Where St. Louis Buys Its Meat: A Neighborhood Guide to Local Butcher Shops

The best butcher shops in St. Louis are more than places to pick up steaks, chops or a few brats for the grill — many are longtime neighborhood institutions that still offer something increasingly difficult to find at a supermarket: personal service, specialty products and someone behind the counter who actually knows how to help you choose the right cut.

Labor Day may mark the unofficial end of summer, but around St. Louis, it certainly doesn't mean the end of grilling season.

In fact, early fall may be one of the best times to get reacquainted with an increasingly old-fashioned idea: buying meat from an actual neighborhood butcher.

With grocery prices, supply disruptions and questions about where our food comes from getting more attention lately, many of us are thinking a little harder about what goes into the shopping cart. A local butcher shop won't solve every grocery-store frustration, of course. But it does offer something that's become harder to find: knowledgeable people behind the counter, meat cut to order, specialty products you won't see everywhere and, in some cases, a much clearer connection to where that food originated.

Fortunately, St. Louis still has plenty of places keeping that tradition alive.

From a whole-animal butcher in Maplewood and a nearly 80-year-old meat shop in Brentwood to an old-school sausage maker in South City and a new European-inspired market in downtown Kirkwood, here's where St. Louis goes when the supermarket meat case just won't do.

Ladue: Butchery Market

9208 Clayton Road, Ladue
Website: toasttab.com/local/order/truffles-butchery-new-9202-clayton-rd

If your idea of a butcher shop involves steaks and chops alongside seafood, prepared foods, wine and everything else you might need for a really good dinner, Butchery Market fits the bill.

Connected to longtime Ladue restaurant Truffles, the market on Clayton Road combines a butcher counter with an upscale neighborhood food market. You'll also find sandwiches, house-made foods and plenty of options for putting together an entire meal.

This is probably the most polished stop on our list, but its appeal is fundamentally old-fashioned: walk in, talk to someone who knows food and leave with dinner.

Worth knowing: This is a particularly convenient option for Ladue, Frontenac, Clayton and Town & Country residents.

Kirkwood: Fox's Finest Meats, Seafood & Marketplace

159 W. Argonne Drive, Kirkwood
Website: foxsfineststl.com

One of St. Louis' newest butcher shops also feels like a throwback.

Father-and-son owners Kevin and Luke Beattie created Fox's Finest as a European-inspired neighborhood marketplace where customers can buy high-quality meats and seafood, pick up prepared foods and baked goods, and — importantly — ask an actual butcher or chef what they should make for dinner.

The concept is especially well suited to its location in the heart of downtown Kirkwood. Stop at the butcher, walk through the Farmers' Market, grab coffee or lunch and browse a few shops without ever moving the car.

That is neighborhood shopping at its best.

Look for: Premium beef and pork, fresh seafood, prepared foods and lunch sandwiches.

Maplewood: Bolyard's Meat & Provisions

2733 Sutton Boulevard, Maplewood
Website: bolyardsmeat.com

For anyone particularly interested in where their meat comes from, Bolyard's deserves a spot near the top of the list.

Bolyard's has built its reputation around whole-animal butchery and a rotating butcher case that extends far beyond familiar steaks and chops. Depending on what's available, shoppers may encounter fresh sausages, smoked meats, charcuterie, stocks, rendered fats and lesser-known cuts that rarely appear in a standard supermarket case.

There is also something wonderfully transparent about seeing the craft of butchering rather than simply picking up an anonymous package from a refrigerated case.

And, like Fox's in Kirkwood, Bolyard's benefits enormously from its location. Sutton Boulevard makes it easy to turn a meat run into an afternoon wandering downtown Maplewood.

Best for: Interesting cuts, house-made products and cooks who actually want to learn something from the person behind the counter.

Brentwood: Baumann's Fine Meats

8829 Manchester Road
Website: baumannsfinemeats.com

Baumann's is the kind of place people mean when they talk nostalgically about having a neighborhood butcher.

The shop specializes in classic butcher-counter fare along with smoked beef and pork tenderloin, smoked wings, handmade sausages, beef jerky, tasso, ribs and filet mignon.

This is less about trendy ingredients and more about skilled butchers, a well-stocked meat case and the kind of specialties customers come back to buy again and again.

Its Manchester Road location also makes it one of the most convenient shops on this list for people in Brentwood, Richmond Heights, Rock Hill, Webster Groves and neighboring communities.

Best for: Smoked meats, sausage, jerky and classic butcher-shop service.

St. Louis Hills: LeGrand's Market & Catering

4414 Donovan Avenue
Website: legrandsmarket.com

The old Tom-Boy sign outside LeGrand's is almost reason enough to include it.

LeGrand's has served St. Louis since 1987 from a corner that has housed neighborhood grocery shopping since 1936. Longtime residents may still remember the location as Binder's Market or simply “the old Tom-Boy store.”

Today LeGrand's is part butcher shop, part deli, part grocery and part South City institution. Its butchers hand-cut beef, pork, poultry and specialty meats, and the counter includes everything from ribeyes and brisket to pork steaks and an impressive lineup of house bratwursts.

It's a reminder that the traditional butcher didn't always operate as a standalone specialty shop. Often, the butcher counter was simply an essential part of the neighborhood grocery.

Don't miss: The house bratwurst — or one of LeGrand's famously substantial sandwiches while you're there.

