Chilebrown sent me an email in late February about a new meat market opening in Moraga. C.B. wanted to know if I’d like to attend a ribbon cutting ceremony and have a Meat Adventure. Gee, I dunno. I considered it for about .0001 of a second and said, “YES”.

Oddly enough I don’t lead an exciting life and when CB offered up a really cool meat shop opening, on Saturday morning, I jumped. Even if it was in Moraga. In fact, I had 2 restless nights before the opening. It’d be a nice drive, a nice morning and I’d come back with meat, what could possibly be wrong with that? Nothing.
CB showed up on time and we drove my 10 year old boy to Tilden for his Jr. Rangers class, bike and all. After leaving The Little Farm it was a curvy trip down to the SP Damn road and out to Orinda. Since CB is a professional driver, I was on my best behavior. You know, steady and even shifts and not tailgating. I can tell when my guests are “white knuckling” and I don’t like it any more than they do. But I do have an American fuel injected V8 mated to a 5 speed and a 3.55 traction lok rear end, so I did ‘merge’ on to the freeway a little ahead of my game, heeeee.
We both figured it would be a 40 minute trip, even more. Nope. We hit Moraga in about 12 minutes from The Little Farm. Sigh, it was time to find the butcher shop & park. We scoped out the homogenous spralled mall, walked around and found this right around the corner.

Gee, I’m sorry we missed the Hot Lunch at Fudge Alley. Dang, shudder.
It wasn’t long before we back tracked to the butcher shop and found them still attempting to get ready.

We strode in 2 times attempting to scope out the meat and they chased us out 2 times. All we wanted was to SEE !!! They had fresh fishy things, crabs. They had a very large cooler filled with cheesy things. There was a centerpiece that was holding fresh veggies and tubers, we wanted IN.

While we were wanting, everyone checked out the cool drawrings on the glass in the front windows. Very nicely done images of animals and what we get from where. I liked this part. Everyone needs to know where the fish sausage part comes from!

Here’s CB getting the 1st sale at Potter Family Meats, excellent.

And here’s me at the register getting my kill.

And what a kill it was! 2 Guiness Brats with a little lamb roast, all grass fed and natural.

Here’s CB’s lineup and it’s clear he eats a far more balanced diet than I do, hands down. We both grilled our booty, nearly at the same time that day.
This opening occured March 4th, yes i’m late. Get over it. I’m usually late if not behind.
To sum it all up, for the first day my impression is they weren’t quite ready. They needed another day or so to dial in the finer points. Stock, signs and getting the staff up front and humping. Although I have to say his kids were spot on with tape, paper and making change. The sausage didn’t wow either CB or I, the lamb roast was awesome when smoked and loved with real mequite. CB bought a beef steak of the best kind, a Filet Mignon. I believe it was fine, but these are Grass Fed meats. Grass fed meat taste, well, like grass, kinda. When an American orders a fine steak, they’re used to grain fed beef, NOT the same. So, while it’s an excellent product, it’s different. And I have to agree about the grassy taste not being right with a steak. However, if you have grass fed lamb or goat? It’s more than sublime. This is why I headed for the lamb roast rather than a beef cut. This isn’t to say all grass fed beef steaks should be avoided, holy crap NO. It just depends on your taste and how it’s prepared. It’s different, just make out a game plan and see what you like.
Here it is a little over a week later and am wishing the Potter Family good health and prosperity in the future, it isn’t easy running your own butcher shop.
Potter Family Meats
588 Center St. in the Rheem Shopping Center
Moraga, (925) 631-0410
11 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
Saturday, 2-5 p.m. Sunday
ps – Both CB and I did the images for this post, he gets credit too, hey.
Xo Xo Biggles