Meats on Wheels
Your New Meat Guy

A good holiday meal has three main ingredients: meat, booze and people to consume said meat and booze.

Here to help with the meat part of the equation is Dickson's Farmstand Meats, a sort of meat intermediary, butcher and meat truck that may just revolutionize your online meat-buying experience.

Think of owner Jake Dickson as your new beastmaster. He eats, sleeps and dreams beef, tirelessly toiling to find you the choicest creatures from small local farms before handling the butchering himself—and he'll even sell you the whole hog if you're so inclined. So in addition to traditional meat (tenderloins, Berkshire bacon, heritage hams), you can stock your holiday table with special-request meat parts to spice things up a bit (beef cheeks, pork butt, jowls). Or even the aforementioned whole roast suckling pig or whole hot-house lamb (if you happen to be feeding, say, your extended family).

But the real draw is that you're no longer at the mercy of the greenmarket's tiny supply of meats. You pick your favorite meat on the site and then the fully stocked meat truck is waiting for you with the special delivery the next day (it's in the city daily, and stops in the West Village, Upper West Side and Irving Place). Everything is vacuum-packed and frozen to last up to six months without losing any flavor.

Which means your annual June luau/pig roast should work out just fine.