Best of Tucson 1996: Best Butcher Shop

Best Butcher Shop

Reay's Ranch Market
7133 N. Oracle Road 3360 E. Speedway

READERS' PICK: Reay's has the best selection of hormone-free meats in town, many fresh from the Sulfur Springs Meat Packing Company down in Pearce. From smoked mesquite bacon to thick steaks of Atlantic salmon, Reay's wins high marks for freshness, variety and friendly know-how on the all-important aspects of proper preparation. Heck, we'll go out on a limb and say you can trust the butchers at Reay's more than any other knife-wielding group in the city. See the extended pick on page 59 for more information.

READERS' POLL RUNNER-UP: What can you say about a butcher? They get good animals, cut them into good pieces of meat, then sell it to us at reasonable prices. We just hope they keep their butcher and ice cream operations separate. Oh, that's Dreyer's, not Drehers Quality Meats & Sausage (7340 E. Broadway). Never mind. Keep up the good work.

STAFF PICK: If you've never seen a London broil straight out of Jurassic Park or pork chops in Flintstones proportions, you've got to make a trek to Sambo's Meat Market, 610 N. Grande Ave., where truly gigantic slabs of flesh await the voracious carnivore. An old-fashioned Mexican carnicería, Sambo's rightly prides itself on the freshness and quality of its products--not least among them its four-alarm, dragon-fire chorizo. Buy the trimmings--salsa, tortillas and beans--in the small grocery store housed within the same building, and you've got the makings for a carne asada that'll keep you smiling for days.