John's Meat Market
Menu
Tel. 908-322-7126

John's Meat Market

Since 1939. Scotch Plains, New Jersey.

USDA Prime, dry aged. Three generations of the Losavio family.

Closed now. Opens Tuesday at 8 a.m.

Call 908-322-7126

Hours & directions Order form Walk in

Since April 1939 of the not so new and still greater Scotch Plains, N.J.

John's Meat Market

Open Tuesday, November 10th

Tuesday to Saturday, 8 to 5. Closed Sunday and Monday.

87 years. Three generations.

“We strive to treat you, our customers in such a way that you want to return often.”

The Losavio Family

White tray of thick rib eye steaks tucked with curly kale, a card reading Rib Eye Steaks and a large cleaver on top, on a wood block.

Call!

908-322-7126

Tap the number. Now serving: you.

Order form

389 Park Avenue
Scotch Plains, N.J. 07076

The shop's sign: John's Famous Fresh Turkeys, shipped farm direct to ensure freshness, no middleman.

Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 26th

Fresh turkeys, direct from the farm. Order yours.

18 days to Thanksgiving.

Sizes, pickup, the rest of it? Call. We'd rather talk turkey than type it.

No middleman. That's important. Roast to 165°F. Rest 20 to 30 minutes. That's the short version.

Call 908-322-7126 Holiday roasts and carving

Looking down into the prime case: bone-in rib steaks fanned in a row, filet mignon and oyster cut London broil, with kale and green trim between the trays.

Dry aged. USDA Prime.

Beef is like the rest of us. Some of it gets better with age.

What's in the case

The “Meats” lettering is from 1951. The prices aren't on this page, because it stopped being 1951 a while ago. Call and ask, or come in and point.

Dry Aged Prime Beef

USDA Prime. Dry aged. That's the whole pitch.

  • USDA PrimePorterhouse(bring a friend, or don't)ask
  • USDA PrimeFilet Mignon(the quiet one)ask
  • Prime Rib(79¢ in 1951. let it go)ask

Pork, too. See more of what we sell

A silver tray of five thick marbled bone-in rib steaks with black grapes and herbs, a butcher in a white coat out of focus behind.
Bone-in rib steaks fanned down a tray, heavy marbling, kale on both sides.
The one you came in for. The bone stays.
White tray of thick rib eye steaks tucked with curly kale, a large cleaver resting on top, on a wood block.
The cleaver is not included.
Pile of marbled T-bone steaks on pink-brown butcher paper over a wood block.
Two steaks, one bone. Sharing is optional.
Marbled steaks fanned across a butcher block with curly kale, a small cleaver on top.
A whole block of them. You only need the one. Probably.

Heat & Eat

Stacked tubs of lobster bisque and shrimp and corn bisque with black John's labels, and butternut squash soup with a purple label.

Chicken pot pie. Heat it, eat it, take the credit. The whole cooler

Poultry

Trays of chicken kebabs with green pepper, onion and cherry tomato on skewers.

Chicken. Want to know how it was raised? Ask at the counter. We like that question.

Now showing

The Tour

Two minutes, thirty-five seconds. Less time than you should rest a steak.

Vinnie Sr. walks you through the shop. There is one thing wrong with this movie: you can't smell it.

“John's Meat Market Tour,” posted 2017. More videos

Inside the shop: pressed tin ceiling and fan, framed photos, the round Patience sign, straw boaters on a rack, and a butcher in a white coat behind the long curved glass case.

The story, as much as fits

John's father owned a barber shop.

John went into a different kind of cutting.

The shop's 1951 newspaper ad on aged paper. Grand Opening of the new and greater John's Meat Market, Tomorrow, Thursday, April 19th. A 12th anniversary note signed John Losavio. Free roses to the ladies, free balloons for the kiddies. Prime ribs of beef 79 cents a pound. Tel. FA 2-7126, Park Avenue, Scotch Plains.
The 1951 ad with notes in red pencil, listed below.
  1. You missed it by 75 years.
  2. Roses are gone. A steak still works.
  3. Balloons too. Sorry, kids.
  4. 79¢ a pound! Sale's over. We checked.
  5. Home made in 1951.
  6. This one's still good. Keep reading.

John Losavio opened in Scotch Plains in April 1939.

In April 1951, on the twelfth anniversary, he took out this ad. New and larger quarters on Park Avenue. A rose for every woman, a balloon for every child, prime rib at 79 cents a pound. He put his name on it and thanked the customers first.

