For the first time in 90 years, Gepperth’s Meat Market has changed locations–but not very far. Moving two storefronts away may seem insignificant compared to the fact that Gepperth’s, an old-fashioned De Paul area butcher shop that began catering to German and Hungarian shoppers in 1906, still has a loyal following.
Gepperth’s owner Otto Demke, who bought the shop 15 years ago after the second-generation of the founding Gepperth family retired, says that meat remains the mainstay of his business. Customers come for homemade Italian sausages and German brats, tender and well-marbled steaks and roasts, soup chickens at Passover, smoked and “green” (fresh) hams at Easter, demi-glaces and slowly simmered stocks, including beef, veal, chicken and duck.
When a developer offered to buy the building at 1970 N. Halsted St. that housed the store, Demke moved south to 1964 N. Halsted (312-549-3883), where a Burger King had closed. In his new locale, he began selling some prepared foods to appeal to neighborhood residents who don’t have time to cook. They buy homemade corned beef hash ($3.89 a pound), neatly shaped mini meatloaves ($4.59 a pound) and chicken breasts stuffed with wild rice ($4.98 a pound). Many buy homemade potato salad, baked beans or red cabbage to round out a meal.
“People don’t want to buy stew meats and roasts that require hours to cook for their families. They want anything that will make cooking easier, if you can call it cooking in some cases,” joked Demke, attired in his butcher’s apron–though this, too, in a nod to modern convenience, has been updated to plastic from cloth.