When I meet Pat LaFrieda for lunch, I'm thrown for a moment. This man, part of the family behind Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors, is perhaps the best-known butcher in the country (or at least, in our part of the country), supplier of beef to the the city's top restaurants, and creator of hamburger blends that sometimes command more attention than the restaurants that serve them. But he doesn't look like a butcher. He's tall and fit, and in his blue collared button down and (presumably) expensive jeans, he looks more like the type of executive who's become accustomed to playing by his own rules.
As if reading my mind, he offers, "People always tell me I don't look the part. I tell them there's a shorter, rounder, older version of me that they could talk to instead." That would be Pat LaFrieda Jr., who still cuts meat from 3:30 in the morning until 3:30 p.m., when he turns the facility over to his son.
Pat the third is a fourth generation butcher; his great-grandfather, Anthony, came to the States in 1906. He'd begun to learn the meat business in his native Naples, and here, he had the opportunity to step out on his own in 1922. All five of his sons — including Pat Sr. — worked for the company, and in the '50s, they started selling to restaurants during a labor strike. That set the course for the company — today, Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors sells predominantly to restaurants, doing retail via its website and for just a few select grocers, like Eataly.
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