Pat LaFrieda Meats

In New York City, Pat LaFrieda is synonymous with top-notch beef. It was founded as a Brooklyn butcher shop by Anthony LaFrieda in 1922, and since then the company has been passed down through the generations and is today run by LaFrieda’s great-grandson, Pat. LaFrieda and his team work with restaurants to ensure that they’re getting the best possible product from a network of small, family-owned farms, and they're veritable superstars in the meat world.

Pat LaFrieda operates from a state-of-the-art 36,000 square foot facility just outside New York City, where they turn out more than 75,000 burgers daily from custom blends and their two dry-aging rooms store enough beef for 80,000 steaks. Pat LaFrieda supplies meat to many of the most famous and iconic New York eateries, including Eleven Madison Park, Minetta Tavern (where the Black Label Burger, made with a custom LaFrieda blend, is legendary), Marea and Union Square Cafe, and you might have heard of another client of theirs: Shake Shack.

We’re especially hooked on the Gold Label Burger, which was created exclusively for Goldbelly and was LaFrieda’s first blend created specifically for home kitchens. If there’s a better burger blend out there, we’ve yet to find it.