JW Treuth and Sons in Oella

Anyone who wants a meat adventure should drive to J.W. Treuth & Sons -- just up the road from Ellicott City in Oella.

This is the retail part of a company that sells beef to butchers and restaurants from Boston to Richmond and even overseas. The wholesaler is super-modern, boasting about both its kosher products and its special service whisking just-slaughtered eyes, glands, brains "and more" to medical researchers at NIH and Hopkins.

In contrast, the J.W. Treuth store is out of the past. It's in Baltimore County on a two-lane road off Rte 144 that alternates between commercial lots and older homes. Inside, there is just a long counter and enough room to check out the wares.

And the wares are the reason to drive to J.W. Treuth. All kinds of beef cuts, chicken, seafood, at least four varieties of house-made sausages. Everything is reasonably priced, and everything that I tried was delicious. I made a special dinner with a fillet and four enormous scallops. The fillet was tender, but had a real beef flavor that is just missing from cheaper joints. The scallops were sweet, pretty much on the level of my standard Today's Catch in Columbia.

I also bought the Chesapeake sausage, which is an Italian sausage with Old Bay seasoning replacing some of the usual spices. Delicious. Watch out though. I ordered a single sausage

figuring that I'd get a six-inch link, but one sausage weighed more than a pound and made its way into multiple meals, including sandwiches and then a chicken stew.

I read about J.W. Treuth in a post by Treetop Tom on Chowhound. The shop is regularly discussed in Chowhound posts about butchers, including people looking for high quality, for unusual cuts, or for speciality items like offal and organs -- see here. This kind of butcher is absolutely unique as far as I can tell. I do love the sausage at Boarman's, and people say great things about the Laurel Meat Market. But nothing looks like J.W. Treuth.

If you want more, click for the starting page for my "What I Learned" guide to food in Howard County.

J.W. Treuth & and Sons

328 Oella Avenue
Baltimore, Maryland 21228
Phone: 410-465-4650

http://www.jwtreuth.com/index2.html

NEAR: You can get to Oella Avenue from Ellicott City or Catonsville off Rte 144 (Frederick Road). Don't trust Google Maps because Westchester Avenue is closed (or it was in September 2008). From downtown Ellicott City, you take Rte 144 towards Catonsville. Turn left on Old Frederick Road. Then turn left on Oella. Watch the house numbers because J.W. Treuth is small shop.