10 Best Mail-Order Beef Companies

By JEREMY BERGER 

You can purchase nearly anything online in the year 2012. Jeans and vintage watches, virtual assistants, unicorn head costumes for Halloween (a guy we know) — even brides, though it’s a rather complicated transaction (again, a guy we know). Beef is no exception. From traditional mail-order companies like Omaha Steaks to farm-direct sellers like Crystal River meats, the digital beef bazaar is an option-rich environment.

Since there’s nothing like coming home to a beautiful wife and a box of USDA prime after a long day at the office, we’ve graciously rounded up the top steak shippers as part of our Month of Beef series to help you — at least on the beef front — discover the best cuts and deals for your kitchen.

Check out our selections on the next page and make sure you bring a napkin to clean up the drool.

Editor’s Note: Follow us throughout the MoB as we test beef from these mail-order companies.

Lobel’s of New York

Meat of it: The Lobel family has been in the business of producing world-class beef for over 160 years. Their Manhattan-based store sources cattle from farms stretching throughout America’s heartland. Their USDA Prime Beef comes from cattle raised on corn, their Natural Prime Beef comes from cattle fed on a mix of all-natural grains, their American Wagyu Cattle have a 100 percent vegetarian diet, and their Piedmontese Beef is pasture raised. All of these are dry aged for four to six weeks for extra taste and texture.

Cut to the Chase: Consumers have the choice of any cut of USDA Prime Beef, Natural Prime Beef or Wagyu Beef. In need of a recipe or cooking techniques? Lobel’s offers that too.

Buy Now: lobels.com

Creekstone Farms

Meat of it: The beef program at Creekstone Farms is comprised of only USDA-certified Black Angus beef, all American-born; most spend their lives grazing on verdant Midwestern pastures, though they also source from Montana, Wyoming and elsewhere.

Cut to the Chase: Premium USDA-certified, American-raised Black Angus beef.

Buy Now: creekstonefarms.com

Greensbury Market

Meat of it: All the beef that Greensbury Market sells is bought from small farms who pasture-raise their cattle without synthetic growth hormones or antibiotics. Each is fed a 100 percent grass diet, resulting in a meat that’s less fatty, less acidic and more tender.

Cut to the Chase: Organic and completely grass-fed beef.

Buy Now: greensburymarket.com

Omaha Steaks

Meat of it: An industry stalwart, Omaha Steaks has been slinging beef for almost a century. The mail order biz started in the middle of the 20th century after the company found success selling steaks on the Union Pacific Railroad.

Cut to the Chase: All manner of grain-fed steaks, especially filet mignon. Pick up some lobster tails, cheddar cheese, hash browns and carrot cake while you’re at it.

Buy Now: omahasteaks.com

Crystal River Meats

Meat of it: The inverse of big box beef outfits, Colorado-based Crystal River Meats is a vehemently local operation. Everything from breeding the animals to growing the hay to processing and packaging the beef happens within a 200 mile radius of the HQ in Carbondale. They’re also upping the local meat game by supplying ground beef to the RE-1 school district in Colorado.

Cut to the Chase: It’s all grass-fed, antibiotic- and hormone-free, Hereford-Angus beef. Try the NY strip, rib steaks, and the ground beef… all the kids are doing it.

Buy Now: crystalrivermeats.com

Niman Ranch

Meat of it: Niman was one of the original name-brand ranches to appear on locavore restaurant menus. It was originally 11 acres just north of the Bay Area; now it’s a network of more than 700 farms and ranches throughout the States. All of the beef is 100% Angus, free of hormones and antibiotics, and raised on a vegetarian diet.

Cut to the Chase: Top sirloin, strips and rib-eyes. Niman is also known for its superior pork and lamb, so don’t be shy about the non-beef products.

Buy Now: nimanranch.com

DeBragga

Meat of it: DeBragga is a member of the old guard of New York butcher shops, around since the 1920s. Their business was solely butchering and supplying high-end restaurants in the tri-state area with meat until 2007, when they launched an online store. DeBragga carries all the good stuff, from dry-aged American Wagyu to grass-fed ground beef to marrow bones (we’ll show you how to use those next week).

Cut to the Chase: American Wagyu dry-aged rib chops, dry-aged prime rib roasts, Wagyu brisket.

Buy Now: debragga.com

Allen Brothers

Meat of it: Allen Brothers is HQ’d in America’s other great steak city: Chicago. They’ve been running their wholesale operation there since 1893, dealing largely in USDA prime grade beef and supplying restaurants like Morton’s and Lawry’s with their Prime Rib. The mail-order biz also includes pork, game and other products, but the main draw is beef — dry-aged, wet-aged, Wagyu.

