Village Prime Meat Shoppe in East Quogue has been serving the community for 33-years, providing an authentic experience which cannot be found at a supermarket butcher.
“For starters, it’s prime meat,” Michael Mattera, owner of Village Prime Meat Shoppe in East Quogue, said. “It’s the best of the best and top quality. So everyone comes here to get what you need, and we cut the order. So if they say to us ‘we want this,’ we’ll do it for them right at the spot. Nothing is pre-packaged, nothing is pre-cut. It takes a while to do, but I like it that way.”
Mattera’s father, Sonny, who had already been operating a butcher shop in Astoria, opened the Village Prime Meat Shoppe 33-years ago because he had a house out here.
“We did summer and weekends,” Mattera said. “And he wanted to retire. This was like a semi-retirement. It was a small, little shop that he was going to have something to do during his retirement.”
But what started out as a hobby and a way to make some money during a retirement became a neighborhood tradition. Mattera described knowing practically everyone who walks into the store. With the influx of more people moving out east, however, there are some new faces inside the shop from time to time, Mattera added.
On a Thursday afternoon, in walks Fran Carroll, who Mattera greeted as “Mr. Carroll.”
Carroll has been shopping at the Village Prime Meat Shoppe for 20-plus years. When asked what keeps him coming back, Carroll pointed to Mattera. “That man right there,” he said. “And his father. All the people who work here are great. The food is great.”
Viviana Gomez, who has been working at Village Prime Meat Shoppe for nine years, said she enjoys the relationship that herself and fellow staff members have with the customers, and each other. “Working here, you just start talking,” Gomez said.
The shop’s busiest season is during the holidays. Mattera described there being lines out the door last Christmas Eve because of the pandemic-era limited occupancy guidelines.
“People were spending an hour or two standing outside on Christmas Eve,” Mattera said. “I was here, working it anyway.”
The most popular item for Christmas is the rib roast or the filet roast. Mattera said he enlists retired butcher friends to come to the shop and help him prepare the roasts. And, of course, Thanksgiving is all about turkeys. “Turkeys, turkeys, turkeys,” Mattera said. “Last year we did about 300-plus.”
The most popular order for Hanukkah, Mattera said, is briskets, along with fowl, turkeys and chickens.
The Village Prime Meat Shoppe is among the many local businesses that community members flock to as opposed to chains. In addition to fresh meats, many products from local businesses, including Hampton Coffee Company grounds and cookies from Tates, can be found inside the shop.
“It’s fresh and it’s the local trade,” Mattera said. “We want to reciprocate... Personally I try to do most of my shopping in this town of nearby neighborhoods.”
SIDEBAR: Michael Mattera’s Rib Roast Recipe
A fresh rib roast from Village Prime Meat Shoppe.
Salt and pepper. Garlic to taste. Half a cup of water on the bottom of the pan.
Instructions: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for 10 minutes a pound. Enjoy.
