Chop Butchery & Charcuterie

Wow. And not a good «wow». We went to City Market NW last week and everyone else in the store seemed to love their jobs and love working with people. In the Chop corner? Two people behind the counter with no customers besides us, and at least 5 minutes went by with us looking at their offerings with NO acknowledgement. The lady finally (without even as much as a hello) asked us if we ‘wanted something’ and she was so unenthused in her tone that we ended up saying no and going elsewhere for our meat. We know we can get good cuts of meat at New Seasons and always feel like the people behind the counter at NSM care about their customers. At Chop? Sadly, they’ve got the wrong folks working there.

I came here dreaming of leaving with some packaged pâté. The website’s so fancy. Why not package pâté! But they don’t :(the butcher even did not recommend that I travel with the pâté if I purchased it. So sad. In fact, I thought this was more than a market. I thought it maybe would have had a few small chairs and tables for snacking. But it really is just a market. A really nice small market! But not what I was looking for. If I lived in town, I could totally see myself shopping here.

A plate of warm, sliced bratwurst samples emerged from behind the deli counter. Free samples! This was a good sign. I readied my pen to start inking my masterpiece of checking boxes to create my own sandwich.
In the artisan wonderland of northwest Portland, there are many, many places to eat a sandwich. The gourmet deli known as Chop is inconspicuously nestled inside NW 21^st Ave’s «City Market.» And it offers sandwiches. But don’t confuse this deli as «just another grocery store deli.» It’s offerings are a cut above some of the other neighborhood butcheries.
The pastrami sandwich I ordered came adorned on a sourdough Campagnolo bread. It was admirably soft but sturdy enough to prevent the contents from spewing out.
The pastrami arrived in generous portions and bursting with hearty meat flavor.
Delicious roasted red peppers, vinegary pepperoncinis, pickled red onions, olive oil and vinegar rounded out this sando’s contents.
Also, beware the weapons grade horseradish. It stabbed my tongue with it’s peppery bitterness and continued by smolder in my stomach for hours after I finished eating. I’ll definitely get it again next time.

I love Chop. Their location, their enthusiasm about food, their knowledge of all things meat and excellent suggestions.
I wish I lived in that neighborhood just so I could walk there every day.
Get the porcetta sandwich. Or plate. They only make it on Fridays at noon. Sometimes they’ll have leftover on Saturday. Sit on one of their sidewalk tables and do some excellent people watching.

Really wanted to like this place, but they sold me a bad cut of meat.
Needed a rack of lamb. Whole Foods was out, so I came here. The butcher brought out a rack of lamb, and when I started to inspect it, he made me feel foolish (said something like, «That’s exactly what you asked for.»). So feeling sheepish (no pun intended), I told him I’d buy it. Cost: $ 56+
The next day, the meat had started to ROT. It had turned brown, it had an unpleasant odor… a huge embarrassment for me, given that my guests were arriving in 2 hours. Not only that, but the meat had a huge layer of fat that needed to be trimmed; they were more than happy to have me pay for that at $ 20+ per pound rather than trimming it off themselves (yes, fat in/​on meat is a good thing, but this was overkill).
So an impatient butcher pushed me into overpaying for a poorly chopped cut of meat that went bad the next day after immediate refrigeration. YUCK!

I love these butchers. They can get most anything at a very high standard of quality and are always forthcoming if a given product will be anything other than recently killed. They have always been willing to butcher a product to my specific needs. And they are reliable — I have placed a number of special orders with them and they have never failed to produce on time.

This is based on their stand at the farmer’s market and the salami. It’s really cool that they allow so many people to sample so many different types of charcuterie. I mean, that can get expensive and the quality is good. I’m Italian and even though I don’t like salami, I know if it’s good. We always had had the real deal, salami made the old fashioned way, by hand, either by a relative or neighbor. My daughter and husband love it so I buy it for them every so often. It’s expensive but you get what you pay for. Why the 2 stars? The customer service, from one guy in particular. I asked him a question last year and he couldn’t be bothered, gave total attitude. Ok, whatever, I do that too but today while we were sampling he said something completely condescending to his partner about the customers. The other guy just kept on cracking up while ‘tude boy gave people his, «I’d rather be getting my dick pierced than be here,» look. We all have bad days but come on, you make a living selling sausages, it could be better, it could be worse but don’t act like we are lucky to be handing you $ 10 for 4 inches of cured pork.

This is one of our favorite places. We love their pâté. Their service is great. Nuff said. Stop in and be happy.

