Luxe meat wholesaler PFD opens Port Washington retail store

"If you know, you know" could well be the motto of Prime Food Distributor. The 100-employee high-end meat supplier has no sales reps: Principals John Kosmidis and Nick Castellana rely entirely on the word of mouth generated by their chef customers — many of whom you know by name.

They are bringing that IYKYK energy to a tiny 3-month-old "retail meat boutique," carved out of a corner of their headquarters that is tucked away in an office park in Port Washington. The only possible foot traffic is from employees who can’t find a parking spot closer to the front door.

"This is a passion project," Castellana said. "We wanted people to see what we do." Added Kosmidis, "We were tired of telling friends and family who didn’t want to shop in the supermarket that they couldn’t buy from us."

But, of course, the two also have a bigger business plan. "This store is ‘proof of concept’ for something we want to expand," he continued. "And the location is perfect because it operates under a microscope that we can keep an eye on."

All the meat here is precut and vacuum-packed. The first display that customers see is what Kosmidis and Castellana call their Monday-to-Friday selection, items that they themselves cook on weeknights. Here you’ll find flank, skirt and strip steaks as well as less common cuts, such as bavette and minute steaks cut from the loin. Prices range from $12.95 to $29.95 and the grades range from choice to prime, with much of it from the top end of choice — that is, having more intramuscular marbling than it needs to qualify for that grade, but not quite enough to achieve prime status.

PFD creates burgers for scores of high-end restaurants and, here, they sell two blends, one prime ("meritage," $14.95) and one American Wagyu ("lux," $19.95).

Over in the premium case, you’ll find such steaks-of-the-moment as tomahawks, top sirloin caps (AKA culotte or picanha), rib-eye caps (spinalis dorsi) and bone-in tenderloins and filet mignons in various combinations of top choice, prime, American Wagyu and dry-aged. The house style for dry aging emphasizes concentration of flavor over the development of cheesy funk.

The shop carries much more than just beef. There are Giannone chickens from Canada, plump birds that resemble the famous French poulets de Bresse; pork and lamb chops; packages of veal osso bucco where every piece has a big, fat hole filled with marrow. Alongside the meticulously "Frenched" racks of lamb I was gratified to see untrimmed racks — Castellana agreed that "the finger meat" attached to the bone is some of the best eating a sheep can provide. You’ll also find a nice assortment of oils, vinegars, salts and seasonings. And you can have a free espresso. Plus, all orders are packed into insulated bags with an ice pack.

PFD's 25,000-square-foot headquarters also houses the company’s state-of-the-art fulfillment center, whence meat is loaded onto trucks that are sent as far south as Miami, as far north as Boston and as far west as Chicago. Still other trucks are headed to freighters and airplanes to dispatch products to 20 international destinations.

The actual cutting and fabrication are done in a nearby building (also 25,000 square feet) where Kosmidis, Castellana and Castellana’s father, Joe, started the business in 2012. The Castellana family had been involved in Western Beef, a discount retail chain, and Kosmidis started working as a butcher in Astoria, Queens, when he was 11. All three men knew the meat business backwards and forwards. "There is no shortage of commodity meat purveyors," Kosmidis noted. "Our goal was to create a company that focuses on producing the best steaks on the planet."

PFD, 4 Tri Harbor Ct., Port Washington, 516-723-2200, hprimefooddistributor.com. Open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.