I eyed the meats in the case. The ribs and roasts, burgers and brisket, skirt and sirloin, lamb shanks, lamb legs, and lamb chops. You had thighs, legs, and breasts. Further down, ham, bacon, and sweet Italian sausage.

I ignored the salmon, shrimp and scallops. All fine. But not today.

I told Jake, the man behind the glass, I wanted to start my summer vacation right.

He could barely be seen from a cubbyhole situated just above a display of ziti, fettuccine and homemade linguine that would put a pasta shop in Rome to shame.

“Can you cut me a ribeye that will bring me to tears?” I asked.

I wanted a steak so good that I'd cry when I bit into it.

The woman standing next to me at Butcher Boys rolled her eyes. I think she was ready to make me cry.

She didn't get it.

Jake smiled and shook his head under a worn Yankee cap. The veteran butcher who wears a blue jumpsuit - he says he gave up the traditional white apron because blood freaks some people out - knew exactly what I meant. He carefully reached into the front of the glass case and, with two hands, took out a bone-in rib-eye. A man's steak. Tenderly clutching it as if he were a doctor who had just delivered a baby. This was a cute steak.

“You want me to leave on some fat?”

I just gave him a nod.

We both know the flavor is in the fat.

Jake said I wouldn't be disappointed. I trust Jake. Why shouldn't I? At 36, he’s been a butcher for half his life. Yeah, started when he was 18. Now he’s running the place, selling over 10,000 pounds of beef per week.

For the uninformed, Butcher Boys is a fourth-generation, family-run butcher shop that’s been located just off East Broadway in Monticello for the last 30 years. The original was a kosher market started by Jake’s great-grandfather in the Bronx. His grandfather, Marvin, once had 15 shops in the Hudson Valley. It was Jake’s father, Michael, who opened the one in Monticello.

These days, Jake continues the family tradition with the help of his mom, Joanne, younger brother, Bennie, and brother-in-law, Chris. When I asked Jake what his favorite cut of beef was, he laughed, “I’m cheap, so I go with chuck roast.”

Butcher Boys is where grown men grow weak at the sight of the perfect steak. This was my Father's Day gift to myself. Better than a tie.

By now, I'm sure vegetarians, vegans, and women are finding this a bit sexist. Sorry. Like enjoying The Three Stooges, eating a big juicy steak is considered a guy thing.

In fact, men who eat meat are seen as more “manly.” Smart people with lab coats have studied this.

A report in the Journal of Consumer Research found an association between the way people view the medium-rare-and-hamburger kind of men and the vegetarian-soy-milk kind. A team of researchers examined how shoppers rate the “masculinity” of things like meat versus milk or vegetables. In an “I Tarzan, you Jane” kind of result, they found people tend to associate meat eaters with more masculinity than vegetarians and vegans.

“To the strong, traditional, macho, bicep-flexing, All-American male, red meat is a strong, traditional, macho, bicep-flexing, All-American food,” the researchers wrote. “Soy is not.” I don't buy that.

I love steak. And I like soy.

Here’s a little postscript. Along with my rib-eye, I got a palm-size filet mignon for Bonnie. That’s her favorite. I aimed to cook both medium-rare, but because the filet is thicker, I over-cooked my rib-eye.

It caused a different set of tears.