More Philadelphia beef has out-of-town brand

As dawn breaks over the city, the meat men pull up at restaurant back doors, dropping off steaks, ground beef, and other cuts. More of these trucks now bear a 201 or 646 area code on their doors.

Pat LaFrieda and DeBragga & Spitler - New York-rooted butchers who enjoy cult followings among chefs who rave about their dry-aging - have recently begun nibbling at the wholesale-beef business in the region.

Their appearance in Philadelphia has everything to do with the price of real estate in Lower Manhattan. As the Meatpacking District got trendier, the actual meatpackers - family businesses that work the night away in 29-degree rooms - sold or leased their century-old buildings and moved from the traffic-choked side streets to the wide-open highway web of New Jersey.

Give them an EZ Pass transponder and a full tank of fuel, and - just like that - you have a commodity war.

"We're only an hour and 15 minutes from Philly," said Marc Sarrazin, a partner in the Jersey City-based DeBragga, which entered the Philadelphia market about six months ago and counts Table 31, Sbraga, Lacroix, Amis, Zahav, Philadelphia Cricket Club, and Vetri as customers.

LaFrieda, whose client list includes the Pub & Kitchen, Rittenhouse Tavern, and Stephen Starr's empire, has delivered to Philadelphia for nearly two years, said Pat LaFrieda 3d, who operates his third-generation business from a new building in North Bergen, on the New Jersey side of the Lincoln Tunnel. (LaFrieda sells the sizzle as well as the steak, as the business is featured on the Food Network series Meat Men.)

"I think we do the job a little better," said Sarrazin, "just as he thinks they're better than us. He has his loyal fans. So do we."

James Conboy, who has owned Philadelphia's century-old George L. Wells Meat Co. since 1970, begs to differ with both. "They're a hundred miles away," he said, unconcerned. "Their service can't be better."

Chefs interviewed for this article said LaFrieda's and DeBragga's prices were comparable to or even cheaper than local meat companies.

Kevin Sbraga, chef-owner of Sbraga, said he favored DeBragga's quality. "Better-quality meats at a cheaper price? How do you fight that?" he asked.

(While both New York butchers sell meat on their websites, consumers might experience sticker shock at the retail price. For example, LaFrieda's sells eight 6-ounce, short-rib burger patties for $44.)

While LaFrieda and DeBragga specialize in naturally, sustainably raised, grass-fed meats, their claim to fame is customized dry-aged beef. Table 31 chef-owner Chris Scarduzio buys DeBragga's 38-ounce "Tomahawk" steak and sells the monstrosity for $69 (it easily feeds two). Scarduzio said he discovered DeBragga when he was opening Scarduzio's, a steak house, in Atlantic City. "I went looking for something unique, not what everybody else was doing," Scarduzio said. "And their aging process [as long as 36 days] is superior."

Wells' Conboy said he didn't see the advantage of aging longer than 28 days.

Unlike most meat companies, LaFrieda is big on branding. LaFrieda manages to get its name on menus, attached to ground beef. LaFrieda's custom beef blends have dovetailed with chefs' recent obsession with burgers. LaFrieda meets with chefs to devise proprietary formulas that incorporate precise proportions of chuck, sirloin, brisket, and other cuts. It's said that no two are alike.

"We started with a mix that was 100 percent dry-aged," said Rittenhouse Tavern chef Nicholas Elmi. "But that was too good - almost not a burger." His LaFrieda burger is now 50 percent dry-aged.

The Starr Restaurant Organization began using a special LaFrieda blend in September for six Philadelphia restaurants: Continental Old City, Continental Mid-town, Jones, Parc, Pod, and Route 6. Starr chefs visited and left with three samples, LaFrieda said. "One just blew them away." Starr previously had sourced its ground beef from a variety of distributors.

Much was at stake, as it were: LaFrieda said Starr orders about 600 pounds of ground beef a day, five days a week. "We go where we can find the best quality," said Stephen Starr, no stranger to importing New York meat, as he began bringing in rib-eye steaks from New York's Gachot & Gachot at Barclay Prime when the steak house opened nine years ago.

All the chefs said they still bought some meat from local distributors and from smaller farms. Wells' Conboy said he and associates referred to a restaurant's preferred meat companies as being the bride and its second-choice supplier being the bridesmaid. The allegiances will change. "Sooner or later, the bride will be the bridesmaid," he said, and vice versa.

Makes 4 servingsEndTextStartText

4 beef short ribs

Coarse salt and black pepper

3 cups zinfandel (or hearty, fruity red wine)

1/2 cup sugar

6 ounces canned chopped tomatoes

2 cups beef broth (you may substitute one container of Glace de Veau veal stock with    enough water added to equal 2 cups)

1 tablespoon minced garlic 3 sprigs fresh thyme, picked off stem

2 bay leaves

3 ounces canola oil

1 large onion, diced (2 cups)

2 medium carrots, diced (1/2 cup)

2 stalks celery, diced (1/2  cup)

2 ounces dried mushrooms, preferably porcini

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1. Season short ribs with salt and pepper; be rather generous. In a mixing bowl, whisk together zinfandel, sugar, tomatoes, beef (or veal) broth, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, and a pinch of salt.

2. Pour canola oil into a heavy pot or Dutch oven (at least 5 quarts) and place over high heat. When oil is hot, working in small batches, brown the meat. Turn each piece to brown on all sides before removing from the pot. (Tip: A sturdy pot that conducts heat well has a lot to do with the success of this dish. Get yourself a cast-iron pot. It'll outlast you.)

3. When all beef is browned and removed from pot, add onion, carrots, and celery, allowing onion to cook until browned, about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

4. Return beef to the pot along with wine mixture. Allow wine to come to a boil before reducing heat, skimming fat from surface.

5. After beef and wine mixture have simmered for several minutes, add mushrooms. Cover and simmer over very low heat until meat is fork-tender and nearly falling off the bone, about 11/2 to 2 hours.

6. Once the beef has cooked, remove from pot and keep warm. Turn up heat and reduce the pot liquids until thickened, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

7. Transfer ribs to four shallow bowls, spooning liquid over top.

Per serving: 729 calories, 53 grams protein, 22 grams carbohydrates, 17 grams sugar, 38 grams fat, 155 milligrams cholesterol, 501 milligrams sodium, 1 gram dietary fiber.EndText