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Metro Meat Market continues to serve
delicious food after expanding
Pictured from left to right: sous chef Jesus Cruz, chef Erick Garcia, Mitch
Palminteri, and Peter Asaro.
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@A_GIUDICEREPORT
The guys at Metro Meat Market
have been serving Forest Hills
and the surrounding areas with
fresh cut deli meats since they opened
in 1995.
Now, aft er some modern renovations,
the establishment has grown
from a simple deli/butcher shop into
a full marketplace off ering a wide
variety of new products and services
for their customers.
Mitch Palminteri opened Metro
Meat Market, located at 102-23 Metropolitan
Ave. in 1995. For nearly 23
years, he provided his customers with
deli products and prime meats, but
eventually he was looking for a change.
In February, the shop closed down
for renovations, and by the time the
store opened again in April, it was outfi
tted with a kitchen which gave Metro
Meats the ability to off er customers
prepared foods, a fresh and packaged
vegetable section, as well as top-notch
catering service in addition to the
fresh deli meats and butcher products.
“Now it’s more like a market. We have
a little bit of everything now,” said Peter
Asaro, Palminteri’s nephew who
came on board aft er the renovations to
help run the shop. “The neighborhood,
I kind of felt, needed a place like this.”
Some of the more popular items
off ered at Metro Meat Market include
their skirt steaks, kebabs, classic beef
burgers, homemade pasta sauces
(marinara and vodka sauce), empanadas,
their variety of salads, and their
lasagna.
Photos by Anthony Giudice
Along with Asaro, Palminteri
brought in Erick Garcia and Jesus
Cruz to man the new kitchen.
In the kitchen Garcia and Cruz
handle all the daily orders, prepared
foods, and the catering aspect of the
business. Both chefs pride themselves
on the home-cooked-style foods they
prepare by hand each day.
“Working for Mitch and Peter, it
inspires me to do what I do best, and
that’s cooking,” Garcia said. “It’s a
neighborhood store and it’s like a
home-cooked meal like you made it
at your house. Whenever we make
something, it is made with love.”
The Metro Meat Market team isn’t
just creating a great place for customers
to get high-quality foods; they are
also creating true camaraderie between
all the employees, which makes
their work that much better.
“For me, coming on board working
with Erick and working alongside
Mitch and Peter, it’s amazing,” Cruz
said. “We work great together. They
make you feel good. And that’s very
important in business, to make clients,
customers and workers feel good. I
wouldn’t want to work anywhere else.”
Asaro and Palminteri are excited
to see where Metro Meat Market is
headed and to continue provide their
customers with quality products and
excellent customer service.
“I love it, it’s great. I want to keep the
family business alive and keep it going
for hopefully another 23 years,” Asaro
said of working at Metro Meats. “We have
our loyal customers who come in every
single day. Now, since everybody has seen
the flags outside, we’ve had a lot of new
customers come in as well, which is good.”
