Is There Any Better Reason?

We’d misplaced the December Reasons to Love New York issue of New York magazine under a rib roast at chez butcher, but when we slid the prime cut over and retrieved a soppy, blood-soaked page, who was staring out at us though thick spectacles, self-confidently (cockyily even), brandishing a blade as long as his arm? Why, Marlow & Sons’ Tom Mylan. Now you can say a lot of things about Williamsburg being candy-ass, but this guy looks like he could cut out some hipster’s spleen and flip it up to the guys at Diner who’d then make a tasty appetizer that Rob Patronite would declare the new pork belly.

The butcher’s cold black heart did a grinch-like thump and swelled in his chest. And the cause for this celebration is reason #31, “Because Our Butchers Have Groupies.” Is it because New York (both the city and the magazine) is so food- and personality- obsessed that it creates hybrid celebrities that could exist nowhere else? If you’re the more hopeful sort you might inclined to think it’s that people are becoming more aware of where their meat comes from and they no longer think that it rolls off a shining conveyor belt pressed in plastic wrap and comes in wacky fun shapes for kids. Maybe that’s just the beef tea talking, but cheers and here’s to a brighter future, one in which New York magazine can go on celebrating butchers, bartenders, co-op farmers and politically-active hot dog shop proprietors.

Add a Comment