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Luxury meat is the focal point of a new Los Gatos business – from $40,000 hand-welded Mibrasa grills to $10,000 German-made Dry Agers, it’s a high budget, carnivorous foodie’s dream.
Los Gatos residents Jorge Bianchi and Sarah Shires Bianchi soft opened Cárnico Tools & Provisions on Oct. 18 and will host its grand opening on Thursday. The husband and wife duo are bringing specialty live-fire cooking and dry aging equipment found in Michelin-starred restaurants to homeowners, architects and designers. Cárnico Tools & Provisions also has a small deli section featuring dry-aged American Angus beef, 100% Iberico ham and foie gras. Additionally, find grilling cookbooks, charcoal-grilled tinned fish, cookware, knives and more.
“This is a nice, fun excuse to have people come in and learn about and find hard-to-seek items,” Jorge Bianchi said. “We do it to give visibility to the brand, and to also give visibility to the equipment brands that we have, because the main purpose for this business is to really market these extremely premium brands.”
Cárnico Tools & Provisions has four brand partners that it aims to highlight through its new showroom and deli: Mibrasa, a Spanish manufacturer of charcoal ovens and Korean grills; Dry Ager, a German manufacturer of dry aging equipment; Pat LaFrieda, a New York butcher specializing in dry-aged beef; and BEHER, an Iberico ham producer. All four companies are multi-generational family-owned.
“We’ve got very strong relationships with these families,” Bianchi said. “We go see them in Spain, we go see them in Germany and we go to see Pat LaFrieda in New York.”
Carnico Tools & Provisions in Los Gatos partners with Pat LaFrieda, a third generation family-owned company in New York that specializes in dry-aged American beef. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel. 
Carnico Tools & Provisions in Los Gatos partners with BEHER, a third generation family-owned company to supply 100% Iberico ham. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel. 
Carnico Tools & Provisions in Los Gatos has a small deli section featuring dry-aged meat. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel. 
Rougie duck foie gras at Carnico Tools & Provisions in Los Gatos. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel.
Jorge Bianchi’s relationship with Mibrasa began in 2018, when he became a consultant for their line in the United States. He and his wife use a Mibrasa charcoal oven at home, which they say elevates the flavor of whatever is being cooked and has very low risk of a fire hazard due to the Mibrasa’s dissipating smoke filter.
“You get the direct heat from the grill that seals the product very, very quickly, and gives the Maillard reaction extremely quickly,” Bianchi said. “So that allows the steak, or whatever you cook in there, to retain the juices. And then you get the indirect heat from the oven, and then you get the super nice, smoky flavors from the charcoal.”
A $40,000 Mibrasa grill at Carnico Tools & Provisions in Los Gatos. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel. 
Carnico Tools & Provisions in Los Gatos partners with Mibrasa, a second generation family-owned business that hand-welds its equipment in Spain. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel. 
A Mibrasa Korean grill at Carnico Tools & Provisions in Los Gatos. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel.
Mibrasa products are commonly found in Michelin star kitchens, Bianchi said, including San Ho Won, a Michelin star restaurant and Atelier Crenn, a three Michelin star restaurant (both in San Francisco). Atelier Crenn also uses Dry Ager, which is sold in multiple sizes at Cárnico Tools & Provisions.
“Dry aging is a technique that you employ to refine meat, to make it more tender, making it more flavorful, increase the flavor intensity and complexity,” Bianchi said.
Meat in a Dry Ager at Carnico Tools & Provisions in Los Gatos. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel. 
Carnico Tools & Provisions in Los Gatos partners with Dry Ager, a second generation family-owners company in Germany. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel. 
A Dry Ager, cookbooks, spices and knives are on display at Carnico Tools & Provisions in Los Gatos. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel.
To demonstrate what dry aging does to meat, Cárnico Tools & Provisions partnered with Pat LaFrieda, who supplies top steakhouses in New York City and uses Dry Agers for personal use. Find dry-aged beef, like New York strips and tomahawks, ranging from $39-$115.
“(Pat LaFrieda has) the best dry aged program in the country,” Bianchi said. “The cattle are treated extremely well. They just are roaming free, eating grass most of their lives. At the very end, they are fed corn to give the meat that really nice marbling and taste.”
A sign posted by the front door of Carnico Tools & Provisions in Los Gatos. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel. 
The exterior of Carnico Tools & Provisions in Los Gatos. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel. 
A sign on the exterior of Carnico Tools & Provisions in Los Gatos. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel. 
A sign on the exterior of Carnico Tools & Provisions in Los Gatos. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel.
Continuing with dry-aged products, Cárnico Tools & Provisions also partnered with BEHER, which cures its Iberico ham for four years before it’s ready to serve.
“Iberico pigs are a breed of small hogs, black. They’re very dark,” Bianchi said. “They’re free roaming in the fields that this company owns in Salamanca, Spain, and they eat acorns from the fields, so they live a wonderful life.”
Carnico Tools & Provisions in Los Gatos sells duck foie gras and cookbooks written by Mibrasa and/or Dry Ager brand ambassadors. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel. 
Carnico Tools & Provisions in Los Gatos sells charcoal-grilled tinned fish. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel. 
Carnico Tools & Provisions in Los Gatos sells spices and cookbooks written by Mibrasa and/or Dry Ager brand ambassadors, including Jeremy Umansky and Joshua Weissman. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel.
Many of the cookbooks offered at Cárnico Tools & Provisions are written by brand ambassadors, meaning the authors use Mibrasa and/or Dry Ager in their kitchens or for personal use. Brand ambassadors include celebrity chef Tyler Florence of Miller & Lux in San Francisco; Josiah Citrin of Mélisse, a two Michelin star restaurant in Los Angeles; Joshua Weissman, a YouTuber with 9.75M subscribers; and Chris Cosentino, who won “Top Chef Masters” and was a competitor on “The Next Iron Chef” and “Iron Chef America.”
“We love doing what we do,” Bianchi said. “We love spreading the word about these techniques and these really nice ingredients, and we obviously hope to help get these brands in very nice homes enjoyed by people that appreciate food and they like cooking.”
The Bianchis have long been interested in all things culinary. Sarah Shires Bianchi grew up in Portola Valley, meeting Jorge Bianchi, who was born and raised in Spain, during her study abroad in San Sebastián, Spain, which is considered by many to be Europe’s food capital.
The couple moved to Los Gatos in 2006 and shortly after launched a company focused on premium import goods from Spain. The business didn’t work out, so Jorge Bianchi worked for European manufacturers of high quality food service equipment until 2018, at which point he began consulting for Mibrasa. Now, the couple owns three small businesses: one which markets and sells equipment to professionals, one that distributes equipment for residential and their new retail store that buys from their distribution business.
“Los Gatos is a very nice area where there’s a lot of people that have the resources and the interest in cooking and grilling and dry aging,” Jorge said. “But we also think there’s many other regions in the US where people have second homes or first homes and they like to invest. They like to have the very best looking backyards with the very best looking and performing outdoor kitchens, and serving the very best foods, sharing the very best foods with their loved ones. And that’s what we’re trying to achieve.”
Cárnico Tools & Provisions, 501 N Santa Cruz Ave., #1, Los Gatos, 669-877-4887, Instagram: @carnicotoolsandprovisions. Open Monday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 6 p.m.
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