Cut to the Chase: Tenderloin roasts, Wagyu rib-eye, prime strip steaks.

Buy Now: allenbrothers.com

Heritage Foods USA

Meat of it: You know a bit about Heritage Foods USA from our profile of their butcher shop in Manhattan. HFUSA deals exclusively in meat from heritage breed animals — Wagyu, Piedmontese, Dexter — all of which comes from a network of small American farms. Online you’ll find a unique selection of pasture-raised beef, along with detailed information about where it came from. Follow along with their “American Beef Road Trip” to sample a variety breeds from different parts of the country every three months.

Cut to the Chase: Piedmontese whole boneless rib-eye roasts, Wagyu burgers, Akaushi strip steaks.

Buy Now: heritagefoodsusa.com

Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors

Meat of it: LaFrieda is the “it” meat purveyor at the moment. They’ve got a Food Network TV show, Meat Men, restaurateurs name-drop them frequently, and they’re the guys who cooked a 1,000 pound steer at Meatopia. The family-owned business has been selling tier-1 meat for the better part of a century, and now it’s available online.

Cut to the Chase: Famous for their original blend burgers. Stay tuned for the recipe.

Buy Now: lafrieda.com

via GEARPATROL.COM

This Swatch collection could fetch millions

As individual products, they are simple, made from plastic and, above all, generally cheap – but a single 'superlot' of Swatch watches and artwork could fetch millions when it comes under the hammer at Sotheby's Hong Kong next month...

The offering  represents Dunkel's quarter-century quest to acquire anything and everything to do with the ubiquitous Swatch

Paul Dunkel probably won't be offended if we refer to him as a 'Swatch fanatic', because it's difficult to know how else to describe a man who has amassed a collection of 5,800 individual, Swatch-related objects ranging from the watches themselves to the artwork on which they were based. The offering represents Dunkel's quarter-century quest to acquire anything and everything to do with the ubiquitous Swatch and includes a comprehensive run of the 'Swatch Art' special editions which, for more than 25 years, have marked notable events from the Olympic Games to the Montreux Jazz Festival, and demonstrated the flair of artists and designers as diverse as Keith Haring, Jeremy Scott and Kiki Picasso (aka Christian Chapiron).

A perfectly preserved 'James Bond' set 

Among the rarities is a perfectly preserved 'James Bond' set of 20 watches, each of which represents a particular Bond movie. Supplied in a fitted, leather briefcase, the sets were released in 2002 to mark the 40th anniversary of the first film – and were followed in 2008 by a 'Villains' set of 22 watches contained in a wooden casket stamped 'Danger – handle with care'. (Naturally, the Dunkel collection has a mint-condition one of those, too.) There are also complete runs of the Swatch models created with the designer toy retailer Kidrobot, the bizarre trio designed by the late Swiss artist Alfred Hofkunst representing a cucumber, a chilli and a rasher of bacon, and a large number of ultra-rare, prototype models.

Fashion that ticks

The Swatch was the brainchild of Ernst Thomke, former CEO of ETA SA, part of the ASUAG/SSIH group that was created through the merging of two of Switzerland's largest watch firms by the late Nicolas Hayek in the early 1980s, when the Swiss industry was in dire straits. After an initial launch in Dallas in 1982, which proved to be a false start due to poor marketing and a lack of strategy, it was decided to push Swatch as an accessory that individuals would buy multiple examples of, and which would cost less than the price of the average repair to a standard watch. As in the fashion world, regular collection updates were planned and large sums were set aside for communicating the message about Swatch with the underlying slogan 'fashion that ticks'.

50 million units sold in five years

Within five years of the 1983 re-launch, 268 different models had been created and 50 million units had been sold worldwide. The Swatch had become a phenomenon, and the financial success resulting from a retail price 10 times greater than the cost of production enabled Hayek – who died in 2010 – to re-invest in traditional watch-making and, according to legend, 'save the industry'. It was not long before Swatch watches became as collectable as they were fashionable, with Sotheby's holding its landmark 'Worldwide Swatch Auction' in Milan in September 1990 at which prices soared beyond expectations.

When cheap watches fetch millions

The only sale comparable to that of the Dunkel Collection, however, took place in 2011 at Phillips de Pury (now just 'Phillips'), when 4,363 Swatch-related items collected by Swiss businessman Peter Blum and his wife Linda came under the hammer in Hong Kong as a single lot. Comprising the most desirable, commercially available Swatch designs as well as factory prototypes, hybrid models and production variants that were never offered for sale, the collection sold to an Asian lawyer for $6.6 million. Whether or not the Dunkel offering will make more, only time will tell.