Recommendation: Won’t return.
Man did I want to like this place. I love a good deli sandwich as well as specialty shop. We got three sandwiches. Two of us wanted the Italian Stalion, but they only had meat enough for one of those and so we chose turkey for the other two sandwiches. Those two were unmemorable save for good bread. The Italian Stalion was quite memorable not for being good, but for being doused in so much red wine vinegar it just poured out of the sandwich.
They also need to date-​check their meats, specifically their chicken sausages :)

We were visiting Portand over the weekend and had the pleasure of trying these guys out at the PSU Farmers Market. My husband is NOT a pâté guy at all but fell in love with the Venison Pâté, as did I. I also really enjoyed the country pâté. We bought the Venison as well as a Chorizo for our trip to Wine country and were so pleased with it that we made a special trip back in to the city before heading to the airport just to get some more pâté for the plane! I will definitely be stopping by next trip!

Fantastic counter within City Market. There’s always something yummy in that case! I feel everytime I go there’s something I’ve never seen in tube steak (sausage) form. People keep telling me about the porchetta, but I can never seem get my hands on it because they constantly sell out of that stuff. I bought a piedmontese steak there over the summer and took it home to marinade it in salt, pepper and olive oil. And man was it great grilling! I can never get a better tasting piece of meat like that anywhere else.

The sausages are really good here. The meat was also really good but the person that cooked our steaks and home didn’t have teh heat high enough when it was seared so it came out pale. nom nom

Piggy sandwich!!! (fri/​sat)
Roast Beef
BLT
The daily specials are amazing! IMO the best sandwiches in Portlandia.

if you like meat then this is a good place to get some.
i’ve yet to get any of their raw meat but their prepared/​cooked products are amazing.
their pates are anywhere from good, great to awesome.
the pastrami. i ate that faster then i should have. it’s so smokey and just delicious! i fear that i may eat $ 50 of pastrami a week if i keep coming here.
NOT cheap. but at least there won’t be any pink slime!

I LOVE this butcher shop. They have excellent and unusual cuts of meat as well as some of the best Pates around. Two items of note: the applewood smoked bacon (smells like Texas BBQ brisket), and the Kobe Bavette (kind of a skirt cut — like the best skirt steak you ever had).
The staff are very knowledgable and always helpful. I would cry if this place ever closes!

We can’t help but getting all the different pates when we come here. So so good. Also, finally got the porchetta sandwich. Unfortunately it was disappointed. Lots of meat, which was moist and tasty, but sandwich overall had too much going on and was pretty messy. Most disappointing, there was very little crispy skin, despite what you see from the display case. Better porchetta options include Lardo and Gastro Mania.

If I lived in the area, this would be my go to place for some pâté or any cured meats. Originally, I came here to try out their porchetta, but I learned that they only do it on Fridays and if there’s anything left, they’ll sell it Saturday.
Duck prosciutto– love.
Duck foie gras pâté– how it should taste.
Venison pâté– love the texture and tastes good.
Overall, great place, prices are normal, not cheap but worth it. Also don’t forget to grab some snouts or pig ears for your furry friend!

I’m so glad these guys have their own place now, as opposed to having to share space with the market, which previously overshadowed what a hidden gem Chop is. There’s frankly no other reason to head out to 21^st than to get some vennison pâté or duck liver mousse from Chop and then a crusty baguette at Ken’s and make love to them all in public.
The product that comes from this place is like nothing else you’ll find in Portland, maybe even the nation. They make terrines out of guinea fowl, pheasant, and then thrown in pistachios or cherries because they’re just oh so classy like that. Really really good. Words do not begin to describe the craft and thoughtfulness involved here. Restaurant worthy for sure. I saw someone come to these guys to get Gravy starters for Thanksgiving, which is probably a good idea, but I’m still stuck on the charcuterie. Olympic Provisions bores me compared to these guys. That should give you a sense of how great they are.

Oh my where to start. First I did not realize that Chop was it’s own business. Because of the signage I have always assumed they were part of tasty n sons. That said I was at an appointment in the building and was told they make sandwiches that I needed to try.
Enter «the Italian» — what can I say but salty goodness of cured meets, italian dressing, and the lettuce shaved so fine. A pink juice dripped from the roasted red peppers, all on a baguette that was just crusty enough but not so rough it tore up your mouth.
Keep in mind this is just a sandwich counter /​meat counter. If you are in the need of bresola, or mortadella or one of their other fantastic Italian meets they sell by the pound. But there is no tables and chairs, get a sandwich and plan an outing to a park or the ski mountain, or the beech.
The menu is simple about 8 sandwiches, it still took me a solid 5 min to decide as they all sounded amazing. I for sure will go back to try another.

I’m wouldn’t consider myself a Fan of pâté, but the country pâté from Chop is amazing. It makes me think, «this is why people get excited about this stuff.»
Chop also sold me the best pork chops I have ever seen or tasted, and gave some great advise on how best to cook them.