(I want to occasionally write about local and non-local food places that I love on the blog. They're not paying me.)

I am really fortunate to have an outstanding resource for fish and poultry right in my own neighborhood (Bob’s fish market at the Mission Market on 22^nd street and Mission), but one thing that I’ve always found lacking in the Mission is a great butcher.

When I visited the Antica Macelleria in Panzano, I totally had a fleeting fantasy of being the one to open that shop, part-butcher shop, part-meat library, part social gathering place. The fantasy buzz faded, though, and gave way to images of hipsters getting wasted on the house wine, a line of homeless people forming to eat free arista rather than the plates at Glide, and, you know, abject failure stemming from a faulty business plan.

Avedano's Holly Park Meat Market isn’t the Antica Macelleria, nor is it truly in the Mission, but it is a really remarkable place, and I am glad for its existence. I first read about the shop in Meatpaper, an SF-based magazine devoted to “meat culture”, which included an interview with the three women who founded and operate Avedano's.

In addition to a few baskets of really beautiful produce and jars of interesting condiments and jams, as well as a couple small refrigerators with cheese, cured meats (some from Boccalone), and pates, the long case always has something exciting. Very fresh fish, whole and filleted; sustainably sourced beef, lamb, pork, poultry, and usually something like fresh duck breasts or fresh quail. But what’s even better is the flexibility and service. I called a couple weeks ago needing a bone-in pork loin chop, and even though they had one in the store they could cut for me, the counter person told me I could always call with a couple days notice and they could set me up. I noticed when I went in to pick up the pork a grass-fed veal liver in the case. If I hadn’t already done a lot of prep for the pork, it would have been really fun to work with that!

I’m really already close to living the dream. Maybe I’ll move to Bernal Heights or Avedano's will open Avedano's 2 on South Van Ness, and I can start having my paychecks direct deposited there. Meanwhile, hurrah for women-owned butcher shops within (kind of long) walking distance, and hurrah for Avedano's!