Our Story · Est. 2018
A neighborhood butcher shop, modernized.
Founded 2018
Location San Diego, CA
Counter 6 staff
Sourcing 6+ local farms
Aging room 28 days, climate-controlled
We started with one rule — don't sell anything you wouldn't cook for your own family. Eight years later, that's still the only one we follow without exception.
The first month, we sold twelve cuts.
Not twelve a day. Twelve total. Tangelo kept the lights on by working nights at his old kitchen and letting the dry-aging cabinet earn its keep slowly — every steak that came out of it took 28 days, and there was no shortcut for that.
Things shifted when chefs from neighboring restaurants started stopping by on their days off. They knew what dry-aged ribeye was supposed to taste like, and they were finding it within walking distance instead of making the drive to the meatpacking district. They told people. Those people told people.
“We're not trying to be the cheapest. We're trying to be the cut you remember three weeks later.”
By the end of year one, the shop had outgrown the cabinet. By year three, we'd doubled the floor space, hired our second butcher, and started sourcing directly from a single ranch in the Central Valley. We've kept growing — but slowly, deliberately, the way you'd age a brisket. The shop today is recognizably the same place. Just with more cuts in the case.
A timeline of cuts.
The shop opens
600 square feet on Carnivore Street. One dry-aging cabinet. A whiteboard menu that changed every Friday based on what came in.
YEAR ONEFirst single-source partnership
We started buying directly from Hartwell Ranch in the Central Valley — the same family-run operation we still source our USDA Prime beef from today. No middleman, no auction floor.
SINGLE-SOURCESix rules we don't break.
Hand-cut to order
Nothing pre-cut and shrink-wrapped. You order it, we cut it. The case looks full because it has to — but every steak on your counter was sliced after you walked in.
Whole-animal buying
We buy whole animals from the farms we work with and break them down ourselves. That means the unglamorous cuts get the same attention as the ribeyes. Nothing wasted.
Never frozen
If it's in our case, it's been refrigerated — not frozen — and it's been there less than 36 hours. If it doesn't sell within three days, it goes to the charcuterie counter or the staff fridge. Full stop.
Source you can name
Every cut traces back to the farm or ranch it came from. Ask anyone behind the counter — they'll give you the name, the town, and what the animal ate.
The people behind the case.
When you walk in on a Saturday morning, these are the faces. Most of us have been here longer than three years. Any of us will cut you a sample if you ask.
Trained at Smith & Wollensky NYC, then nine years as head butcher at a Beverly Hills steakhouse before opening EliteCuts.
Cut of choice: Bone-in côte de boeuf, 28-day aged.
Joined in 2021 from a Lyon-trained background. Runs the charcuterie program — house-cured saucisson, lardo, bresaola.
Cut of choice: Pork shoulder, 12 hours over oak.
Sources you can name.
We don't work with distributors. Every partner on this list — we've walked their land, met their animals, and shaken hands on the deal.
Hartwell Ranch
Family-run since 1962. They raise Black Angus on 4,000 acres of Central Valley grass and finish on a corn-and-barley blend for 120 days. We buy whole carcasses, never less.
§ Eight years, by the numbers
The shop in numbers you can verify.
§ Come say hi
The counter's open.
The best way to understand what we do is to walk in and ask. No appointment, no obligation — we'll cut you a sample of whatever's looking good that day.
San Diego, CA 92104
Sun: 10am–4pm · Closed Mondays
