Buffalo Buffet

by Jessica K. Murphy   
Posted December 19, 2007

Just off Route 523 in Readington, if you find yourself face to face with a herd of American bison, you’re not hallucinating. You’ve arrived at the Readington River Buffalo Company, in business since 1996. At 235 acres, the state’s sole bison farm pales in comparison to most Western farms, but it’s sizable by East Coast standards, selling fifteen tons of meat a year.

Company president Erick Doyle’s roots are in Bedminster, where his father, a chemist, also raised cattle. When Doyle’s parents visited his postcollege home in Colorado, they saw an abundance of bison farms. “That’s when the inspiration came,” Doyle says.

Today the family business, near several silos and a big red barn, sells “America’s original red meat” on its Web site (njbison.com), in its farm store on weekends, and to restaurants and local specialty supermarkets. Steaks, roasts, and other cuts are available, as well as burgers, hot dogs, sweet and sour teriyaki, jerky, and even ravioli. Doyle claims bison meat tastes as good as beef but isn’t as fatty or as cholesterol-laden and doesn’t produce the post-beef “food coma.” Doyle says he couldn’t ask for a better life. “On a beautiful day like today, I can sit here in a pair of blue jeans eating a bison pepperoni stick and just enjoy what’s outside. What more could you ask for?”