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If your carnivorous journey begins and ends with a jaunt to the grocery store’s meat case, you’re missing out. At a butcher shop, you can have a steak sliced to your preferred thickness, find a less expensive cut, and get advice on how to cook it. But first, the great mysteries of the meat counter: What should you ask for? And how do you know whether that expensive steak is worth bringing home?

I took those questions to chef Brad Wise, who is bringing his popular Southern California butcher shop, The Wise Ox, to UnCommons this fall as a companion to his adjacent steakhouse, Rare Society. We talked about what to buy, when to splurge, and how to shop when you don’t know a Denver steak from a New York strip.

And then it’s time for your homework: get out and try four outstanding local butcher shops where you can put this newfound culinary confidence to good use.

Know Thy Meat: A Buying Guide with Chef Brad Wise

The Wise Ox offers more than three dozen cuts and preparations. (The Wise Ox)

For help decoding the meat case, Brad Wise says his team at Wise Ox helps customers choose cuts, portions, and cooking methods. The Las Vegas location will have a deli counter serving cheesesteaks, burgers, and smoked turkey sandwiches. For home cooks, he plans to introduce his monthly Ox Box subscription in the first quarter of 2027: more than 10 pounds of beef, chicken, and pork, portioned and vacuum-sealed, with some cuts already seasoned or marinated.

Here are his five tips for approaching the butcher shop experience.

What should I tell the butcher?

“How many people are you feeding? Are they big eaters or small eaters? Some people prefer an eight-ounce steak. A lot of people would like a smaller filet, on that six-ounce side. We even go so far as to ask, "What are you cooking on?”

Which overlooked cut should I try?

“We call it the butcher’s cut in our butcher shops, but it’s the Denver steak out of the shoulder. You season with salt and pepper or whatever your desired flavoring is. You sear it at a high temperature. It’s just one of those very, very succulent pieces of meat that doesn’t break the bank.”

When should I consider Wagyu?

“If you want that rich, unctuous depth and sweeter meat flavor, then yeah, by all means, get Wagyu. The fat is so rich; it’s easy to cook. There’s more room for error, so it’s a little bit more forgiving because of the fat and marbling content.”

What should I ask about the meat itself?

“Explain where it’s coming from … why we chose it, and ultimately give you the best ideas and the funnest way to cook those items. Farms and things are going to vary, and it just matters what price point you’re willing to spend at.”

What’s worth the splurge?

“Personally, porterhouse. You have two cuts of meat: you have a filet and a New York. It’s a larger portion. You will usually have extras.”

Your Guide to Las Vegas Butcher Shops

A close up of a cheeseburger in a wrapper, showing the melted cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and meat.

Diamond Spur’s $6.99 cheeseburger features beef from the company’s ranches. (@eatdiamondspur)

Las Vegas’ butcher counters run the gamut: whole-animal butchery at Featherblade, beef from Diamond Spur’s ranching operation, and a family meat market dating back to 1954. You can shop for a dry-aged ribeye, find the makings of oxtail stew, or buy enough sausage to give everyone at your next cookout something different to try.

Featherblade Craft Butchery (West, Northwest, and Southwest Valley)

London-born butcher Martin Kirrane brings his English training to Featherblade, where whole-animal butchery and conversations about sourcing are central to the business. Dry-aged steaks, homemade sausages, bacon, and pies are among the specialties.

Know Before You Go: Featherblade is an English name for a shoulder cut with a featherlike strip of connective tissue through its center. Removing that tissue yields a flat-iron steak.

Diamond Spur Butcher Shop & Deli (Southwest)

Chef Marc Marrone and Todd Lunger opened Diamond Spur in May, taking inspiration from the meat markets of the Bronx’s Arthur Avenue. They operate ranches with Cindy Tolle in Arizona, South Dakota, Kansas, and Missouri, supplying the counter’s grass-fed beef. Ribeyes, New York strips, brisket, and ground beef share space with pork, chicken, and eggs. The deli’s $6.99 cheeseburger uses beef ground in-house.

Know Before You Go: Buy tomorrow’s steaks and let the deli handle tonight: Half a chicken with fries is $11.99, and a house-made meatball hero is $12.99. A dozen Cruz Farms pasture-raised eggs is $5.99 at the butcher counter.

The Butcher Block (Centennial Hills, Henderson, and Southwest)

The Butcher Block gives home cooks access to USDA Choice and Prime beef, American and Japanese Wagyu, and steaks cut to their preferred thickness. The family-owned business also ventures well beyond beef: its specialty catalog includes camel ribeye, ostrich filet, elk medallions, and wild boar rack.

Know Before You Go: Build your mixed grill around the sausage selection. Options include homemade Philly steak links, maple blueberry sausage, and chicken sausage with sun-dried tomato and basil. That gives you several things to try without committing to another steak.

John Mull’s Meats (Northwest)

A Las Vegas original, John Mull’s opened as a slaughterhouse and meat store in 1954; his grandson, Chuck Frommer, took over in 1981. The Thom Boulevard market’s selection rewards cooks looking beyond the steak case: beef cheeks, oxtail, rabbit, smoked ham hocks, and turkey wings.

Know Before You Go: Whole smoked turkeys and smoked turkey breasts require advance orders. For something to eat on the spot, Road Kill Grill serves barbecue and sides, including mac and cheese and potato salad, with picnic tables under a covered outdoor patio.

See you next week! In the meantime, what do you ask your butcher to set aside for you? Reply with the cut, the shop, and how you cook it.

– Melinda Sheckells

Today’s newsletter was edited by Layla Muhammad.

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