Iowa, Meat, and Rock'n Roll!

I couldn't wait to get out to Gartner's Meats here in PDX this morning. Maybe it was the fact that I was listening to "Marseilles", this rocking 1980 hit from Angel City that got stuck in my head while I was in the shower. I don't know about you, but almost every morning there seems to be some song rolling around in my dome as soon as I wake up. I've offered full disclosure to my friends that more often than I'm comfortable with that song is "High on the Hill is a Lonely Goatherd" from The Sound of Music. I don't even want to know why that might be. Anyway, this morning w and I were talking about the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, just as I was getting in the shower. Then she left the room, and my rock-addled mind switched over to Marseilles by Angel City. I'm not proud of the fact that I kind of like that song, but it is what it is. Anyway, I got out of the shower, downloaded it from Limewire, and much to w's dismay, cranked it up. And thought about meat.

The longest meat counter on the west coast. Mmmm...beefy!






My meat being tied up, just moments from my hungry little hands!


We're having our friends from Castagna, Monique and the Handsome One, over for dinner tonight, because the H.O.'s parents are in town from Iowa, and we'll be tonight's diversion. Iowa, meat, and rock 'n roll. It all goes together. Especially when you get to go to the Mecca of meat here, Gartner's Meats. Gartner's has been out in the hinterlands by the airport for about 50 years. Surrounded by a neighborhood filled with homeowners who seem to think the best place for the fridge is the front porch and who never met a car that they thought didn't look better up on blocks, this place is the deal to get your pound or a hundred of flesh. This is old school butchering. You've got some animal from the forest strapped to the hood of your car? Come on in. Need a side of beef in a hurry? They'll hook you up. Pork, beef, chicken, house smoked sausages? They've got you so covered. And don't even think about leaving without their famous pepperoni sticks for the drive home. At 9:15 this morning in the car on my way to work, nothing tastes better. Especially when I've got a comforting 6.5-pound three rib prime roast that in a few short hours will be sizzling in my oven sitting next to me. Stay tuned tomorrow and I'll let you know how it goes. Rock on!

Gartner's pepperoni sticks....don't leave for home without 'em!