Penn Dutch: A Hardcore Market That’s More Than Just Meat

by Guest Contributer July 28, 2014

0Shares

By: Dan I. Cook

Penn Dutch to me is a hardcore market. They’ve been in Margate for ten years and the secret to their low prices is processing over a half of a million pounds of meat they receive each week on their own premises, thereby avoiding the middleman.

Their Margate and Hollywood locations are the only stores they have here in South Florida. Today I’m reviewing their Margate location. With over 70,000 square feet and 250 employees, this place is huge.

Over the years, Penn Dutch has become so much more than just a specialty meat store. Not only do they have great meat, but they also carry seafood, deli, produce, baked goods, wine, beer, and cheeses from around the world.

If you’re looking for pretty, this place isn’t it, and the design is a little messed up.

Crab legs I bought and Cajun boiled them at home.

They have items on sale right when you walk in, and they sometimes give out wine samples that tends to back up the entrance to get in. Then you have to weave your way through produce, then the deli, then seafood, then to the left is cheese and dairy, then beer, then meat on the right. You get it: no damn flow to the store.

On top of that, some days when I shop here and work my way up to the seafood case, it smells like rotten fish or rotten something. I know I’m not the only one who has experienced that, but I have the balls to type it.

They need to square that away.

So since I exposed all their warts, I still love this place.

Why?

They have the best seafood and meat selection in town.

Whole Jack I bought and cooked up Cuban/Bahamian Style

Stink or no stink. The variety of goods is just outstanding: Frog legs, whole Jack Fish, conch, all kinds of shrimp, squid, crab legs, live lobster, I mean the list goes on and on. Also when the Royal Red Shrimps are on sale, you have to buy some – they taste a little like lobster.

I bought some crab legs and a whole jack. They cleaned and scaled the fish for free and I couldn’t beat the price, two dollars and change a pound.

That’s another reason to love this joint. The good prices.

As for the meats, they make a mean hotdog. It’s their own brand, the price is right, and they are tasty.