Restaurant Depot

quote:

Originally posted by Vicki B:
You mean I will have to go back again, darn it! I was really hoping to continue paying top dollar for meats, etc.

RD has surpassed all I had hoped for in a market. I bought Atlantic Salmon for $4.95 a pound. They raise these fish in the Canadian Maritimes...right next door to where I used to live (Maine) and I couldn't buy them for less than $8-$9 a pound in Maine. I go to RD down here in FL and its $4.95 a pound?? I bought two entire sides!

I want to try some fresh Mahi sometime. They have sushi grade tuna in the fish dept! My head swims at the selection and prices every time I go in.

Some friends of mine laugh at the sales flyer when I show it to them. They think a gallon of salad dressing is a joke.

I come from a family that had a restaurant. Large sizes are not a new thing to me. At the end of the tourist season we would buy large containers of many items and eat them all through the off-season when the restaurant was closed.

I used to look at the meat counter every time I went to a supermarket. I used to look at the sales flyers looking for a "deal" on meat, poultry,and fish. No more. I may have to drive an hour to get there but I save a bundle and the selection, freshness, and quality is excellent at RD.

I love the place!

We bought a couple Atlantic Salmon for $4.95/lb also. Smoking them early next week. Going there is like being a kid at Toys R Us.

Went back again today! So easy to spend!!! Case of blood oranges, 5lb block of cheese, salami, etc...

I need a home for my new slicer which is coming late this week, so I am gonna order a Boos block cart with casters and a lower stainless shelf. Hubby even told me to get the bigger one The nice guy behind the special order table even remembered me by name from yesterday. Their pricing is amazing. I am getting 50% off RSP. I will be speaking to him on Tuesday to order.

We just got back from RD. Got a 5# block of cheddar, 5# of cooked crumbled bacon, four 1# bags of tri color tortilla strips, a maked down cryo of 3 racks of full spares for a buck ninety a pound, a gallon of Hellman's low-fat ranch dressing for $11 bucks, and 2# of imitation crabmeat for $4.50 (hey, everyone has a guilty pleasure, don't they). We got there just before closing so the fresh seafood counter had been tucked in for the night .

The March flyer comes out in 10 days!

I sure do wish we had a RD close to us as it sounds like it is just like a kid at a toy store. My wife and I like to go to the kitchen appliance and utensil store and call it the toy store.

Restaurant Depot = Sam's Club on Steroids

Anyone know who owns RD?

quote:

Originally posted by 2nd Hand Smoke:
Anyone know who owns RD?

I think I saw this name on the wall at RD this afternoon and I heard an employee mention the name once also: http://www.jetro.com/company_info/company_info.htm

Yes, you are correct. The downtown Chicago location is listed as Jetro/RD.

Vicki. I've got a nice thick Boos cutting board. They make a high quality product. You should be happy with it.

Yes, they make great pdt. I alway said I wanted one of those huge square BB tables u see in shops, u know the ones that have started wearing down in the middle because they have been used forever. Makes me think of the little old men who have been butchering all their lives and the block gets handed down thru the family. Mine wont be 18" thick, but it will be like 4" on stainless cart with wheels, just what I need. I think I am going back Wed. when they will have more Gulf wild caught shrimp, thats what i like to buy.

Wow Vicki, It sounds like you found your new favorite store. I plan on heading back this weekend with some time and money to spend

That's a big YUP!!! Now I am gonna go back soon to get a good sanitizer for the slicer. It came yesterday and I call Globe to ask a few questions and he said if I am gonna cut raw meat I should get a sanitizer and he knows they can help me over at RD because folks from Globe go there too!

I'm so jealous. I'd LOVE a RD in Oklahoma. Guess I can drive to Dallas.

But there's always limits. Guess you guys can't get top choice 18lb briskets all the time like I can (coming from a Beef State)

Smokin, I would love to be in your situation as well. Coming from OK, I am sure you can get a lot more information easily about the beef and know exactly where it comes from. I used to be a lot more anal about all that stuff. I used to worry about how the meat was handled going to market and what it ate and if it was injected with hormones, etc. I really can't get much of that from your average meat buying situation. I know the Flank I got was New Zealand Grass Fed. The Brisket was IBP, don't know much about that, but, I don't want to pay an arm and a leg either, there is always a compromise one way or the other.

