Top 50 local food shops

For a taste of the top delicacies being made in the West, check out these amazing places--and add a special touch to your table

Butchers: Northwest

Portland | Laurelhurst Market Butcher Shop. The reason this East Portland butcher shop is open until 10 p.m. is not to satisfy late-night liverwurst cravings. It’s just practical. It’s attached to one of the city’s best steakhouses, and the dinner crowd sometimes wanders over. The meatheads behind the counter excel at making every bit of an animal taste good: hand-stuffed sausages, house-smoked bacon, lardo, pastrami, terrines, and hams. Our pick: Tuesday’s crisp, juicy fried chicken. 3155 E. Burnside St.; laurelhurstmarket.com

Seattle | Rain Shadow Meats. Plump sausages, meatballs, pâtés, and cuts of beef, pork, lamb, and chicken—everything in this modern butcher shop is raised sustainably. The flavorful beef pho broth makes stirring up a pot of the Vietnamese soup a cinch. (Just add beef, noodles, Thai basil, and bean sprouts.) Our pick: The pumpkin sausage, with sage and molasses. 1531 Melrose Ave.; rainshadowmeats.com 

Walla Walla | Blue Valley Meats. These butchers know the local ranches, which cuts are best, and they custom-slice. They use top-quality meat, like the Pure Country pork in their Toulouse-style Pine Street sausage, and the Waiilatpu Mission Farm beef in their Italian-style marinated chuck roast. Our pick: A sirloin cap steak, seasoned with the house grilling salt you jar at the seasonings counter. 1162 W. Pine St.; bluevalleymeats.com