I can't seem to find much in the archives, and I don't trust the folks at
RFC nearly as much as the group here.

I've had Omaha Steaks (www.omahasteaks.com) and they are pretty good - even
the sirloin is tender and that's a cut I generally avoid. I've had wagyu
from www.yama-beef.com and it is incredibly good but expensive at $40+ per
pound of the better cuts. A guy on another forum says Kansas City Steak
Company (www.kcsteak.com) has better meat than Omaha Steaks at good prices,
but it's not as good as that from Lobel's in NYC (www.lobels.com) which is
supposedly the best but really expensive. I'm annoyed at the kcsteak.com
website since they don't say if the beef is Choice or Prime and my email
remains unanswered so far. Lobel's prices are more than I'd rather pay
given that their upper Prime fillets cost as much as Wagyu fillets.

Here in Dallas there are some good butchers with Prime (Kuby's, Central
Market, The Meat Market) but it's hit or miss not to mention buying online
is so much more convenient. It's also nice buying online since the steaks
are already in Cryovac bags saving me the trouble of breaking out the
Foodsaver machine to prep the steaks for my deep freezer.

Of course the old standby is to buy Choice ribeyes at under $5/lb from Sams
Wholesale and they're good but sometimes I want something better.

In article > ,
Jason in Dallas > wrote:
>I can't seem to find much in the archives, and I don't trust the folks at
>RFC nearly as much as the group here.
>
>I've had Omaha Steaks (www.omahasteaks.com) and they are pretty good - even
>the sirloin is tender and that's a cut I generally avoid. I've had wagyu
>from www.yama-beef.com and it is incredibly good but expensive at $40+ per
>pound of the better cuts. A guy on another forum says Kansas City Steak
>Company (www.kcsteak.com) has better meat than Omaha Steaks at good prices,
>but it's not as good as that from Lobel's in NYC (www.lobels.com) which is
>supposedly the best but really expensive. I'm annoyed at the kcsteak.com
>website since they don't say if the beef is Choice or Prime and my email
>remains unanswered so far. Lobel's prices are more than I'd rather pay
>given that their upper Prime fillets cost as much as Wagyu fillets.
>
>Here in Dallas there are some good butchers with Prime (Kuby's, Central
>Market, The Meat Market) but it's hit or miss not to mention buying online
>is so much more convenient. It's also nice buying online since the steaks
>are already in Cryovac bags saving me the trouble of breaking out the
>Foodsaver machine to prep the steaks for my deep freezer.
>
>Of course the old standby is to buy Choice ribeyes at under $5/lb from Sams
>Wholesale and they're good but sometimes I want something better.

Well, the prices of the meat at Peter Lugar's might be out of your
range. It's dry aged prime beef.

http://www.peterlugar.com/ourmeats.html


Chuck Demas

--
Eat Healthy | _ _ | Nothing would be done at all,
Stay Fit | @ @ | If a man waited to do it so well,
Die Anyway | v | That no one could find fault with it.
| \___/ | http://world.std.com/~cpd

> Well, the prices of the meat at Peter Lugar's might be out of your range.
It's dry aged prime beef.
>
> http://www.peterlugar.com/ourmeats.html
>
> Chuck Demas

$33/lb for NY strips plus $40 for shipping is pretty high.

I'm not afraid to pay for quality if it indeed merits the price, and in case
you haven't been following my current odyssey I recently bought an
assortment of Wagyu steaks. I'm no stranger to dry aged Prime but can get it
locally at lower prices. The issue is that there are varying levels within
the broad range that is Prime, and in fact Prime only has a lower limit by
definition.

Is Lugar's meat really that good? Have you had it? I'd be willing to give it
a go if it's worth the price, but charging $40 to overnight 6 pounds of meat
is pretty rude. Hell, after shipping their 36oz porterhouses are $100 each
when bought as a two-pack. That's almost $50/lb for Prime porterhouse. That
same $50/lb would buy Wagyu fillet mignon.

Jason in Dallas wrote:
>>Well, the prices of the meat at Peter Lugar's might be out of your range.
>
> It's dry aged prime beef.
>
>>http://www.peterlugar.com/ourmeats.html
>>
>>Chuck Demas
>
>
> $33/lb for NY strips plus $40 for shipping is pretty high.
>
> I'm not afraid to pay for quality if it indeed merits the price, and in case
> you haven't been following my current odyssey I recently bought an
> assortment of Wagyu steaks. I'm no stranger to dry aged Prime but can get it
> locally at lower prices. The issue is that there are varying levels within
> the broad range that is Prime, and in fact Prime only has a lower limit by
> definition.
>
> Is Lugar's meat really that good? Have you had it? I'd be willing to give it
> a go if it's worth the price, but charging $40 to overnight 6 pounds of meat
> is pretty rude. Hell, after shipping their 36oz porterhouses are $100 each
> when bought as a two-pack. That's almost $50/lb for Prime porterhouse. That
> same $50/lb would buy Wagyu fillet mignon.
>
>

I'm feeling particularly fortunate that my palate is not sophisticated
enough to appreciate the difference between a $100 porterhouse and the
ribeyes at my local butcher.