Well I have to say I guess I DO have an advantage living in Nebraska and only 40 miles from a Tyson/IBP beef plant. i have a good friend that works in management there and can get me choice box's of whatever cut of beef I want in cryovac at employee pricing. It is incredible meat and all corn fed in local feedlots. I would love to have an RD close by but would sure hate to give up my Tyson/IBP connection!!

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
I'm so jealous. I'd LOVE a RD in Oklahoma. Guess I can drive to Dallas.

But there's always limits. Guess you guys can't get top choice 18lb briskets all the time like I can (coming from a Beef State)

I have a 19.24lb Choice packer in my freezer I got at RD in Orlando. It says Choice on the cryovac. Would it say Top Choice if it was Top Choice? I'm a brisket newbie having only smoked a couple of WallyWorld packers previously.

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinMAINEiac:
I have a 19.24lb Choice packer in my freezer I got at RD in Orlando. It says Choice on the cryovac. Would it say Top Choice if it was Top Choice? I'm a brisket newbie having only smoked a couple of WallyWorld packers previously.

The only grade higher than choice is prime and it is MUCH higher priced. Maybe worth it in fillets and ribeyes but nothing else.

RD near me has two brands of "Choice" brisket. The one choice brisket was $2.30 a lb, it just had the "Choice" on the weight label. They also had a "Superior Angus Beef" brand (Separate label with a picture of a Steer) choice brisket that was $2.90 a lb.

Picture of the label, you can click on it to get the full size picture on photo bucket.

I was looking at the brisket I brought home from RD and it is Choice, but while inspecting part of it I noticed there are one or two place on the brisket that looks like a beautifully marbled steak (more like Prime). I lucked out. I really hope it tastes as good as it looks.

When I get around to making it, I will be using the Butchers Brisket Injection that I just received in my exchange today from David Q.

The Angus beef thing is a great marketing tool that packers use and thats all it is...a marketing tool. There are many breeds of cattle that qualify for this program as long as they are black or mostly black. When a meat grades choice you cannot tell the difference once the hide is off so the extra cost of Superior Angus is not worth it in my opinion for whatever that is worth. Choice is choice and that does NOT come from grass fed beef!!

Thanks for the info, you saved me 0.60 a lbs on my next purchase.

Wayne B

i will say that you've got to look at the meat. the 'choice' short ribs and the 'superior angus' were markedly different last time i was at RD.

the choice ribs that day had a heavy thick fat layer while the superior angus was clearly more even distributed and marbled.

i bought one of each and the choice ribs were clearly less meat yield after trimming off the thick fat layer and the silverskin.

there's a lot of latitude in 'choice'

Well. I've got a RD 20 miles away, and it's really neat as all or most of you know.

When I want top choice (upper 93 percentile of beef), just shy of prime, I go to my local Orangevale Meat Market. They get their beef from just outside Omaha for its high quality. Paying for it, not getting 2nd Hand Smoke prices. That is a humongus advantage.

Well like a good friend of mine always says, you can't put a price on good food!! I sure wish I had a RD close by but we can't have everything can we?

Its amazing how different prices are across the country.
My RD only had the Superior Angus Beef Brisket and I paid
$2.39 lb last week

quote:

Originally posted by WayneB:
RD near me has two brands of "Choice" brisket. The one choice brisket was $2.30 a lb, it just had the "Choice" on the weight label. They also had a "Superior Angus Beef" brand (Separate label with a picture of a Steer) choice brisket that was $2.90 a lb.

Picture of the label, you can click on it to get the full size picture on photo bucket.

I guess you guys know that grading isn't mandatory in the US, folks have to pay for it. If not graded it's called a "No Roll", which is what is seen at a lot of Walmart's.Just won't have a grade on the cryo, cheaper meat for them, but doesn't mean you can't find a few treasures there from time to time...FWIW

quote:

Originally posted by cal:
I guess you guys know that grading isn't mandatory in the US, folks have to pay for it. If not graded it's called a "No Roll", which is what is seen at a lot of Walmart's.Just won't have a grade on the cryo, cheaper meat for them, but doesn't mean you can't find a few treasures there from time to time...FWIW

My last WallyWorld packer was very good! I credit the cooker, not the cook