Sonoma Vacation: Bud's Custom Meats

What a hilarious place.

I don't know what I expected when we drove off the beaten path to head for Penngrove and Bud's Custom Meats. It was a little like driving around Tuscany when we discovered that the roads marked in white on the Italian Touring Club maps are basically dirt roads.

"Turn right here," I say, torquing around my map and peering intently at the crisscross of rail lines with-- I thought-- roads.

The incredulous look on my Omnivore's face says, "Um... into the field?"

Well, anyway, we made it to Bud's, which at least is marked with a prominent sign, and discovered a hard-core butcher shop.

There's a.. a... well, a deer, a deer head, that is, overseeing the counter, which separates an impressive meat packing operation, done by hand by several workers, who look pretty much ready to ignore us until we fire off a shotgun.

In the mean time, folks are coming in here and there, picking up what seem to be humongous pre-orders of meat, chops, ground, all kinds of stuff.

"They have wild boar!" I say excitedly, pointing into one of the vast refrigerated cases.

Sadly, we have no cooler (and it's pretty hot outside) and I'm not sure there's a refrigerator where we're going anyhow. Sighing, we settle on some fairly safe venison jerky and something delectable, with the undelectable name of "Bloody Mary" jerky.

We'll be back.

Bud's Custom Meats
7750 Petaluma Hill Rd
Penngrove CA
(707) 795-8402
Open Monday-Saturday 8-5

Back to our itinerary.