WB_021518

10 | February 15, 2018 | The wilmette beacon news
wilmettebeacon.com
Al’s Meat Market sells good old-fashioned way in Wilmette
Hilary Anderson
Freelance Reporter
There is no sawdust on
the floor, but that does not
matter. It still is an oldfashioned
meat market in a
modern setting.
Al’s Meat Market, at
1165 Wilmette Ave., is
more than its name. The
small store still sells meat
the old-fashioned way.
It also is a neighborhood
gathering place. Al’s Meat
Market is reminiscent of a
general store from years
gone by situated among
21st century buildings.
The proprieter is Joe
Spera, wearing his storekeeper’s
apron, telling
jokes when not serving
customers. He could easily
do stand-up comedy. His
laughter is contagious.
Customers love him and
so do neighboring business
owners, sales people and
whoever is delivering mail
for the day. They come to
buy, place orders, discuss
the best way to cook various
meats, survey Spera’s
newest BBQ sauces, olive
oils, and pastas or update
each other on the news of
the day. Sometimes it is all
of the above.
Spera is no stranger to
Wilmette.
He attended St. Joseph
School until sixth grade
when his parents divorced.
Spera finished school at
Avoca and graduated from
New Trier High School.
He is a proud alum and
still connects with classmates.
“Our 50th New Trier
High School reunion is
coming soon,” Spera said.
“We are looking for a place
to hold it.”
Spera hauls out his 1968
New Trier High School
yearbook and opens to the
page with his photo on it.
“Wasn’t I a handsome
guy then,” he said. “Now
look at me.”
Spera learned butchering
meat from his father,
Al Spera, who in 1961
opened Al’s Meat Market
in Hubbard Woods.
“He sometimes made
me work with him when
I did something wrong
as sort of a punishment,”
Spera said.
Spera chose not to be a
butcher once he graduated
high school.
“I was a truck driver,
welder and miner,” he
said. “I traveled to Rocks
Spring, Wyoming and
mined soda ash from which
baking soda is made.”
He came back to the
Wilmette area when his
cousin, Ralph Spera, was
dying.
“Ralph was my best
friend, like a brother to
me,” he said. “We did so
many fun things together.”
It was around this time
he bought a large semitruck
and worked for an
excavating company.
Spera’s father died in
1991.
“My father died, left me
the store and got even with
me,” Spera said, laughing.
He ran the Hubbard
Woods Al’s Meat Market
until 2001 then moved the
store to its current location
and back to his Wilmette
roots.
“The people here are
so friendly,” Spera said.
“It’s a neighborhood family.
Business owners, landlords,
customers gather
here every Friday after
about 4 p.m. We talk, eat
and have a good time. It’s
a lifestyle, not an address.”
Spera shares his talents
with others when asked.
“A young Minnesota
woman who was a pastry
chef came and learned
how to cut meat properly,”
he said. “She was good at
butchering.”
Joe Spera, owner of Al’s Meat Market in Wilmette, smiles at a customer at the 1165 Wilmette Ave. store.
hilary anderson/22nd century media
Another was a Michigan
woman who came for a
similar reason.
“I think she opened her
own shop there,” Spera
said.
He is a walking encyclopedia
not just about meats
but all the products he sells
in his store.
“I taste almost everything
I sell so customers
will know what they are
like, what may go with a
particular kind of meat and
how to use it,” Spera said.
“My favorite BBQ sauce is
Old Arthur’s.”
He goes to the market
himself and selects the
cuts and kinds of meat he
will sell. Most meats Spera
buys come from Illinois
area markets.
“I know how to pick
good meats,” he said.
“Been doing that since I
was a little kid.”
Spera makes every type
of ethnic sausage imaginable—Italian,
lamb, Polish,
various kinds of brats
plus his own version of
meatloaf.
“Around Christmas I
make black and white
Bangers, Irish pudding and
even Danish pork roast,
which is hard to find,” he
said. “Last Christmas a
Danish couple from Florida
visiting here came and
bought a Danish pork roast
because they cannot find
any where they live.”
Spera adds if someone
wants a particular kind of
meat and only has a picture
of it, he can identify
the meat and get it for the
customer.
“Sometimes people only
know a meat by what their
family calls it or it is in
another language, Spera
said.”
He is a man of many
talents and during summer
goes to customers’ homes
to cook a pig roast or a
whole lamb.
There are no price tags
in Spera’s meat market.
“Meat prices can change
every day,” he said. “I
do not want to waste my
time changing price tags.
Sometimes my prices can
be lower than in the big
food stores.”
Just as he was talking in
walked a customer.
“I just want two chicken
breasts split with no bones,”
Ellen Sachs Alters said.
Spera collected two
from his old-fashioned
white, refrigerated glass
case, wrapped them and
told her the price.
“Is that all?,” she asked
and walked away smiling.
“Joe has the best-tasting
chicken in town. You cannot
beat the service and
comradery.”
“Joe operates in the old
style,” customer Mary Lyman
said. “He has quality
meats, will order what you
need, cut it to order and tell
you how to best cook it.”
In the old-fashion tradition,
Spera does not take
credit cards. He accepts
cash, checks and even
gives store credit.
“It is always a pleasure
to see Joe,” Tania Chevalier
said. “He has good and
delicious meat and a joke
to go along with it. We always
have a good time visiting
his store.”