Best Neighborhood Butcher

If meat is your motto, ribs your raison d'être, then make a beeline (or, rather, take the J Church line) to Drewes Brothers Meats in outer Noe Valley. This century-old butcher shop may not be as immediately impressive as a trip to swanky meat markets like Bryan's in Laurel Village, but that's because there's not an ounce of pretension in the joint. Open since 1888, this old-fashioned store is the kind of place where the employees remember your name and know your order by heart. Customers are extremely loyal, returning to the store even after they've moved out of the neighborhood. What's Drewes Brothers' secret? Simplicity. You won't find fancy gourmet specialty items here, just cuts of free-range, hormone-free beef, lamb, poultry, and pork, and fresh seafood, served up by owners Joshua and Isaac Epple (yes, they are brothers, but not the original Drewes brothers). On a recent trip, we were even given a hunk of ribs to take home as a free sample! You can pre-order holiday items, get your knives sharpened for three bucks a blade, and, while you're at it, pick up sundries and videos from Stellings Market, another 100-year-old family-run shop, which occupies half of the storefront.