South City: G&W Meat & Bavarian Style Sausage Company

4828 Parker Avenue
Website: gwsausage.com

If St. Louis has a sausage pilgrimage, this may be it.

G&W makes more than 30 varieties of Bavarian-style sausage, ranging from bratwurst and liverwurst to its locally famous Landjäger beef sticks. Its products also show up at restaurants, festivals and St. Louis institutions around town.

The store itself sits on Parker Avenue in South City and feels gloriously untrendy.

That's part of why it belongs on this list.

St. Louis' German heritage is woven into the city's architecture, beer culture and food traditions, and G&W is one of those places where that history is still something you can actually eat.

Best for: Brats, smoked meats and discovering a sausage you didn't know existed.

Soulard: Vincent's 12th Street Market

2400 S. 12th Street
Website: vincentsmarket.biz

Vincent's is not technically just a butcher shop, which may be exactly what makes it special.

It has been a real neighborhood store since 1912, complete with produce, pantry staples, wine and a traditional fresh meat counter.

In a neighborhood that has seen tremendous change over the past century, Vincent's represents something increasingly rare: the small grocery store where regular customers actually become regulars.

You don't necessarily come here to hunt down a rare Wagyu steak.

You come because this is what grocery shopping used to look like.

Best for: Everyday meats, neighborhood grocery shopping and supporting a genuinely historic small business.

South County: Kenrick's Meats & Catering

4324 Weber Road
Website: kenricks.com

Kenrick's began in 1945, when Herb Kenrick operated a rolling meat market serving South St. Louis. The business eventually grew from a small Gravois Road butcher shop into its much larger Weber Road location and now describes itself as St. Louis' largest butcher shop.

And size is definitely part of the appeal.

Unlike some of the smaller specialty shops on this list, Kenrick's is particularly useful when you're feeding a crowd or stocking the freezer. Its meat market includes beef, poultry, ham, house specialties, prepared meals and sides.

It's also one of those places where you can walk in planning to buy meat and somehow leave with fried chicken, sandwiches and dinner for tomorrow.

Best for: Family cookouts, freezer stocking, holiday meals and feeding a crowd.

Ferguson: Paul's Market

1020 N. Elizabeth Avenue, Ferguson
Website: paulsmarketstl.com

One reason we wanted this guide to extend beyond the usual central-corridor foodie destinations is Paul's Market.

The Ferguson neighborhood market combines a traditional butcher counter with groceries, deli offerings and prepared foods, and remains particularly well known for its fresh meats and old-school butcher service. Its official web address is paulsmarketstl.com.

Paul's is exactly the kind of place that makes this list more interesting than a roundup of expensive gourmet meat counters.

It's a neighborhood market first.

Best for: Steaks, custom cuts, everyday meat shopping and filling the freezer without turning the trip into a special occasion.

Chesterfield: The Smoke House Market

16806 Chesterfield Airport Road, Chesterfield
Website: smokehousemarket.com

Next door to Annie Gunn's, The Smoke House Market is what happens when an old-fashioned butcher shop grows up into a gourmet food destination.

Its history stretches back to 1937, when the business began as the Chesterfield Mercantile. Today the market combines specialty groceries, cheeses, produce, seafood and prepared foods with a full-service gourmet meat market staffed by butchers.

This is the place on our list most likely to inspire an entire dinner party.

You might walk in for steaks and leave with cheese, pasta, olive oil, seafood, a pie and an entirely different weekend menu than the one you had planned.

Best for: Special-occasion steaks, gourmet ingredients and people who consider grocery shopping entertainment.

Why Shop at a Local Butcher?

For much of the 20th century, knowing “your butcher” wasn't particularly quaint.

It was just how people bought meat.

The butcher knew which cuts were tender, which ones needed a slow braise, how thick to slice a steak and how much roast you really needed for six people.

We've traded a lot of that personal expertise for convenience.

And convenience is useful. Nobody is suggesting we abandon supermarkets.

But the local butcher still has a few advantages worth remembering.

If ribeyes are painfully expensive, ask what else is good this week.

If you've never cooked a tri-tip or skirt steak, ask how.

If you're feeding 14 people, tell them.

If you want to know whether a less familiar cut can save you money, there's someone standing behind the counter whose actual profession is knowing the answer.

Some shops also offer more transparency about sourcing. Others make sausage, cure meats or smoke products themselves. And many simply preserve the increasingly rare pleasure of buying food from a locally owned business where someone may eventually recognize you when you walk through the door.

A Very St. Louis Food Tradition

There is another reason these shops are worth preserving. Collectively, they tell a surprisingly good story about St. Louis.

There's German sausage in South City.

A century-old neighborhood grocery in Soulard.

A traditional meat market in Ferguson.

An old Tom-Boy market in St. Louis Hills.

A whole-animal butcher in Maplewood.

And brand-new neighborhood markets in places like Kirkwood that are reinventing an old idea for a new generation.

That's a lot more interesting than a supermarket meat aisle.

So while Labor Day may supposedly mark the end of summer barbecue season, we'll take that designation with a grain of salt.

This is St. Louis.

There are still plenty of pork steaks to grill.

Before You Go

Independent butcher shops often have different hours than supermarkets, and specialty cuts and house-made products can sell out — especially before holidays and weekends.

If you're making a special trip for something specific, call ahead or check the shop's current website for hours and availability before you go.

And if we missed your favorite neighborhood butcher, we'd love to hear about it. St. Louis food traditions are often best discovered by asking the people who live here.