Little City Meats: San Francisco 2009

When in San Francisco, meat lover’s and sign aficionados should stop by Little City Meats on 1400 Stockton Street in North Beach. The third generation owners run this butcher shop true to the spirit of their Italian ancestor who settled the area. It reminds me of the shops my  Italian grandmother would drag me to in New York where she’d haggle with the butchers for hours to get the best cut for her bistecca fiorentina at the lowest price. The butcher would keep us fidgety kids quiet during the negotiations by giving us thick slabs of balogna on pieces of waxy white butcher paper. The signs in the window have been skillfully painted using a variety of lively old-school show-card alphabets and precise speed-ball style hand lettering.