60' meat counter at Bichelmeyer Meats The Bichelmeyer family has been providing meat to Kansas City, Kansas and the surrounding area since the 1890s. The Bichelmeyer Meat Market in Kansas City, Kansas opened in 1946 and is operated today by Joe and Jim Bichelmeyer. Though the family run butcher shops of my youth were never even a significant fraction of the size of Bichelmeyer Meats, this butcher shop reminds me of old times. Meat orders are wrapped up in butcher paper and then tied together with string from huge spools running from the ceiling. But this isn't just a butcher shop. The Bichelmeyers also raise cattle, and offer custom slaughtering, aging. and smoking. Bichelmeyer Meats smoke slim Jims, beef jerky, 12 kinds of sausage, 7 kinds of bacon , pork loin and pork chops. They slaughter a minimum of 30 pigs per week. On my recent visit, I purchased three types of sausage: old world Polish, hot spicy polish and garlic knockwurst. The old world Polish sausage was my favorite and I plan to pick up more, on my next visit when I will sample some of the Bichelmeyer varieties of bacon. Other members of the Bichelmeyer family operated Bichelmeyer's Meat and Grocery in Tonganoxie, Kansas until about 10 years ago. They are still cutting meat at Bichelmeyer's Steakhouse in Tonganoxie. Bichelmeyer Meats also has a small counter where fresh cooked Mexican Food is served, and a handful of tables for eating on the premises
copyright 2008 by Keith Stokes |
