Park Ridge Is Hiding the Rolls Royce of Cheesesteaks Inside a Butcher Shop
Most people drive right past it. B&M Market at 146 Kinderkamack Road in Park Ridge looks like what it is, a gourmet butcher shop where Bergen County families pick up prime steaks for the weekend. What it does not look like is the home of a cheesesteak that just got named one of the best things eaten in North Jersey this week.
NorthJersey.com put B&M's ribeye cheesesteak on its list of the three best things its writer ate this week in North Jersey, and the praise was not subtle. The writer called it the Rolls Royce of beefy hoagies and said even the best Philadelphia cheesesteaks cannot compete with what a gourmet butcher can do with the sandwich.
The difference starts at the case. B&M cuts its beef in house, and the shop's beef is USDA aged prime, the same grade it sells as filet mignon, New York strip and cowboy ribeyes. A cheesesteak built on house cut prime ribeye is simply playing a different sport than one built on frozen steak slices, and it shows up in every bite.
The build stays classic on the surface: shaved ribeye piled onto artisan bread with melted cheese. The tell is the aioli, which the writer was sure is garlic, a small chef's touch that pushes the sandwich from deli counter to something closer to a steakhouse lunch. Presentation matters here too. This is a sandwich that arrives looking like it came out of a kitchen, not a griddle line.
Part of the fun is where it hides. The cheesesteak sits on a prepared foods roster alongside burrata topped pork chops, tomahawk steaks and potato crusted halibut, the take home entrees B&M is known for. Regulars come for the butcher case and the catering. The sandwich is the dark horse, a stellar lunch that most first timers have never heard of until somebody lets them in on it.
None of this should surprise anybody who follows Bergen County food. B&M has been a fixture on Kinderkamack Road for years, a repeat Best of Bergen winner for best butcher shop and best caterer in (201) magazine's readers poll. The shop also stocks all natural Bell and Evans chicken, heritage Ossabaw pork, Colorado prime lamb and house made burgers and sausages, which is why half the neighborhood treats it as their market, not just their butcher.
So here is the move. Next time the cheesesteak craving hits and the plan is the usual grease joint, reroute to Park Ridge instead. Order the ribeye cheesesteak, then do what everybody ends up doing and leave with something from the case for dinner. The shop sits at 146 Kinderkamack Road, Unit B, and you can call ahead at 201-391-4373 or browse bmfoodlovers.com before you go.
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