Either way, after I settled on getting 2x 1" steaks instead of one 2", the counterman asked me if I liked sausage. He sent me out the door with at least a pound of Italian and breakfast links compliments of the house. Re-reading this thread I'd guess this was Ben, the owner's son. If I ever get back there I'll have to thank them. And if I have a special request, I'll call a day ahead!

G Wiv wrote:

Da Beef wrote:Remember this Joseph's is on Addison and not Irving Park.

I am hanging my head in shame for never having been to Joseph's, this place is right in my wheelhouse, actually its right in the wheelhouse of pretty much every LTHer I know with the exception of vegetarian paris4life.

Enjoy,
Gary

Joseph's Finest Meats
7101 W Addison St
Chicago, IL 60634
773-736-376

Al's Meat Market
1165 Wilmette Ave
Wilmette, IL 60091
847-256-0070

Somehow I missed this thread but agree. I still buy animals and suggest places for others that feature animals plus the next time I am in the area I will check this place out. Those hashbrowns and steak are gorgeous.