Halsted Packing House

The best meat packing house on the Northside! Bought some beautiful cuts of lamb. Store is clean, and the staff is quite friendly. Prices are reasonable as well! Definitely will come back.

IF I CAN GIVE THIS PLACE NEGATIVE STARS I WOULD!!! i just called in asking if they had chickens to make a roasted chicken, and she had hens… and then she proceeded on asking if I was MEXICAN… she wanted to know my race, in her exact word she said she needed to know if I was Mexican, nigerian, etc… and I said «excuse me» why do you need to know my race? and she said «so I can tell you if the chicken is going to be good for you, because if you are MEXICAN then this hen will not be good for you because its not what you are going to cook, this hen is used for stew»…EXCUSE ME??? why does my race matter, i told her that i was going to make a roasted chicken, whether I am MEXICAN, CHINESE, NIGERIAN whatever I am, my race does NOT DEFINE, what I am cooking. I am not that type of person to get upset over «race» stuff easily, but this really upset me. IF this was the owner of this place, shame on her! and if it was not, I hope tis person stops asking for someones RACE and decide whether their meat is good enough! I WILL NOT GO BACK nor tell other people about it.

Going to Halsted Packing House reminds me of Ralph Furley. You know Ralph… the whacky landlord from Three’s Company, the show that turned the art of misunderstanding into an eight season hit sitcom in the late 70’s /​early 80’s. Many an episode would include Mr. Furley listening in on something and getting the wrong impression. His eyes would bug out and he would get all irritated and uncomfortable like. Whether it was stuffing a chicken or a cooking pot, Mr. Furley always got it wrong.
So what is the connection? Well on just about every occasion I have been here someone invariably walks in and thinks this is a butcher shop. What follows is Mr. Furley-​like eye bulging and body twitching as it sinks in. This is a packing house. Yet, despite the fact that it is in the name even, this establishment seems to be punished for what it is not even though it never claims to be a butcher or meat market! I even see it in some of the reviews.
Our family is intimate with how food sources. My parents, aunts, uncles raised whatever they ate in the mountains of Greece and that was the only source for food. The whole lamb I get from Halsted Packing House (on four occasions now over three years) has been the closest to the real deal. When lamb is fresh, you do not need to do much to it (salt, pepper, oregano, garlic) and everyone just loves it! That has always been the case with anything I procured from Halsted Packing House.
I will spare the details it but suffice it to say, you’re cutting out the middleman. With that said, you’re also cutting out the frills of having things presented in a manner that eases your conscious a bit. Perhaps this may be due to having been conditioned to detach from where our food really sources from when we visit the local grocer. I’m not saying one is better than the other… it just is. However, there is substantial cost-​advantage to cutting out the middleman. The 35# whole pig I got last week set me back just $ 122 and it was FRESH! I roasted it for the neighborhood block party and it was all the rage. I was getting text messages the next day from neighbors telling me how good it was. The meal had hang time (in a good way).
What you get: Great fresh whole or large cuts. Friendly honest service from the lady that runs things there.
What you don’t get: Sugar coating.
EASY five stars because it is as good as it gets at what it does.

Love this place. This is the place to go for nice tender lamb meat, they have any size you need. No stinky odors as far as my picky husband can tell, we like their prices and of course they MEAT our high expectations :)

Recently we wanted to make chicken soup and there was no whole chickens to be found at Trader Joe’s, Jewel or Dominick’s. So I took one look at this place and figured this place has chickens for my soup. Nope!!!
What we did find was a glass case of animal parts. Who shops here? Why do they even have a store front? I do now know where to go when I need a giant pig foot. Oh yeah and there is a over powering smell of blood in the air. This stuff is fresh!!!
Now you may be wondering why 5 stars? The lady behind the counter was so nice. She said that she did have chickens but it wasn’t for a chicken soup. She said it would be too tough and we wouldn’t be able to eat the meat. It sounded like they were just for restaurants to make stock. I’m glad she told us and didn’t try to sell it to us and rip off the young family.
I really do love places like these because they are how people use to shop. You went to 10 stores just to make dinner. I miss those days!!!

No, they don’t have ribeye steaks or baby back ribs. You losers can to Jewel or Dominick’s to pick those up. What you get here is freshly slaughtered, young lamb, goat, and pork. They will sell you whole animals at a discount and the quality of the meat is very good and fresh. Great service every time I go there. Highly recommend. Take time to get the owners and they will educate you about the meat and the animals. I hope this place is here forever.

WARNING TO VEGETARIANS: Do NOT read further
Looking for a freshly slaughtered lamb for the holiday table? The Davos family has been butchering lambs, goats, pigs and cows since 1933 and this retail shop is the place to go for the freshest meats around.
I wasn’t able to snap a photo but dear Cookie Davos took me into the cold storage and showed me the lifeless lambs, pigs, and goats hanging by their hooves. (I warned you!!!) Had I not been on my bike, I probably would have bought a few lamb chops at $ 4.69/pound.

I hit this place on Saturday. Really wanted to make veal chops. They didn’t have them. Kind of an odd selection here-​lamb, ground beef, pig parts, oxtail. As far as I could tell, not steaks.
I picked up half a lamb, which were cut into nice 1″ chops. You have to buy either the liver or the head-​I picked up the liver for my Yiayia.
The chops were good. It really stinks in there. I think there are probably better places to go, and I intend to find them.