Rapid City chef hits the road to put South Dakota beef on menu [Video]

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – Eric Bartel, owner of Dakota Meat Company says about half of the beef on his menu is currently sourced from South Dakota.

“Definitely would like to do as much as we can. I’m thinking about with the burgers just going to that only,” Bartel said.

The chef is currently supplied by two sources, Badlands Angus out of Wall; He additionally gets Wagyu beef from a ranch in East River, The Meathouse in Andover. Bartel says he makes a more than 5-hour drive to Andover to pick up the meat himself.

“It’s such a good product that it’s really worth it to me to do that,” Bartel said.

Bartel says the challenge with selling South Dakota-based beef exclusively is the limited number of cuts he gets from each cow.

“You’ll run out of rib eyes really fast, or you’ll run out of certain cuts really fast, like the briskets go quick, anything you just have a couple of, …