R-C Ranch, which specializes in Texas Wagyu, is located in the little town of Bailey’s Prairie near Angleton. It has some good news for Houstonians, though: it’s bringing its meats to a new, local retail store. On Friday, December 17, its first storefront, R-C Ranch Texas Craft Butchers, is opening at the Houston Farmers Market, located at 2520 Airline.

Blake Robertson and Ryan Cade started the ranch in 2010 (the letters R-C stand for their last names). In addition to their own Wagyu, they are also selling meats from other purveyors that abide by certain quality standards, including the humane treatment of livestock and sustainability. These include Texas companies Holmes Foods, which raises poultry, Lonestar Seafood and Capra Foods, which provides Dorper lamb. There’s also a tank of live Maine lobsters.

For its Wagyu, R-C Ranch integrates three bloodlines, each from a different region of Japan, intended to produce large cows and well-marbled beef:  Kedaka, for size, Tajima for marbling and Shiname, which they say are cattle with “the best maternal traits.”

The shop at the Houston Farmers Market is dry-aging steaks in-house and making its own sausages, which are then smoked on a J&R Oyler pit. Briskets, hind shanks and bones will also go onto the pit and be available for sale. Charcuterie is made in-house as well.

For people who don’t have a lot of time to cook, chef Matthew Coburn, former chef de cuisine of Georgia James Tavern, is in charge of developing meal kits, such as chuck roast and vegetables, and fully prepped, ready-to-cook meals. Those who do like to cook may also find items of interest such as tallow oil and butter. Another Underbelly Hospitality alum, former UB Preserv line cook Easton Sadler is the shop’s full-time butcher.

In addition to selling retail, the R-C Ranch shop can also ship to other states as well as service wholesale accounts. The storefront is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

Phaedra Cook

Phaedra Cook has written about Houston’s restaurant and bar scene since 2010. She was a regular contributor to My Table magazine (now closed) and was the lead restaurant critic for the Houston Press for two years, eventually being promoted to food editor. Cook founded Houston Food Finder in November 2016 and has been its editor and publisher ever since.