Butcher Shop Near Me in the West Village: Florence Prime Meat Market

Florence Prime Meat Market has stood at 5 Jones Street, a quiet block between West 4th and Bleecker Streets, since 1936, and nothing in its case is cut until you ask for it. The shop is closed Sunday and Monday, opens 8:30am to 5:30pm Tuesday through Thursday, and keeps slightly shorter hours on Friday and Saturday. Anyone in the West Village searching butcher shop near me will find a narrow room with meat hanging behind the counter and a butcher who wants to know exactly how thick you like your steak.

Jack Ubaldi opened the shop in 1936, and every owner since has come up through its own back room. In 1975 he handed it to Tony Pellegrino, a Florence-trained butcher, and in 1995 Pellegrino passed it to another Florence-trained butcher, Benny Pizzuco. When Pizzuco was ready to close for good, the longtime head butcher Aristeo Quinonez, who started behind this counter in the 1980s, took over in 2022 rather than let the shop go dark.

His daughter Daisy told the local paper The Village View in June 2025 that her father already knew everything about the business and was too passionate about the work to see it end. She was frank about the economics, too: the landlord relationship is good, she said, but it is costly to keep a butcher shop open on such a valuable Greenwich Village block. Ninety years of regulars are a big part of why it survives.

The cut that keeps Florence alive is the Newport steak, and the shop says it was invented here. As Quinonez tells it, Ubaldi noticed that New York University students passing on Jones Street could not afford the usual steaks, so he trimmed a well-marbled piece from the sirloin and started selling it without a name. When students asked what it was called, he named it after the half-moon logo of Newport cigarettes, which matched the shape of the cut.

Today the Newport is the best seller by a wide margin; Quinonez told The Village View that customers buy them by the dozen, like eggs. A Yelp reviewer in April 2026 singled out the thick-cut Newport steaks again. Order them about an inch thick if you plan to sear them in a cast-iron pan, and buy a few extra for the freezer the way the regulars do.

Florence is a true service butcher. Daisy described it as an old-fashioned shop with fresh hanging meat, where nothing is pre-cut and nothing sits around in trays: you say what you want, and it is cut fresh to your order and preference. Regulars do not even have to explain; the butchers know to a tee how each of them likes their meat trimmed. Beyond the Newport, longtime customers come for dry-aged steaks, house-made Italian sausage and bacon sliced to whatever thickness they ask for.

The honest downside of this model is that the case does not show much. One reviewer wished more cuts were on display to look at before buying, and another found the chicken parts a little steep. The solution is to talk: tell the butcher what you are cooking and for how many, and let them suggest the cut. Prices are posted on the wall rather than on every piece, so ask before they wrap it if you are watching the budget.

A useful way to plan a visit is to build the meal around what the butcher is breaking down that day. Because whole pieces hang behind the counter rather than sitting pre-portioned under plastic, the staff can cut a single chop for one person or a whole roast for eight from the same piece. Ask for the bone and trimmings if you make stock; at a shop like this, nothing is supposed to go to waste.

Calling ahead is the regulars' trick. Phone in your order at (212) 242-6531 and it will be cut and wrapped when you arrive, and the butchers will portion and pack meat for the freezer if you ask. The two busiest stretches of the year are the days before Thanksgiving and Christmas, when Daisy says the shop and its neighbors trade knowing nods that it is their time to shine; place holiday orders by phone well before the week itself.

Saturdays close earlier, at 5pm, and the shop is dark on Sundays and Mondays, which catches out weekend shoppers who plan a Sunday roast. Tuesday morning right at 8:30am is the calmest time to walk in without an order. The family has said it plans to post more on social media and TikTok, so follow along for specials.

Florence's closest friend on the block is Record Runner, the record shop next door, which had been its neighbor for 41 years when The Village View visited. The two owners greet each other every morning, and Daisy described the long lines outside the record shop on Record Store Day as the mirror image of Florence's Thanksgiving crowds. Between them, the two storefronts give this short block much of its old-Village character.

The West 4th Street–Washington Square station, served by the A, C, E, B, D, F and M trains, is a few blocks east, and Christopher Street–Stonewall on the 1 is a short walk west. From the shop, turn onto Bleecker Street and walk to Faicco's Italian Specialties at 260 Bleecker Street for an Italian sandwich, then to Pasticceria Rocco at 243 Bleecker Street for pastries and coffee before heading home with your steaks.

Florence Prime Meat Market is at 5 Jones Street, New York, NY 10014. Hours are 8:30am to 5:30pm Tuesday through Thursday, 9am to 5:30pm Friday and 9am to 5pm Saturday; closed Sunday and Monday. Call (212) 242-6531 to order ahead, ask for the Newport, and bring a tote, since the shop is small and the line moves faster when you are ready. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for wine shops nearby.