Turn to neighborhood butchers, restaurants for Memorial Day grilling supplies

Melody Baetens
The Detroit News

Grab the steak seasoning and give the tongs a few test clicks, Memorial Day is Monday, which means grilling season starts this weekend. 

The unofficial summer kickoff is no time to be in the midst of a meat shortage, though. With grocery stores limiting how much beef customers can purchase, the home grill master may need to reach out to other avenues.

Cuts of meat from Farm Field Table butcher, which has locations in Ferndale and Grosse Pointe Park.

Consider your local butcher or favorite restaurant, many which are offering grill packages that include all the flame-ready, raw groceries one needs to create a chef-quality Memorial Day meal. 

Detroit's boutique butcher shop and restaurant, Marrow in West Village, has gourmet meats for curbside pickup and delivery via mercado.com.

Perfect for a sunny cookout with just a few people, Marrow has meat bundles like the "pork grill kit," which comes with one rack of ribs, four sausage links, their own spice mix, barbecue sauce, potato salad and chips and salsa for $45.

Get even more gourmet with their steak and bone marrow kit with two 16-ounce, thick-cut ribeye steaks, four bone marrow lengths, a quarter pound of morel mushrooms and ramps each, plus potatoes, herbs and their house smokey spice rub for $100. Visit marrowdetroit.com to start your order. 

Marrow Detroit is a butcher shop and restaurant that is selling meat for curbside pick-up and delivery.

Like Marrow and many other neighborhood butcher shops, the Butchery in Sylvan Lake is not only stocked, but uses locally raised animals. 

"We work with as many local farmers as we we can," says co-owner Julie Hubbard. She says a lot of their beef comes from Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. "We're fully stocked with chicken, pork and beef, but there are some things like beef tenderloin, because there's only like one on a cow, so it's hard to get a lot of those." 

This month Hubbard is celebrating three years of owning the Butchery with her husband David Hubbard Jr. She said for big grilling weekends like this one, the house-made sausage is a big seller. 

"We also have chicken, which is still pretty affordable," she said. "People love doing ribs, we get a lot of customers who like smoking meat and that is really popular, as well as pork butt. We sell a ton of burgers, we do our own blend here. We also do kebabs."

Butcher Matt Romine of Farm Field Table.

One way to honor fallen members of the United States militarily this Memorial Day is to buy a "care package" from Farm Field Table. The area market has put together a "butcher's choice" mix of locally sourced beef, pork, lamb or poultry including sausage, ground beef, roasts and other cuts. You get that package for $99, and Farm Field Table will give a 10-pound bundle of meat to a local family in need. Order at farmfieldtable.com

Some restaurants are getting in on the ready-to-grill packages, too. In New Center, Cuisine restaurant is normally catering to theater-goers this time of year, serving French specialties from chef Paul Grosz.

Instead, the chef has prepared a grill kit for $100 that includes four hamburgers with all the fixings, including Cuisine special sauce, a slab of pork ribs with house barbecue sauce, pasta salad, grilled corn, coleslaw and strawberry short cake. You can add on a 20-ounce Wagyu sirloin for $60 or a lobster roll for $22. Call in your order (313) 872-5110 by Friday morning for Saturday afternoon pick up. 

Cuisine restaurant in Detroit's New Center is selling a grill-your-own burger kit that includes patties, gourmet buns, toppings and sides.

Like Farm Field Table, the Whitney also has a package with a feel-good element. Order their picnic box and get four 10-ounce burger patties with brioche buns and toppings, three bean salad, brownies and a six-pack of Ghost of the Whitney pale ale for $75. For every box ordered, the Midtown restaurant will donate lunches to veterans in need through Volunteers of America. Order online at thewhitney.com.

In Birmingham Social Kitchen also has a burger kit with four all-beef patties, brioche buns, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, dill pickle and chef-made burger seasoning for $28. Add a family-sized, restaurant-quality salad for $20 (aren't you tired of chopping, anyway?). Start your order at socialkitchenandbar.com.

Known for having a great bar burger, Grey Ghost in Detroit has an at-home burger kit for two people with two 4-ounce patties, buns, cheese, lettuce and secret sauce for $24. This Brush Park hot spot has similar cook-at-home kits featuring cedar plank salmon and steak fajitas, if you're looking for something a little nontraditional for your Memorial Day meal. Browse and order ahead of time at greyghostdetroit.com

Are you a grilling novice? If you have to be socially distanced from the family member who usually dons the apron and you need help, Longhorn Steakhouse wants to be here for you. Like Butterball's Turkey Talk Line for Thanksgiving, the restaurant chain is offering a grilling "hotline" all weekend long. Just pose your question to their Facebook page, or ask on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #lhgrillus. 

mbaetens@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @melodybaetens