Moving to Boston - starting list for places to buy ingredients for cooking

Regional Dining Discussions Boston, New England
81

What is “common” to one coast is not often common to the other, based on availability, based on what people want and request, based on trucking costs, based on what can actually GROW in our region, etc. I can find oxtail in my local Market Baskets that cater to ethnic populations within that neighborhood. Whether it’s up to your seemingly impossibly high standards, I have no idea.

Each region of WF caters to what is desired or continually requested by customers. So what is continually requested in SD is not in Boston and, therefore, not available here.

As of 2014, 37.8 million people lived in California, and barely 7 million people lived in MA. The “demand by customers” cannot even begin to be compared between the two states.

We don’t have the amount of land mass that California has.
We don’t have the space for the farms that California has.
What is grown in California is not grown in Massachusetts, due to climate differences.
Items such as Thai eggplant are probably considered a specialty produce item and, therefore, not as readily available (or available at all).
California has a much larger Asian population than Massachusetts does. Items you’re used to easily getting in CA because it’s GROWN THERE are not going to be as readily available in MA. Plain and simple.

I would suggest going to restaurants that cater to the flavors/food items you are interested in and ask THEM where they get their local produce. You might find that they cannot get it either. And if restaurants cannot get it wholesale? You’re not going to get it retail.

As many have already said - stop thinking about what you used to be able to get in CA, and focus on what you CAN get in MA. Otherwise, you are going to be more miserable than you’ve already demonstrated that you are. The two states are on opposite ends of the country, have completely opposite types of climate throughout the year, and are different. So either embrace the difference, or move back to California.

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82

Think of it this way: these are just stuff that aren’t local to SD or are not as fresh.

http://awesomeocean.com/2016/01/21/9-new-england-must-eat-seafood-dishes-recipes-included/

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83

I can walk into my Stop and Shop and buy flank steak any day of the week.

They also sometimes have ground lamb

84

Market Basket and Hannaford always have Catello brand ground lamb in one-pound packages but I suspect that’s not high enough quality for the OP.

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85

I would imagine that youre right.

But the OP was bemoaning the lack of this common cut at a regular supermarket …

86

I only buy ground lamb a few times a year, but I have always seen it available when I was looking for it at Whole Foods…River St, Central Square, Somerville, Fresh Pond, etc. Saver’s also usually has it, if I remember correctly.

87

Sorry, I should have added that I have never asked at Whole Foods which farm, local or otherwise, the ground lamb or anything else came from. That kind of information is never provided by any Whole Foods I’ve shopped at in Greater Boston. I guess Whole Foods in San Diego is much more responsive to consumer questions and demand.

88

I guess reading seems to be hard but I said that I was looking for ground lamb (and at another occasion flank steak and oxtail) and didn’t care about its source but couldn’t find it at multiple supermarkets (WF, StarMarket or Stop & Shop) or a smaller shop like the Armenian ones and that I simply didn’t expect such cuts to be so unusual that you have to preorder them.

89

Never purchased oxtail but you can buy flank steak pretty much everywhere. I make it all the time.

I see ground lamb with the ground veal and pork at Stop and Shop. Also at WFM.

No pre-ordering necessary.

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90

oops, another autocorrect mistake. I meant Savenor’s, not Saver’s, and Savenor’s is far from being Saver’s. The Cambridge location of Savenor’s is very close to the Somerville Whole Foods, AKA Whole Paycheck.

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91

I also hope it were just some off days because these should be normally available in most supermarkets

92

A friend whose taste I trust swears by the lamb at The Meat Spot in Watertown for her Armenian holiday meals. I have no idea if they have ground lamb, but again, you could ask.

I do think you should try again at local places for flank steak. Five years ago it was hit or miss, but now I find it is available most places.

93

Will definitely try again and finally saw ground lamb today at a Stop & Shop.
Should have thought about Meat Spot as we bought some sandwiches for the movers there which were quite good.

