Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Nice to Meat You: Mike Musso wants his butcher shop to feel like one in small town America.
Local butcher is cooking a lot more than meat
By Chantal Lamers
Although many eateries, it seems, lost that small-town flavor long ago, one butcher wants to bring that taste back to the mouths and hearts of residents. He is creating a place where customers are known on a first name basis and where the local butcher pulls a barbecue out in front of the store to cook freshly marinated meats.
Mike Musso doesn't think that's too much to ask. "I want people to come in and feel welcome."
Musso bought the 18-year-old butcher shop at 1560 Hamilton Ave. in June. Renamed Country Style, Musso hopes the local eatery and butcher shop will acquire that small, country town feeling.
Musso has lived in San Jose nearly all his life. He has worked at Pacific Bell as a business office manager and at IBM as a chemical technician. And when he wasn't busy racing cars, a hobby of his since childhood, he was busy catering.
For about three years, before he purchased the butcher shop, Musso ran a small part-time catering business.
Musso has been cooking for about 20 years. "I love to cook," he says. "When I met my wife, she said she didn't cook."
His specialty is the smoky, finger-licking barbecue. On weekends he'd spend hours behind the barbecue, cooking up meals for weekend parties and picnics. "I have gotten tri-tips down to a science," he says.
During the last year, he ran his business out of Country Style, which was previously known as the Old Fashioned Butcher Shop. When he wasn't catering, he was barbecuing outside the store to help promote his side-business.
A sign hangs over the deli counter, "Personalized Service, friendly meat cutters to serve you."
Musso said personalized service is his top priority. He wants customers to come in and feel free to ask instructions on how to cook a roast or steak--the way butcher shops used to be run.
Customers can make phone orders and pick up meat, meals, sandwiches or salads at their convenience. The shop also offers hunter storage, in which hunters can store large amounts of meat, such as deer and salmon, in freezers.
Musso plans on integrating prime meats into his selection. Prime meats, he says, are what restaurants serve--it's the best meat around.
Country Style also carries specialty mustards, barbecue sauces, marinades, hot sauces and dozens of other toppers to help give meals that special sizzle. He says many of the brands are small names that customers can't find in chain grocery stores.
Musso will also cook home-style meals for dine-in or take-out customers. Full course meals will include fresh steamed vegetables, meat and other tasty side dishes.
Musso says he plans on making the butcher and deli shop feel like home and the food taste like home cooking.
Country Style is open Tuesday through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturdays 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Sundays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