In article > ,
Jason in Dallas > wrote:
>> Well, the prices of the meat at Peter Lugar's might be out of your range.
>It's dry aged prime beef.
>>
>> http://www.peterlugar.com/ourmeats.html
>>
>> Chuck Demas
>
>$33/lb for NY strips plus $40 for shipping is pretty high.
>
>I'm not afraid to pay for quality if it indeed merits the price, and in case
>you haven't been following my current odyssey I recently bought an
>assortment of Wagyu steaks. I'm no stranger to dry aged Prime but can get it
>locally at lower prices. The issue is that there are varying levels within
>the broad range that is Prime, and in fact Prime only has a lower limit by
>definition.
>
>Is Lugar's meat really that good? Have you had it? I'd be willing to give it
>a go if it's worth the price, but charging $40 to overnight 6 pounds of meat
>is pretty rude. Hell, after shipping their 36oz porterhouses are $100 each
>when bought as a two-pack. That's almost $50/lb for Prime porterhouse. That
>same $50/lb would buy Wagyu fillet mignon.

$40 for an overnight of $200 of meat is only 20%, which I don't think
is very far out of line, especially as they pack it to keep it from
spoiling.

If you've read about Peter Lugar, then you realize that they select
the beef they choose, and they age it themselves. And they select
from prime beef, and don't take just any prime beef (as your local
butcher would). So, you're also paying for they're skill at selecting
the best of the prime beef, and for their skill at aging it.

I've never tried this beef, but I suspect that it would be the best
that is available. Peter Lugar has quite a reputation.


Chuck Demas

--
Eat Healthy | _ _ | Nothing would be done at all,
Stay Fit | @ @ | If a man waited to do it so well,
Die Anyway | v | That no one could find fault with it.
| \___/ | http://world.std.com/~cpd

"Charles Demas" > wrote in message
...
> $40 for an overnight of $200 of meat is only 20%, which I don't think
> is very far out of line, especially as they pack it to keep it from
spoiling.

Yeah, but other folks are shipping the same weight of steaks overnight for
nearly half the cost. The percentage of the total cost is immaterial to the
cost of shipping. They're seriously padding their shipping prices and I can
be taken advantage of up to a point, but I draw the line at charging twice
the market rate for a commodity such as shipping and handling. I suspect
they are taking advantage of their name, and perhaps they have yet to
streamline the shipping process so they pad the price to make up for their
labor. For all we know the head waiter drives his own car to the local
Kinkos to FedEx the stuff every day.

> If you've read about Peter Lugar, then you realize that they select
> the beef they choose, and they age it themselves. And they select
> from prime beef, and don't take just any prime beef (as your local
> butcher would). So, you're also paying for they're skill at selecting
> the best of the prime beef, and for their skill at aging it.

Yes, I read their whole website also. It certianly looks tempting, but is it
worth it? $50/lb after shipping is a lot to pay for porterhouse. And just
for the record we cannot assume they are "selecting the best of the prime
beef" since there could easily be better Prime beef they pass up because
they simply overlooked it or perhaps it cost more then they wanted to pay.
And conversely you cannot say my local butcher accepts any old Prime. For
example one local butcher here is quite selective.

My question is whether or not the premium price of this Peter Lugar's beef
is justified by the quality. How good is it?

In article >,
Jason in Dallas > wrote:
>"Charles Demas" > wrote in message
...
>> $40 for an overnight of $200 of meat is only 20%, which I don't think
>> is very far out of line, especially as they pack it to keep it from
>spoiling.
>
>Yeah, but other folks are shipping the same weight of steaks overnight for
>nearly half the cost. The percentage of the total cost is immaterial to the
>cost of shipping. They're seriously padding their shipping prices and I can
>be taken advantage of up to a point, but I draw the line at charging twice
>the market rate for a commodity such as shipping and handling.


Lobels would charge you $30.00 to ship more than $100 of beef.

I don't see the shipping charges the same way as you do, but I'm
not considering buying from either of them.


Chuck Demas

--
Eat Healthy | _ _ | Nothing would be done at all,
Stay Fit | @ @ | If a man waited to do it so well,
Die Anyway | v | That no one could find fault with it.
| \___/ | http://world.std.com/~cpd

"Jason in Dallas" > wrote in message
>
> Is Lugar's meat really that good? Have you had it? I'd be willing to give
it
> a go if it's worth the price, but charging $40 to overnight 6 pounds of
meat
> is pretty rude. Hell, after shipping their 36oz porterhouses are $100 each
> when bought as a two-pack. That's almost $50/lb for Prime porterhouse.
That
> same $50/lb would buy Wagyu fillet mignon.

Rude? Have you actually checked the shipping rates for overnight? To the
six pounds of meat add a couple of pounds of dry ice. No go to www.ups.com
or www.fedex.com and check real shipping cost.
Ed

http://pages.cthome.net/edhome

On Thu, 06 May 2004 15:25:42 GMT, "Jason in Dallas"
> wrote:

>Here in Dallas there are some good butchers with Prime (Kuby's, Central
>Market, The Meat Market) but it's hit or miss not to mention buying online
>is so much more convenient.

Central market is where I go for Prime. I've never been
disappointed, and at $18/lb for fresh-never-frozen it sure beats
anything I can get online. Often times I like the looks of the
Choice better than the prime and save a few bucks that way. Their
Choice is upper-limit Choice.

I know how to pick my ribeyes, and sometimes the Choice is really
better than the Prime.

-sw

Have tried Omaha, MyButcher, Stockyard, Lobels and we think the best is

http://www.allenbrothers.com/

Lobels was a close second.

YMMV