94

As does Wegmans. An organic store brand, and they’re sold in 1 lb. packages. Have never had any issue with it.

https://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/EventsDetailView?langId=-1&storeId=10052&catalogId=10002&productId=751573

95

I have no interest in looking into them, but I keep seeing FB promotions for www.waldenlocalmeat.com

96

honkman,

Locally raised meat is readily available, you just have to know where to buy it. It is usually frozen, though, as we DO have four seasons here, and the farms are small and often selling directly to their customers. My favorite source of beef is Wheelview Farm. They are in western MA, but every few months they come through the area and deliver items that you order from their website. http://www.wheelviewfarm.com/index.htm

Just two towns west of Watertown, in Lincoln, is Pete and Jen’s Backyard Birds, which this year merged with Codman Community Farm. You can go there any day of the week at any hour to purchase the best chicken and the best pork around. As of this year they now also raise beef, but I have not seen any for sale yet. They also have the freshest eggs you can buy anywhere. (One time the egg fridge was empty, so I texted Pete and he came in a few minutes later with eggs he had gathered and washed just then!) During the warm weather months (NOW), they offer fresh chickens (two breeds) every other weekend (Friday-Monday). Normally you would pre-order chickens at the beginning of the season, but they have expanded their operation sufficiently that most times they have extra chickens available for anyone to purchase. http://www.peteandjensbackyardbirds.com/

Once again, it is frozen, but I have a meat CSA share from Chestnut Farms, which is located in western MA. They take great care of their animals and their land. If you are looking for lean meat, Chestnut Farms is your choice. They do distributions the first Saturday (warm weather) or the first Sunday (cold weather) of the months at Waltham Fields Community Farm, very close to Watertown. (They also do distributions in several other towns in the area, for example two distributions/month in Arlington). The smallest monthly share is 10 pounds. A share is a mix of beef, chicken, pork, and lamb cuts. Kim is wonderful about personalizing your share. You don’t want pork? You don’t prefer lamb? No problem! You can purchase individual cuts of their meats at the Boston Public Market (I think it is fresh there, not frozen). Also, if you come by Waltham Fields Community Farm during one of their veggie CSA distributions (Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays during the 20-week growing season) you can purchase a limited selection of individual cuts there. Finally, while they do not sell ducks, they do raise them to produce eggs. The last several months the eggs have been available at meat CSA distributions. http://www.chestnutfarms.org

I have had some excellent lamb from Signal Rock Farm, yet another MA farm. In the past they have done a mix of selling at farmers markets and driving into the area to deliver items you order from their website. Also, around the end of the year they do pop-up sales events at various locations. You can check their website for schedules, or better yet, sign up for their emails. http://www.signalrockfarmlamb.com/

There are other meat and chicken operations around, such as Stillman’s that I know about but cannot personally comment on as I do not have experience with them.

To be specific about the cuts that you mention, I have gotten ground lamb from Chestnut Farms, ox tail from Wheelview Farm, and flank steak from Wheelview and Chestnut Farms.

Bottom line: Good meat IS out there!

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97

Thanks a lot that post is very helpful and especially Backyard Birds is interesting due to its location.

And we also finally found ground lamb and flank steak - interestingly at a WF store which claimed that they never had and will have it - unfortunately we had that attitude a few times in different shops were some people claimed they don’t sell certain products only to find that product on one of the next visits.

98

Honkman, if you can get to Backyard Birds they have extra chickens this weekend. You can just drop by and purchase some even if you haven’t pre-ordered.

One more thought. Wegman’s has a website that you can use to create a shopping list or just see what they have available (along with prices). It is mirrored in an app, if you prefer online access that way. It is store-specific. So, you can choose the Burlington store and be pretty sure that if they say something is available there, it really is. Wegman’s in Burlington carries ground lamb as a standard offering. They also sell oxtail and flank steak as standard offerings. Those items are not local, but if you need them, Wegman’s Burlington is a good bet. (Market Basket Burlington is also pretty reliable for flank steak and ground lamb, btw.) Of special note, Wegman’s Burlington has a decent selection of organic meat and chicken. The chicken’s packaging is suspiciously similar to Bell and Evans. It is tasty and reasonably priced. (I still think Pete and Jen’s chicken is the best, though.)

99

Pete and Jen’s chicken is wonderful.

Wilson Farm in Lexington, in addition to their generic chicken, sells their own whole birds (about 5 lbs. each) and they sell the most excellent Green Circle chicken from D’Artagnan.