A Proud Legacy
The Market House Meats store was originally the first Safeway store in Seattle. I-5 was built and cut off the grocery store from the people that lived on Capital hill, so they closed. The Akrish bros., Sam and Mike, opened a butcher shop there in March 1st, 1948. They originally were a full service butcher shop with half cows on rails. Their top selling item was Corned Beef brisket. By the 1960’s they were the undisputed kings of Corned Beef in Seattle. They sold to nearly 100 restaurants in town. Soon, they sold only a few items: corned beef and ground beef.
By the 1990’s both brothers passed away, and their nephew Jack Akrish took over operations. He changed a few things, like adding sandwiches 1 day a week.
In Jan 2005, Jack sold the business to Vic Embry. Vic added an open retail area to the store, vacuum sealer products, and sold sandwiches all week long. Around that same time Metropolitan Markets started selling Market House Corned Beef.
In July 2016, Vic sold the business to Mazen Mahmoud. Mazen has stayed true to the core of the customer’s strength: quality Corned Beef with friendly service. Mazen has added regular Saturday hours, and mobile ordering, with more improvements to come.
We typically process 20 tons of brisket between Jan 1 & Mar 17. We are USDA inspected daily. Our brine recipe is the same as it was in 1948, and it has never been written down. Each brisket is hand injected, increasing nearly 20% in weight, and then barrel cured for a minimum of 7 days. When the briskets are fully cured, they are then trimmed, cut to size, and then vacuum sealed.