Chubs Meats opens in Ronkonkoma
The Street Fighter at Chubs Meats, which has opened another location in Ronkonkoma. Credit: Newsday/Corin Hirsch
When Ryan Jones took over a 60-year-old butcher shop in Medford in 2014, he had one other employee and a plan to sell lots of meat. Along the way, he developed often exuberant spins on heros, sliders and heat-and-eat entrees that endeared the spot to families and fire departments alike.
Barely two weeks after opening his most recent meat shop — this one in Ronkonkoma — the Chubs oeuvre was so well known in central Suffolk County that a steady stream of customers seemed to already know what they would find there: The rib-eye steaks and bourbon-teriyaki steak tidbits, the marinated chicken cutlets and breaded, stuffed chicken breast "boats," including one stuffed with mac-and-cheese and wrapped in bacon.
Jones said it had taken months to transform the former Galeotafiore Italian Pork Store into the newest Chubs, which he co-owns with brother-in-law Thomas Snyder. The spot looks much like a deli-butcher shop hybrid: On one side is a case running the length of the room that brims with steaks, pork chops, cutlets and prepped meals such as barbecue-teriyaki turkey London broil and meat loaf; plus family-scaled meals like pepper steak with onions and peppers that can be cooked as-is in a Crockpot.
A limited sandwich menu mirrors a few of the heros from Chubs Burgers Burritos and Heroes in Farmingville (which Jones opened in 2019) such as an oversized $13.99 Street Fighter hero of shaved roast beef, melted mozzarella and gravy wedged between two pieces of garlic hero bread.
Facing the meat case is a small market with prepared meals such as mac-and-cheese and provisions like produce, dried sausage, Peter Luger steak sauce, Chubs ice cream (in flavors such as vanilla brownie and strawberry cheesecake), fresh and dried pasta and local products including Sag Harbor Honey and hot sauces.
Unlike in Medford, the cutting and cooking takes places out of sight in Ronkonkoma, but the kitchen assembles the same overfull packages that Chubs is known for, such as family-sized meat and barbecue boxes and game-day packages of marinated wings, quesadillas and the like.
Chubs Meats, 896 Johnson Ave., Ronkonkoma; 631-619-6627, chubsmeats.com
