Harvey Gussman | Photo by Leslee Komaiko
By Leslee Komaiko
For dineLA.com
Los Angeles restaurants come and go. But the Gussman family has been a steady presence for over 70 years thanks to Harvey’s Guss Meat Company, which supplies meat and poultry to some of the best restaurants in town. About 25 years ago, Bronx native Harvey Gussman, a vibrant 78 year old who inherited the business from his dad, added retail, allowing home cooks to call in their rib eye and lamp chop orders. But the restaurant industry still accounts for three-quarters of Guss Meat Company's business.
Have you ever wanted to do anything else?
Yeah but my wife wouldn’t let us run away to France. I really loved the business. I started at 13 or 14 running around in trucks with drivers. When I was 16 on summer vacations I’d go make deliveries myself: make trips to Vernon, watch the actual slaughtering of animals, and it didn’t bother me. I watched the improvement of the conditions of what they were doing over the years. Most of the owners of packing houses tried to do the best they could for the animals. Up north, in the states of Washington and Oregon, when they used to put the calves in these little boxes so they wouldn’t move around… I get my veal from Marcho Farms in Pennsylvania. They run a real strict ‘for the animal’ type business. A lot of people are against it because of the way they were treating calves in the old days.
Is slaughtering still part of your business?
I buy all my beef through the Iowa Beef Packers in Iowa and Kansas: certified Angus prime. I bring it here, take it out of boxes and hang it on trees and dry age. For years its been a boxed beef business. I have not had to break a loin or round in twenty years.
Do you do any butchering?
We don’t break beef. But we do portion control, cut bones, all kinds of steaks, pork chops.
I heard that your daughter works with you.
Not really. If they’re here they love to answer the phone.
So you’re pretty much a one man show?
Except for my drivers and the people in my warehouse.
Why Vernon?
Vernon is where the big 40 foot semis drop off beef, because where I’m located, they won’t let me bring those trucks here. So we have to go there which is fine because I pick up from three, four, five different places. It depends on what we need. There is always a restaurant that orders something we don’t have in stock.
How many restaurants do you work with?
About 25.
What are some of the restaurants you currently work with?
My goodness. Let me see. Akasha, Angelini Osteria, Gary Arabia Global Cuisine, Larchmont Larder, Beverly Plaza Hotel, Peninsula Hotel, Campanile for always and forever.
How does it work? One chef tells another chef?
We don’t advertise. There’s also Da Pasquale, a lot of caterers, The Foundry, Hatfield’s.
It’s been a hard few years for the restaurant business. I assume that directly affected your business.
It’s way down.
Is it coming back at all?
Sometimes the restaurant business will pick up on the weekend. But during the week it’s very slow. Of course my retail business gets better because people are eating home more.
What are some of your more popular items?
Prime rib and rib steak, T-bones and porterhouse. I sell an awful lot of boneless and bone-in short ribs.
And you do poultry, yes? You mentioned Willy Birds (turkeys) when we last spoke.
We do have them for Christmas. Last year we sold 56 prime rib roasts for retail. Christmas is a prime rib dinner.
And sausages?
We don’t make sausages. I bring them from different sausage makers. Pontrelli & Laricchia is one of the best Italian sausages. A really good retail place is Huntington Meats in the Farmer’s Market. They’re very good.
If someone called and said, “I want two of your best steaks,” what would you recommend?
I’m torn. I love a porterhouse because you’ve got the New York and filet. For just a single steak, the best tasting is the boneless rib eye and right up there, half a point behind, is the New York steak. There’s nothing like my prime, dry aged, New York steaks.
How long are they aged?
Normally anywhere from 28 to 32 days. Some chefs ask me for 40 or 50 days.
Any cooking tips?
I barbecue them and finish them in the oven if it’s a real thick steak. Otherwise just on the grill for five or six minutes each side.
Do you put anything on them?
A touch of salt and pepper.
Why do people buy from you rather than from one of the bigger purveyors?
I have the best. And also I’ll do what they ask. One of the people that just called me asked if I could get a couple beef shanks for him, and would I bone them out and could he have the bones. I said "sure" and he said, "Thank God, I can’t get anyone to do this for me." The thing about supermarkets, even if they advertise they have prime, they don’t have certified Angus aged prime.
What’s the difference?
Angus beef is the best beef we breed in the country. Only five percent of the beef grown qualifies for certified Angus prime.
Angus is a type of cattle?
Yes, you know the black Angus beef.
What about grass fed beef?
Grass fed beef is good. It has a sweet taste but it doesn’t have the marbling of corn fed beef.
Have you met many of the chefs?
Of course I’ve met them. Years ago, we used to be open on Saturdays for will call and I would have sometimes a half dozen chefs here. They would come at 9 or 10 in the morning. They’d bring coffee and croissants here. It was like a little clubhouse. Then we stopped doing business on Saturday.
Since you have worked and gotten to know so many chefs over the years, would you care to generalize about them?
Most of them are very gracious. Some of them are very curt. They just give their orders. But most of them are really friendly.
Do you eat at their restaurants?
Oh of course. I try to give my business to customers. That’s wonderful because when you sell to Angelini Osteria you get the best Italian in the city and Hatfield’s, almost everything they make is outstanding.
Do you ever order steak out?
I used to order the rib eye steak at the Peninsula. My wife won’t let me bring the rib eyes home because it’s got the fat and it’s not healthy. She’s trying to keep me healthy.
What do you think of the head to tail or snout to tail movement and chefs butchering their own animals?
If that’s what they want to do… Who’s great at that is Matt and Chad at Mozza. They run this special on Thursday, Friday and Saturday: a pork dinner with pork presented in five ways over a couple of hours. It’s just fantastic. They had a crab dinner one night. It was fantastic. For the pork dinner they take half a pig and make five fantastic dishes out of it. He did a tomato dinner; it was like a BLT salad to start, a tomato and burrata cheese course, and then another course, then a pasta dish with the greatest tomato sauce. The final thing was a roast rack of veal which they bought from me with a tomato sauce and finished with a porcini rub.
You sound like a serious food lover.
Oh sure. Before my father went into the meat business, he was in the restaurant business. He owned restaurants. In 1939 he opened a restaurant that didn’t do well. Then he went into the meat business.
I hesitate to ask this because you seem as vital as ever. But do you have any plans to retire?
Oh no. I’m only 78. My brother did that fifteen years ago and two years later he passed away. If you don’t have a reason to get up it the morning…
Is there an heir apparent?
My grandson is too young. My son has his own business. He says, “Dad I sleep til 7. I have breakfast with my kids. I take them to school. You get up at 3 a.m.”
Tell me some of your favorite LA restaurants.
Si Laa is the best Thai restaurant I’ve ever eaten at in my life. It’s on Robertson between Pico and Olympic. Do you remember Talesai? The woman who used to run Talesai, she opened Si Laa. She’s got her mother with her who controls the kitchen. We like to eat at Angelini a lot, of course the Peninsula when we feel like getting dressed up. Hatfield’s is excellent.
What about for casual?
Angelini is casual. Sawtelle Kitchen on Sawtelle Boulevard, his lamb shank is great. Pace in Laurel Canyon is wonderful. Marino’s if you want classic Italian food. It’s at Melrose and Cahuenga. They have the best lobster and they still do clams oreganato. One of the brothers from the Marino family opened up Il Grano in West L.A. That’s Salvatore’s place.
Harvey's Guss Meat Company
949 S. Ogden Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.937.4622
www.harveysgussmeat.com
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