Where do you get your meat? An overview of 9 Chicagoland Butcher Shops and 1 Fish Smokehouse.

A butcher shop has to be a place you go to. There are plenty of grocery stores that have solid meat and sausage selections, but going to a butcher shop where the product they have is primarily focused on meat and meat products is like going to a candy or toy store for those that get into this kind of thing.

You don't go to a butcher shop for anything else except meat. That's the whole point. They may offer other items, usually high quality and unique ones, and you probably buy some of them, but THOSE ITEMS are not the reason you went their.

I love the aspect of travelling to the butcher shop to get the meat. There's a sense of excitement, an anticipation and wonder as to what is on special or what kind of unique sausage varieties are out today. Yeah, I know I can get good meat at Costco and enjoy Costco's meat, but....... sometimes I want something more. That's who this post is for and what it's about.

It's for the person that's excited to drive 15 minutes out of their way to go to a shop focused on offering a variety of meat and sausage you can't find at Costco or at a grocery store. It's for the people that enjoy taking pictures of the meat case and sending them to their closest friends. It's for the people that use their precious time researching and asking enough questions to enough different people to find places like the ones listed below.

I always spend 15 minutes too many at a good butcher shop. It's time spent contemplating what's for tonight's dinner and what else (usually the best looking sausage) I can buy and toss in my freezer. Those 'what else' decisions are like stocks that keep paying dividends down the road in the form of decadent platters of sausage and pasta and rice centered dishes that make the most of grilled meat and sliced sausage.

These are my adult toy stores.

Paulina Market is the Jerky and Sausage King of Chicago

• Abe Froman would be proud of the variety of bratwurst and sausage available at Paulina Market located on the Northside of Chicago between Lakeview and Lincoln Square. From Italian to Gyro to Hungarian to Polish and so much more, you will be hard pressed to find a butcher shop that has more high quality varieties of sausage. This European style butcher has more than just sausage though, with a terrific selection of any meat that satisfies your palette. Opened in 1949, this place is always busy, and operates a smokehouse that makes the best jerky (Jamaican Jerk, Maple Bourbon, Teriyaki, Cajun, Maple Chipotle) I've ever had and is my top spot for meat if I'm able to get there.

Tischler's Market just wins with its sausage, burgers and variety in Plainfield

• Tischlers is terrific with a great variety of everything and a a larger footprint than your typical butcher shop. My favorite things that I've had recently are their incredible variety of hand packed Grillmaster burgers, delicious hanger steak and their variety of sausages which are unbelievable, particularly the Texas Sausage, Tuscan Italian and Mango Habanero Bratwurst.

Wheaton Meat Co hits above the belt on everything

• All is good. I love their hanger, flat iron and flank steak and they do a great job of offering value with their filet ends and discounted end steak pieces (ends of NY Strip, Ribeye, etc.) which are a great way to sample a few varieties of cuts. They also have an envious selection of sausage including their delicious and famous hatch green chile sausage and a nice version of corned beef sausage that is popular in March.

Genes Sausage Shop is a gift to lovers of German and Eastern European Food in Chicago's Lincoln Square Neighborhood

• Genes has a large smoked and fresh sausage variety and terrific house made hams and smoked meats that can be purchased and sliced by weight. They also have a solid beef, pork and poultry selection.

• Their house made hams and smoked sausage are prepared onsite using Old World sausage-making methods and their in store traditional European smokehouse. They also have plenty of European centric food products, including an extensive selection of mustards and a terrific selection or European beers, many you wont find elsewhere in Chicago. This is a tremendously fun place to shop and they even have a rooftop beer garden with draft German beers and grilled bratwursts when the weather is nice.

Publican Quality Meats is a Serious Cut Above in the West Loop in Chicago

• Expensive, but worth it with unparalleled house made charcuterie varieties you can have them slice by the pound, terrific sausage variations (love their bratwurst and toulouse sausage) and some unique items, including various types of house made pâté you wont often find at other butchers. They supply meat to the the One Off Hospitality group restaurants (which include Publican and Avec amongst others) and also have terrific Publican Quality Bread for sale.

Bari Foods is Old School Italian with terrific sandwiches and sausage near River West in Chicago

• Bari certainly has a smaller footprint than the other places listed here and is primarily known for their variety of Italian sandwiches (which I think are the best in Chicago), however the meats they do offer in their case are high quality. I particularly recommend their barese and hot and mild Italian sausage. They are hard to beat, whether tossed on the grill or incorporated into a dish.

Mediterranean Market in Lombard is the Go To place for marinated, ready to cook halal meats

• Get the shawarma or beef or chicken kofta and their beautiful red spicy chicken. Toss it in a pan and cook for 10 or so minutes and then toss it with rice, couscous, pasta or make a sandwich of some sort. They do all the work for you. The grocery store footprint is good with a great dry bean and lentil section, an extensive variety of spices and an impressive variety of breads including pita, lavash, Iraqi bread and laffa.

MIKE knows his Meats in Villa Park

• Reliably good across the board with a wide variety. The marinated beef and pork skewers are terrific as is the Thai marinated pork tenderloin, but my absolute go to at Mike's Market is the Jamaican Jerk beef tenderloin. Don't miss their marinated pork chops for an interesting twist.

Mitchell's Gets the Job Done in Joliet

• Mitchell's Food Mart is a family owned grocery store known for its experienced butchers who offer a decent size meat selection and often cut the steaks before your eyes. In addition to their steak, pork and chicken variety, they have excellent ground beef for hamburgers, casseroles and meatloaf which I've enjoyed often over the years (growing up in the area) and they do a nice job with their salamenes (wine soaked and flavored pork sausages). This place may not have all the bells and whistles of some of the other places on this list, but it gets the JoB DonE.

Calumet Fisheries on 95th street in the South of Chicago near the Indiana border

• It's not a butcher shop but it's in the general butcher shop 'neck of the woods' category. Amazing smoked salmon and trout, in the form of chunks wrapped in butcher paper, that are great for a picnic, holiday appetizer platter or anytime you want to "show off". The smoked shrimp is a game changer and it made me kind of re-think what shrimp really is (hint: way more meat than fish like) altogether, the first time I had it. They smoke the fish and shrimp on-site out back in an old school wooden shack style smokehouse which they will show you if you ask. No green egg backyard smokers here. They also have an extensive fried seafood menu (which I've never tried), but you can get that stuff anywhere. You can only find smoked fish and shrimp at a handful of places and this is one of them and it's the reason Calumet Fisheries is still on the foodie map. My typical order is a pound of regular salmon, a pound of pepper and garlic salmon and a pound of smoked shrimp. Expensive, but decadent and delicious.