Update: Sadly, Alhambra Halal Meat Co. is closed.

A few months ago, Eli and I were walking down 24th street when we came across what looked like a new carnaceria. But upon closer inspection – it wasn’t that at all.  Instead it was the about-to-open Alhambra Halal Meat Co. We made it a point to go back shortly there after and check it out, and found out it was meat market love at first sight.   The store is small, but well stocked and neatly organized: along the back wall is a small organic produce section, and a nice selection of arab staples – fresh pita, and a nice selection of cans, dried goods and cheeses.  I highly recommend the labneh.

The main event is the meat display case is running through the middle of the space. It’s a vast expanse of chilled and labelled rows of poultry and meat, in various states of fabrication. Behind the counter is the main cooler, where whole animals are kept, and are visible through a large glass window.  Everything is open, clean, and exposed to public viewing – I like a butcher with no secrets (except for maybe the recipe for their homemade spicy lamb sausages – more on that later.)

Alhambra is a halal establishment. The first thing you’ll notice when you walk in how clean it is. The entire market, down to the floors is spotless.  The method of how the meat is stored seems pretty consistent from other halal butchers i’ve been in.  I don’t know if it’s part of the ritualistic code, or simply cultural sanitary custom, but I like it.  The meat is clearly cared for and tended to, and the fastidiousness of their cleaning would make a brewer proud.  I’ve found their meat to be consistently fresh and delicious.

A few weeks ago, I went in looking for a brisket.  I placed my order and Ernesto, one of the butchers, ran into the glass walled main cooler and cut the brisket off a whole cow, and then proceeded to trim the fat to order. I was impressed, and asked if it would be OK to come back, camera in hand, to learn a bit more about their operation.

When I returned a few weeks later, it was pouring rain outside, and as it result it was pretty quiet in the market.  Tom (pictured at the top of the post), one of the owners was manning the register, welcomed me as I shook off the rain from outside.  He explained a little about the business and the importance and quality of halal meats, for also ethical and quality reasons, beyond just the religious reasons.  He then handed me off to Souleiman, the coowner and also butcher, who took me behind the counter, where he was cubing up another customer’s order.

After he finished, Souleiman brought me around to the back, and showed off the fresh lamb sausages they had just finished making.  Called “merguez” they are a classic North African spicy lamb sausage, made with sumac, cilantro, garlic, onion and cayenne.  I pestered him for the exact recipe, but he wouldn’t budge.

Their process emphasizes taking control of as much of the process as possible, which ensures both adherence to halal laws, as well as fresher product.  This was most clearly illustrated in the main cooler where they keep the animals before they break them down in-house.  Once in the cooler Souleiman proudly showed off the whole beast.

This is a guy who is proud of his product and business, and it shows. The result is a great, classic neighborhood butcher level of service. While I was there, another customer was interested in doing a large beef roast.  Ernesto helped him pick out a roast, then offered to tie it for him.

My tour over, i returned to the customer side of the counter, and placed my order for the afternoon – lamb neck.  I’d seen some other food blog posts, and was thinking it was the perfect order to take advantage of their whole animals. Ernesto ducked into the cooler, and disappeared below the window viewing window.  A whole lamb body began the sway back and fort.  When it stopped a few moments later, and Ernesto emerged from the cooler, beaming with lamb neck in hand.

He quickly trimmed it, ran it back to the saw to cut it up, and packaged it up – all to quickly for me to catch on film.  He’s fast, and much more concerned with quickly taking care business than waiting for me to adjust my focus.  He also packed up a few of Souleiman’s merguez sausages for me, which Tom rang up for me and I headed back out into the San Francisco rain.

I’m excited to see the Alhambra meat market as an healthy and welcome addition to 24th Street.  The cultural diversity is a great expansion for the street, and they provide a nice compliment to the produce markets just next store.   Their emphasis on old school service pays off, and doing everything in house keeps costs down – which is reflected in their prices – it’s easily less expensive than the supermarket, and an infinitely better product. Best of all, you can get a custom cut of meat, and often one that might not be regularly available.  For example, they have an expansive offal selection.

Anyone got some beer and offal ideas?

PS – Want to see what became of the lamb neck?

Alhambra’s Web Site

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Tags: 24th Street, Alhambra, Butcher, Halal, mission

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 at 4:44 am and is filed under etc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.