Summer is the peak of grilling season. I grill out almost every night this time of year. My number one problem is coming up with new things to put on the grill. The family gets tired of the same recipes, so I am always looking for new ideas. This past weekend, I ran out of ideas. I searched the internet, looked through grilling books , visited a couple of grocery stores to look at their meat and fish sections and found nothing. Then it hit me - go to a local meat market and see what they have.
There is a great meat market in Portland called Gartner’s Country Meat Market, so I headed in that direction. If you have not been to Gartner’s you are missing out. This is an awesome place with display cases full of all variety of meats. Gartner's is the perfect place to go for new grilling ideas.
When you enter Gartner’s you have to take a number - but taking a number and waiting is a good thing because you need at least 20 minutes just to check everything out and decide what you want. The atmosphere in the store is festive, we ran into two other friends that were also looking for grilling ideas and everyone was in great spirits - I guess that is what lots of good food will do to people! The people that work there are great too, very knowledgable and very helpful.
When my number was called, I ordered a flat iron steak, some pre-made kabobs, two pounds of their famous short ribs - and two huge bones for River. If you have a dog, be sure to get them a bone here - they are incredible.
I am not usually a guy that buys pre-marinated meat, but I have had their short ribs before, and they are amazing - so I thought I would try the pre-marinated kabobs as well.
I cooked the short ribs that night, and they did not disappoint. its is like grilling big beef bacon with the bone in. They are thin, but delicious. Some friends of ours call them “Meat Candy”.
The next night I grilled the Flat Iron steak and four chicken kabobs. Both turned out incredible.
I will definitely be headed back to Gartner’s this week to try out more of their meats. Gartner’s Country Meat Market gets 5 Bigfoots and I highly recommend them.
