Carnivores rejoice; there’s a new butcher in town! Darcy and Alicia Boisvert have opened Real Deal Meats at 2427 Ellwood Drive in Edmonton. If that address sounds familiar, that’s because Ellwood Drive is also home to my favourite Indian restaurant, Zaika, and the Summerside Asian Market. I also noticed that a dumpling joint next to the meat store is set to open soon, and the Pho Hoa (Vietnamese soup chain) is a couple blocks further southwest (still on Ellwood Drive) making me wonder if this part of Edmonton is turning out to be the city’s designated food destination.
The Boisverts are happy to inform the customers that their products are locally sourced and are gluten, wheat and MSG free. All the bison, chicken, beef, pork, lamb and goat (Halal certified) are from our fair province. Go Alberta go! The store also stocks free-range chickens, farm fresh organic eggs, and a good selection of organic meats.
And speaking of quality butchers, there seems to be a few of them popping up lately. Is it because today’s customer is more educated and wants to know not only where their meat comes from, but how it was raised and finished? Methinks so. People like the Boisverts, Blaine and Brent at Buffalo Valley Meats, and Sean at The Butcher Block remind me of how butchers used to be in the good old days: highly skilled and sincerely concerned with the quality of their product.
One more word to my fellow meat-eaters: if you haven’t done so yet, try the yak-cross beef from Springridge Ranch (Horizon Meats in Calgary will ship). After you’ve tried it and discovered how wonderful it is, make some noise with these butchers. Hopefully one of them (or all of them) will start to carry it. Judging by the number of hits I got on my blog entry about the yak, it looks like there is a ton of interest out there, so yak it up a little and add some flair to your summertime sizzle.
This is great news. Whenever I watch a cooking show or read a cookbook that says “ask your butcher to…” I always wonder where one can find a butcher that would do this. Now I know!
Loves me a good butcher who will get us local meats and cut them and age them just like the old days. Thanks for the post hardly ever get to the south end there but now I might. PS cheese post #1 is finally up thanks for the kick in the pants !
Glad I could help. I have 4 kids, so I’m used to dishing out kicks in pants…it happens daily. 🙂
Ha! This is in my neighbourhood and I haven’t gone yet! I will be there on Saturday. Thanks!
ACME Meat Market on the Southside also provides dry aged beef to its customers. You gotta check it out, they cut everything right in front of you-very cool!!!
Popped in the other day, definitely a great store. Seems to have a real good selection of whatever you need plus lots of nice custom cuts.
Correct me if I’m wrong but it looks like the price on organic stuff is reasonable?
As far as organic goods go, I find Real Deal Meats to be reasonably priced…I’ve paid more for poorer quality meats at other places and then kick myself for not going to Real Deal in the first place.RD is definitely in my top 3 meat shops in the city.