Photos: Sotheby's

Swatches and Art from the Dunkel Collection will be offered as a single lot by Sotheby's Hong Kong on April 7. Full details and catalogue at sothebys.com.

All-electric Aston Martin DBX concept ‘previews future of grand touring’

Aston Martin has completed its trio of new cars for Geneva by revealing the DBX: an experimental, all-electric crossover aimed at ‘challenging the conventions of the luxury GT segment’…

Back to the drawing board

It’s been six years since the Geneva reveal of the ill-received Lagonda SUV concept – but now, Aston Martin can leave that particular debacle firmly in the past, as it unveils a new take on the Grand Touring genre. According to new Aston CEO Andy Palmer, the DBX “envisages a world, perhaps a world not too far away, when luxury GT travel is not only stylish and luxurious but also more practical, more family-friendly and more environmentally responsible.” The all-electric nature of the concept might not be ideal for long-distance touring given current technology, but the lack of a colossal V12 up front would certainly free up luggage space – the DBX’s in-wheel motors and underfloor batteries mean both fore and aft compartments are vacant for passenger belongings.

While Aston admits the DBX is clearly not production ready, Palmer sees the silhouette of such a vehicle on the horizon: “We will, in due course, be entering a car into the new DBX space.” By the time it arrives, that ultra-luxury SUV market is certainly going to be well populated.

Photos: Aston Martin

You can find both modern and classic Aston Martins for sale in the Classic Driver Market.

PACIFIC MC XL883 CAFÉ DRAGSTER

One thing that differentiates motorcycle retail from motorcycle customisation is the position of currency in the equation. Price and cost lead the former but often find themselves unwelcome and locked out of the bike builders workshop. To put a pound or dollar sign ahead of a project will stop most at the beer and sketch stage. Despite this we all plough ahead hoping that creativity can equal profit, given enough grinding and buffing.

Sometimes though giving a slightly damaged bike a new lease of life needn’t mean returning it back to its former factory splendour. The Pacific Motorcycle Co. based on New Zealand’s South Island had a thriving retail business but it lacked the soul and reward owner Alan Pritchard was looking for, so he pushed the custom and classic restoration side of the business forward, eventually leaving the cold sales environment behind to concentrate full time on more wholesome and innovative endeavours.

A benefit of the previous operations was the remaining stock of lightly damaged bikes imported from America, this 2008 Harley-Davidson Sportster XL883L was in perfectly good condition, apart from the crotch shaped dent in the fuel tank and some busted levers. A café style was decided upon and thankfully the work could begin without focussing too much on viability or rationality, the creative juices dripped onto the balance sheet rendering it illegible, a perfect start.

The Superlow is exactly that, and in standard form can look a bit like an embarrassed hound in the back yard doing its business. A set of YSS shocks jacked the back up to offer a more sporting stance. With the forward positioned foot controls on a Harley, only experienced yoga instructors should attempt to ride with clipons, so Alan bent-up a set of 1″ drag bars, coated them black and voila; a more aggressive riding position without contortion and a vastly improved look. To make the most of this svelte appearance, the speedo is housed in a Joker Machine fork mount and the headlight peak shortened.

The stock seat pan was reworked and the foam sculpted to suit the new riding position. To achieve a café look the subframe was shown a cutting disc before being hidden by an aluminium tail cover, complete with a machined LED tail light housing.

The powder coater was kept busy with various engine casings in order to remove any glitz from the motor, dark and mean the order of the day. Wheels and fork legs remained silver, simply refreshed in the vapour blaster. Avon tyres keep the shiny side up and an in-house fabbed front mudguard keep the shiny side shiny. A Vance & Hines air cleaner and wrapped exhaust keep the neighbours offside and hopefully wildlife at bay out in the hills.

So, the tank, nice shape. Liberated from a Triumph T140 and deconstructed to accept the H-D in-tank fuel pump and filter assembly. Harley tank mounts were welded on so as to offer the new owner a simple removal procedure. The gorgeous shape and distinctive knee dents have been accentuated with deep gloss black and neat pin striping. Purists will be spitting at their screens but hey, it’s Alan’s bike and from the looks of things he knows what he’s doing. Besides it was NOS anyway so has no story to tell, apart from what was overheard in the parts department.

Rather than the whole hog, this half dragster, half café bastard bike could be just the thing the winding roads of the Kahurangi National Park, if you live that way of course. Alan will ship the bike to a new owner, just get in touch via their website and check out their workshop on Facebook.

A warming reminder that if you follow your heart, put in plenty of graft and look after your customers; every so often this can pay the bills and be referred to as a job.

via The Bike Shed