Florence Prime Meat Market: The Little Butcher Shop That Could

By Anthony Paradiso

No matter what anyone tells you, the place where the Newport Steak originated is right here in the Village. That place is a butcher shop called Florence Prime Meat Market located at 5 Jones Street since 1936.

Back then the original owner was Jack Ubaldi. Current owner Aristeo Quinonez, who started as a head butcher in the 1980s, took over in 2022. His daughter Daisy explained why he decided to take over the Village staple. “The previous owner was going to completely shut down and being here for so long, my dad already knew everything and was passionate about his work, so he decided to take over the business.”

Since the 1990s, Florence has seen three owners come and go. Tony Pellegrino, a Florence-trained butcher who took over the business from original owner Ubaldi in 1975, passed the business on to another Florence-trained butcher, Benny Pizzuco in 1995. Pizzuco then turned the business over to longtime head butcher Quinonez in 2022.

Since this is New York City where the rent is always too high, Daisy described what running the business in Greenwich Village is like. “With the landlord, we have a good relationship. Since it’s a high-market value spot, it is costly to have the business here. There is a lot put into maintaining and keeping the business open.”

One of the keys that has allowed the business to stay open in prime real estate in Greenwich Village has been the “Newport Steak” which is original to Florence Prime Meat Market. Quinonez added that the Newport is so popular that people buy dozens of them “like eggs.” He told me the story behind the Newport Steak.

“When Jack Ubaldi opened the store, many students from NYU would pass by and buy their meat. At that time, the prices for the students were very high. He was thinking about a good piece of meat to sell to the students. One day he found a piece of the sirloin …and he found it a very good steak. He didn’t give it a name, he just started selling it to the students. Then the students asked him, ‘what’s the name of this steak?’ One night he was sitting at home watching TV and he saw an advertisement for Newport cigarettes which had a logo shaped like a half-moon, which is shaped just like the steak and then he thought, ‘oh, I’m going to give that name to my steak.’”

A business doesn’t stick around for 90 years in the Village without having a strong business model and a staff that pays great attention to detail. Daisy explained the method to Florence’s madness. “The main reason is because it’s an old-fashioned butcher shop with fresh, hanging meat. Not many butcher shops nowadays have the quality that we can provide. Everything here is cut to order, there’s no pre-cuts, there’s no meat that’s laying around. The customer comes in and it’s cut fresh to their order and their preference. The butchers are very specific to detail when it comes to customers and especially since there’s a lot of regulars, they already know to a tee how they want their meat cut.”

Florence has very strong ties to the community it serves. One relationship that Daisy touched on is with neighbor, Record Runner, which has been next-door to Florence for 41 years. “We’re very close friends. Every morning, we greet each other. We see each other’s busy days. For Record Runner, he has Record Store Day and there’s always a crazy line packed outside of his store. When we arrive to open, we always find a long line and we’re like ‘oh my gosh,’ and then he’s like ‘it’s a busy day!’ and he’s so excited. It’s the same when it goes for us with Christmas and Thanksgiving. We kind of give each other these nods like we know it’s our time to shine.”

Florence is looking to expand and start using social media to get the word out about the business. Daisy described the butcher shop’s social media ambitions. “We definitely hope to expand and we most likely are getting into social media. We’re trying to film more TikToks and have a lot more content out to let more people know about the business.”

Florence Prime Meat Market is closed Sundays and Mondays. They are open Tuesdays through Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Who knows what the future holds for this Village staple? Under the care of Quinonez and his family, the future is bright for this little butcher shop that could.