The Meat Market in Great Barrington has been on my list of Berkshire establishments to visit ever since last spring when I read “Burger Bliss in the Berkshires: Is This the Best Hamburger in America?” on the Forbes website. Was it possible to get the best burger in America by only driving an hour from my house?
After some other South County stops, Brian and I arrived at The Meat Market in the early afternoon on Thursday. It’s a neat establishment – a combination of a restaurant and butcher shop. The Meat Market gets its whole grass fed animals straight from local farmers and creates nose-to-tail products, which definitely gets them points in my book. Everything in the display looked delicious and I enjoyed looking over the specialty sausages and other unique offerings available.
But we weren’t there to shop; we were there for lunch. The menu at The Meat Market is short – there were only 7 items on the day we were there, with nothing listed on the specials board. The burgers were $11 each, which isn’t super cheap but is reasonable for a freshly ground, locally-sourced burger from a local establishment. We also ordered a side of French fries.
Our burgers arrived after a short wait and they looked pretty great. They also tasted awesome – they were perfectly cooked to medium as we’d requested and a half pound is a good sized patty. I confess, I did not find the burger quite as “delirium” inducing as the author of the Forbes article did, but I definitely enjoyed my food. Unlike many burgers I’ve had, this one melted in my mouth and the simple toppings of pickles, cheddar cheese and house made mayonnaise were the perfect compliment. I often measure my burgers based on the pile of toppings that I choose to have added, but Meat Market burgers are kept simple and the meat is allowed to speak for itself.
I enjoyed my fries as much as my burger. They were well done, crispy and salty. In both cases, I’d order the items again and encourage others to do so. But now that I’ve seen what else The Meat Market has to offer, I’m just as excited to try their other options – charcuterie boards, fried chicken, hot dogs, soup and more. Chances are decent that I won’t find myself back in South County in the immediate future, but when I do, I may have to make sure that my itinerary takes me through Great Barrington so I can make another stop.
Also: this week the Berkshire Edge posted an article about The Meat Market: Meat Market to Add a Restaurant to Its Food Empire. Good news for anyone else who wouldn’t mind having more Meat Market in their life.
