Where Can I Buy _______ ?
 

I know there are some aspiring chefs in here who know the importance of quality, fresh ingredients.

Where do you go for the best cuts of meat? The freshest fish? Which shop sells a great pesto or great freshly made pasta or bread?

Post your finds here!

For example...

Where's the best place to buy truffles in Vancouver?

I hear that hella run down meat shop on Hastings close to Army and Navy is really good. They'll cut anything any way you want it and it's super fresh. Then again..I'm not sure how desperate you are to head down to the core of the DTES to get some meat.

For Japanese meats, there's Nikuya on Rupert and Hastings. They have kobe beef and japanese sausages and stuff. Very high quality meat and I think they are the main retailer/wholesaler for japanese meats or something.

haha i use to get my chicken nuggets from there. ah so good. good times

u mean, Hastings and Renfrew?

Err...yeah! I always get Rupert and Renfrew mixed up.

There's one in Richmond too.
http://www.nikuya.ca/contact/default.htm

Best bagels in town, is the jewish bakery at garden city and blundell. I go to the halal butcher for my cuts of meat on 5 and cambie, and I get the best produce from richmond country farms.

Siegel's has the best bagels. Not the one in the Granville Public market, as they use an electric oven, but the main store on Cornwall and Chestnut. They use a proper woodfire oven.

best steak for quality vs price for retail is costco imo. They have really well marbled rib eyes and all the steaks are needled fo extra tenderness

Yeah, Costco is hard to beat for the quality vs. price debate.

Bosa is awesome for lots of Italian stuff

Where can you find good quality tuna for a reasonable price?

I get my pesto exclusively from Duso's at GI - it's f*cking deliriously good

also get most of my cold cuts, forcemeats, sausages from Oyama which is right beside them

as for bread, Terra has some really good artisan bread, as well as specialty breads - but my usual spot is (partly for convenience, partly for price, and partly coz I'm hooked on it) Manzano's in Metrotown for this potato oregano loaf they sell that has a crust that gives a crunch only matched by the best "siu yok" :)

I'm looking to find some good brisket to use for my new slow cooker though so if anyone has any advice - I'd appreciate it

I have a friend that works delivering meats. He told me to <b> STAY AWAY </b> from superstore, safeway, T&T and all those other big stores. Apparently, Stongs on dunbar, urban fare and magee grocery have some pretty good meat. I only go to stongs/magee grocery now to get meat because they really are alot better. I use to be a customer at costco but still believe stongs is better.

Magee grocery is similar but a little bit better than costco. Very small grocery store though. Also, I heard the head butcher from magee grocery went to stongs a few years back.

why are the meat at big chain stores bad?

According to my friend, they cheap out. Can you picture superstore paying top dollar for the best meat?

Also, I think he said something about they get meat through corporate and they decide on which type to get.

This reminds me, my friend said that rain city cafe order cheap meats.

When you say sheap meat in terms of rsteraunt grade its misleading. n Some restaurants order lower "grade " meat but it doesn't mean there is anything wrong with it. All beef is federally inspected and most comes from the same two slaughterhouse in alberta...cargill and the other name i don't recalll. only the top 10 percent of beef in canada is classified as AAA. the grading system is based on many factors but the most obvious to consumers at a market are marbling and size. When it comes to chicken....always get free range if you can afford it...it just tastes better. Pork is pretty standard across the board unless your getting into heritage breeds
But when you suggest that the "cheap"meat are inferior in terms of safety and health standards is totally wrong.

As far as superstore buying corporate...well doesn't that make more sense so they can use there buying power to get a decent deal? do you expect them to buy piece meal from different suppliers in different cities?

the one thing ii will say is that i've seen t&t sell un aged beef...its really tough for steaks and such so i might think twice about getting steaks from there

Superstore sells some of the most disgusting cuts of meat I've ever had the mispleasure of cooking

we got some steaks, sausages from them a few years ago and they were disgusting... very little meat to them, nasty flavour... ugh...

I buy all my stuff from Costco for BBQs now

beyond that, I don't eat beef at home anyways so I don't have a particular place to go... maybe Armando's at GI

I did pick up some short ribs from Save On Foods the other day and they turned out amazing after 3 1/2 hours in the pot

I also only buy the Maple Prime grain-fed chicken from Save On - I used to eat Costco chicken but I was getting really bad skin problems - once I switched over -- it all disappeared... a little disturbing if you ask me

so yeah - my grocery bills tend to be pretty high - but it's worth it health-wise

I think with meat it is more important for one to know how to spot good quality / cuts than the size / reputation of the store. Basically a large chain offers you a large selection but it is up to you to select. It is up to you to be able to seperate the good cuts and the bad cuts. Specialty places like Tenderland on Granville Island, they just have more refined selection.

You also have to know what you are cooking too. eg you can get away with other cuts of meet other than tenderloin if you want to slow cook etc.

Other tips is know the butcher.. visit them when they are slow to get to know them.. also if it happens that you don't have the cuts you want, be prepare to walk away from picking a certain meat and improvise, either go to a different supplier or change the menu.

Just because a chicken is free range doesn't mean it will taste better. It depends on what the chicken is fed and it's diet.

Free range just means that the chickens are allowed to "roam" the farm. The duration and frequency is at the farmer's discretion. A free range chicken could have only 5 minutes of roaming time a week and still be considered free range. (people that think eating free range chicken is more humane take note)

Tougher/cheaper cuts of meats aren't always bad, they are perfect candidates for a braise or a slow cook. (whereas a softer meat will become mush) It all depends what you do with it.

Saw an ad on the payer today: Nikuya is having a 20% all meats sale from Feb 1-8th... donno is that a deal or a gimmick

how much are kobe beef steaks? I usually buy fillet minion cuts from safeway. they are like $33/kg and they tastes amazing. I won't mind trying out kobe if they are not that much more.

Kobe striploin is a 25ish / 100g.

Free range chickens also eat a lot of crap that they shouldn't. Including each other.. yeah chickens tend to.. peck at each other a lot. If they are very crowded, they'll get into a lot of fights. That means feathers and chunks all over the place. Which they then eat. It's pretty gross :lol

Just out of curiosity - what's your source? I've a friend who eats a crapton of chicken and is convinced it's the healthiest thing ever.