We buy a lot of meat from costco (Clyborn Av.), especially USDA choice ribeyes and have always been pleased.The steaks look great, are well marbled etc. Lately tho we've really been let down as the flavor of the meat just isn't there !
I mentioned this to my brother who cooks in a firehouse. He said that the last time he served Costco ribeyes he was accused of "going cheap" on the meat and has since switched to Jewell for ribeyes when they are on sale.
I was thinking that perhaps the lack of flavor was an indication that the meat may need a little more age on. I kept one in the fridge for an extra five or so days, seasoned it up with some fresh cracked black pepper and sea salt and cooked it over lump charcoal and was still greatly disapointed.
Has anyone else had this experience?

JSM wrote:We buy a lot of meat from costco (Clyborn Av.), especially USDA choice ribeyes and have always been pleased.The steaks look great, are well marbled etc. Lately tho we've really been let down as the flavor of the meat just isn't there !
I mentioned this to my brother who cooks in a firehouse. He said that the last time he served Costco ribeyes he was accused of "going cheap" on the meat and has since switched to Jewell for ribeyes when they are on sale.
I was thinking that perhaps the lack of flavor was an indication that the meat may need a little more age on. I kept one in the fridge for an extra five or so days, seasoned it up with some fresh cracked black pepper and sea salt and cooked it over lump charcoal and was still greatly disapointed.
Has anyone else had this experience?

Not exactly this, but related (and belonging under the topic somehow)--I've had three (count 'em, three) experiences in the last year with meat at "top steakhouses" in the city not being what it used to be. Gibson's, Keefer's and Mastro's all left me with the feeling that what I was getting just wasn't what I was accustomed to from places like this in years gone by.

Anybody else reminded of the chapter from Kitchen Confidential, where Bourdain interviews for a job at a steakhouse, gets this question but hears it as, "What do you know about me?", and answers, "Next to nothing."?

I suspect the lack of flavor has more to do with low quality meat than a lack of age. Though aging could improve things.

I only buy meat from Costco for parties. I've only had their whole tenderloins (great), brisket (good), and pork (decent). I would have thought Jewel would be as bad, or worse, than Costco.

I don't usually buy pork from Costco, so I can't comment, but the beef is, in my opinion, at least one tier up in quality from what you get at Jewel. First of all, you just have a much better selection of meat. More cuts are available, and there's more of them to choose from. The rare times I've shopped at Jewel, I've had bad luck finding good choice cuts of ribeye or porterhouse. More often than not, the marbling is just barely choice-grade meat, while at Costco, I can often find choice steaks that look a hair's-breadth away from prime. Add to that, Costco usually does have some prime meats available, at reasonable prices, whereas I don't think I've ever seen prime at Jewel.

Let me put to rest the claim that the USDA has a grading level other than the eight categories, and really only three(Prime,Choice, and Select) that we as consumers will ever see.You will never see a grade stamp of Prime+ or Choice+ because there isn't one. If you read carefully the link that was posted earlier there was never a mention of any other sub grades, this has been a myth for many years. Whatever sub-grades you have been told of are merely opinions of the retailer. Yes the grading system is subjective and not perfect, I've seen some beef stamped as prime that shouldn't have been, and usually send it back if I can catch it in time. The only other category of concern is the Yield Grade, which is the ratio of lean meat to fat. A Yield grade of 1 has a higher yield than a yield grade of 3. Usually this translates to a thicker fat COVERING, not marbling. Other countries use a marbling score system when grading their beef, more noticeable in the Wagyu breed of cattle( Kobe Beef) which has been described as "super prime" by enthusiasts.When retailers want to describe the level of a grade of beef it would make far more sense to me to use a marbling score in there description, if they even know what it might be,