Dry-Aged
Bone-In Ribeye
Heavily marbled and aged on the bone.
Since 1929
Four Generations
One family, one trade, four generations of New Jersey butchers.
Newark, 1943
Where It Started
An eighteen-year-old Frank M. DeRosa, just back from basic training, stands with his sister Lillian and their parents outside the family home and store on 4th Street. He would ship out to serve in World War II, come home, and spend the rest of his life in the trade his father started.
1929
First Generation
F.A. DeRosa
An Italian immigrant with a dream of running his own family business, F.A. DeRosa purchases Liberty Food Market in Newark, New Jersey. He gives the trade — and the name — to his son.
II
Second Generation
F.M. DeRosa
Serves his country in the Army Air Force during World War II, then settles in Union County. He works at the Westfield Market, then Rose's Market in Garwood, before joining a meat purveyor at the Plainfield Cold Storage Building and helping establish Meat City, a retail and wholesale supplier in Linden with a second location in North Brunswick.
His name becomes sought-after in the industry. He runs the meat department at ShopRite in Dunellen, then is promoted to the larger department at the new ShopRite in Middlesex. In retirement he partners with his wife Clementina to buy J&M Market in Mountainside, where he teaches his two sons the trade — selling them the business in 1986.
III
Third Generation
F.A. DeRosa, Sr.
Spends nearly 25 years in the family business at J&M Market. He goes on to work as meat manager at Kings Supermarket in Berkeley Heights, then as a supervisor at Village Supermarkets, overseeing eight ShopRite meat and seafood departments until his retirement in 2017.
IV
Fourth Generation
F.A. DeRosa, Jr.
Worked as a clerk at his family's J&M Market as a child, then left for a career in international business development and marketing. When his grandfather passed away, he realized his true calling was the trade he'd grown up in.
He convinced his father out of retirement. Together they opened their own family-operated butcher shop — first in downtown Westfield, and now in Mountainside, returning the family to the town J&M Market served for decades.
"I head into Manhattan once a week and personally choose every single piece of meat that's hanging in this cooler. It's me and the guy from Peter Luger's standing there going over every inch."
Frank DeRosa, Sr.
Every primal Frank Sr. selects is marked with the shop's own brand, so nothing can be mixed up in transport. Nothing here is boxed meat — it comes fresh, direct from the Midwest, and it's cut where you can watch it happen.
"We have no secrets here. We're proud of what we're doing, so why not let everybody watch us do it?"
Frank DeRosa, Sr.
On the Wall
A Welcome, Painted
A wall mural by artist Brian Holderman adorns the Mountainside shop — a welcome to the historic town this family has called home for generations, and a marker of their place in the community. Come see it in person.
