Giovanni Esposito & Sons

Clinton
500 Ninth Ave.
at W. 38th St.

P: 212.279.3298

Despite gentrification, there is a stretch of Ninth Avenue in Hell's Kitchen that still has food markets and specialty grocers, like Giovanni Esposito & Sons Meat Shop.  They have been in business since 1890 and today the shop is still run by an Esposito, Robert Esposito who is third generation.

What's great:

This is a real butcher that sells first-rate quality at excellent prices.  They make the best sausages in the city which are also sold in some smaller markets in other neighborhoods, but they're always best bought where they're made. The store sells all types of meat and poultry but they are probably most visited for their pork products. They also sell game; a call in advance is always good, but they generally have wonderful Hudson Valley duck products on hand (usually sold frozen).  The store is long and narrow, with windows facing West 38th Street on one side and along the other side is a glass case with racks of spare ribs, poussins (at half the price charged uptown), and beautiful pieces of beef, lamb and pork.  The men behind the counter are real professionals who can help you make a choice and then know what to do with it.  

What to avoid:

Not really a matter of avoiding, but this butcher is not a charcuterie so even though they have noble Italian roots, this is not the place to get a big selection of prosciutto, salami, or cheeses. 

What to know:

Okay, it can be inconvenient to get to this part of town.   But it is very much worth the journey.  Visiting the store is also inspiring and as you wait your turn you can talk with the other customers who are all also serious home cooks.  On my last visit there I chatted with a customer who was buying the ingredients (including a piece of plain and simple pork fat) to make his own pork sausage, kielbasa and merquez (lamb) sausage.  Given the quality of the sausage made and sold at Esposito's this may be a bit like gilding the lily, but we city home cooks can be seriously inspired by our merchants, so why not?