Black and white photo of young John Losavio in a white coat, tie and apron, hands on hips, in front of a shop window with hand-lettered signs for ham, pot roast and pork chops.
The plaque on the framed print reads “John at 21 - 1939.”

His son Vincent came in 1966 with a marketing degree. Nick came in 1974 with a degree in speech. So now the shop could advertise and it could talk. Vincent Jr. made it three generations. Marie Losavio did the books and helped at the register. John worked next to his sons until shortly before he died in 2004, at 87.

The whole story

If you're going to do something, do it right.

The Losavio family
John Losavio at center with his sons Vinnie and Nick, all in white coats, holding a hand-lettered sign reading On Our 60th Anniversary.
John with Vinnie and Nick at the 60th, 1999.
Head of the shop's 1979 newspaper ad: 40th Anniversary in heavy script, 1939 to 1979, framed by a collage of cut meats.

Four anniversaries, four ads

1979. Forty. Violets for the ladies now. The balloons held steady. The rest of the run is on The Story.

If you're counting, ninety is April 2029.

Tel.

Same number.
Since at least 1951.

908-322-7126

The 1951 ad says FA 2-7126. On a phone dial F is a 3 and A is a 2. Check it on the dial. That's 322-7126, and it still rings. The 908 came along later. Nobody asked us.

Go ahead, it still rings

Detail of the 1951 ad, in old bold type: Tel. FA 2-7126.
Exhibit A. The 1951 ad, bottom of the page.
Wood panel from the shop's first delivery truck: John's Meat Market, Park Ave., Scotch Plains, with a gold shield reading Tel. Fanwood 2-7126.
Exhibit B. The panel off the first delivery truck. Tel. Fanwood 2-7126.
Gloved hands in a white coat holding up a thick bone-in rib roast over a steel prep table, the cut face thick with marbling, butcher blocks behind.

Christmas, Friday, December 25th

The famous Christmas prime rib roast.

47 days to Christmas.

Call for sizes and pickup days.

Order yours online Or call 908-322-7126

Watch Vinnie make one

What are you making Sunday?

Call it in 908-322-7126

Order form

Watch Vinnie make a standing prime rib roast. On the shop's Facebook page.

Order

By phone

See above, at length. Tell us what you're making and how many people. 908-322-7126

In writing

Rather type than talk? See the form

Filling a freezer?

Ask about our family packages. See the packages

Notices

The papers got wind of it.

New Jersey Monthly Jersey Choice, Best of NJ badge, 2011. New Jersey Monthly Jersey Choice, Best of NJ badge, 2012. New Jersey Monthly Jersey Choice, Best of NJ badge, 2014.

New Jersey Monthly readers' pick for Best Butcher: 2011, 2012 and 2014.

Round seal with a tree: New Jersey Family Business of the Year, 2006.

New Jersey Family Business of the Year, 2006.

On the air, in print

  • CBS New York“Shop Local Saturday,” 2022
  • News 12 New Jersey
  • NJ 101.5a profile, 2021
  • New Jersey MonthlyBest of NJ
  • New Jersey Lifefeatured, October 2007

Food & Wine named John's among the best butcher shops and meat markets in America.

A hand-written sign taped to a collection jar of dollar bills: Buy a Veteran a Burger, for previously homeless veterans.

Buy a Vet a Burger

Customers chipped in for the veterans at Valley Brook Village. There's a video about it, posted in 2016, and Patch photographed a collection jar at the shop in May 2022.

Photo courtesy of Brooks Betz, via Patch.

Customers, more or less

Ask around.

Of course we think it's good. We're the butcher. Ask the person behind you in line.

Or read the reviews on Google.

“so well-marbled, you'd swear you were eating Kobe beef.”

Michael K., Scotch Plains, on the rib steaks
The shop's round hand-lettered sign: Patience. Proper service takes time and concentration. If you have to wait, remember, you will receive the same undivided attention.
When it's your turn, the guy behind you gets to read it.

The deal

If you're happy, tell your friends. If you're not, tell us right away. We want to make it right.

John's red neon sign seen from down Park Avenue at dusk, under a deep blue sky, with the shop windows lit below.

Come see us

Look for the sign.

The shop front by day: John's Meat Market metal sign over a green awning reading Serving satisfied customers since 1939, with a USDA Prime shield.

Visit

389 Park Avenue

Scotch Plains, N.J. 07076. Look for the green awning. Park in the back or on the street, and come in either door.

  • Tues. to Sat.8 to 5
  • Sun., Mon.Closed

Closed now. Opens Tuesday at 8 a.m.

Get directions 908-322-7126

Tel. 908-322-7126 Call