Critic's Review
Penn Dutch has USDA prime strip steaks this weekend for $7.99/lb, so I made an early trek to get some before they ran out. I usually go for porterhouse or T-Bone (which is basically a bone-in strip steak). A month ago they had T-Bones with prime marbling at the regular price and I bought 3 of them; and they were FANTASTIC. Choice strips are chewy and not remarkable to me; the difference with a USDA prime is night and day.
Only the family packs were on special and you had to have the email with the codes:
I got 5 of these for $23. Three of them get vacuum packed and into the freezer; I'll eat 2 of them over the next couple of days. This is what you get for $54 each at the Lobster Bar.
Paired with bernaise sauce it was as good as hoped for:
The produce looked like junk today; going early has it's downside. When I first got there I didn't see any steaks that looked that good; just because they're USDA Prime doesn't mean that every steak has the good marbling. I waited until they put some more out to get some good ones. When you have to buy 5 you don't want 2 good ones and 3 that look like choice.
Review 7/15/17
Penn Dutch has made it's way into my food buying rotation; I come here at least once a month to stock up my freezer. I now laugh heartily when I see filet mignon at Publix for $22/lb. The regular price here is 9.99 and its frequently on sale. Publix is charging $8/lb for brisket for Pete's sake.
I also buy shrimp and squid here; they often have the colossal shrimp for $13/lb. They're the only place that has what they call Red Royal Shrimp; they're not actually shrimp; they're more like langoustines; they taste more like lobster than shrimp. They're usually $7.99 but they're frequently on sale.
Another benefit of Penn Dutch is the free Birthday Hot Dog. If you're on their mailing list, you'll get a coupon via email telling you that you MUST use your registered phone to print your coupon at the store. In the back (by the seafood counter) there's a big kiosk touchscreen where you can print the coupon. If you never give your actual cell # on a mailing list like me, never fear, you don't actually need your phone or to own the phone number to redeem your coupon. You just need to punch in the fake number. I was concerned that the bar code on my coupon didn't print clearly, but the lady at the hot dog counter didn't even look at it. I just said "I'm cashing in my birthday coupon" and she just grabbed the coupon without looking at it and asked me what I wanted.
The regular hot dogs weren't cooked yet, so she offered me a choice a sausage, which was fine with me. No onions or peppers; just some soggy sauerkraut. You also get a drink, which was a surprise. A $6 value just for showing up. And you have a few weeks to use the coupon; it's not like you have to come to Penn Dutch on your birthday to get a hot dog.
On the negative front, they were out of flat leaf parsley. They had a boatload of Cilantro, but only curly parsley, which nobody eats. Living in South Florida has it's downside.
Review 12/4/15
I find myself going less and less to Publix. They don't seem to have many deals, and there are a lot of places to get better quality food. I hadn't been to Penn Dutch in many years; long before this site existed.
This place looks like a warehouse from the outside. Certainly no-frills at the entrance.
The first room isn't very impressive. A dreary corner area with standard vegetables that you can find just about anywhere. I thought I was wasting my time.
Around the corner, things got more interesting. Big leafy produce.
While the prices were similar to what you might pay at Publix, you get a lot more for your money. Big bunches of parsley and cilantro for $1.49. Nice, but not worth a trip to the sticks. Up the aisle a bit, you get to the meat. They have a very good selection of meat.
Lots of stuff you won't find in the supermarkets. Ground lamb, every cut you can think of. A girl was unloading sausages and there was a whole palette of them.
There's an entire section of smoked stuff. Smoked chickens, smoked turkeys. Smoked beef, and sausages. Good prices too.
Another isle with sausages and hot dogs. Chorizo, Cajun sausage. Beef dogs. Lots of stuff that's bad for you.
Onto the seafood counter. Now this is something special. Real Jumbo Shrimp for $9.99. Cleaned Squid. Scallops. People buying boxes of Basa/Swai.
They had whole pompano; I thought I'd take a picture showing the price. Lobster bar is selling this for $36/lb. Pretty nice markup, eh?
One more counter; sliced meats. 10 different kinds of bacon. Sliced Italian meats.
On the way out they had bread; lots of long skinny bread but not too many fat loafs. They also had rotisserie chickens for $4.99.
All in all, a pretty interesting place.
Conclusion
Penn Dutch is a pretty interesting specialty store where you can get a lot of stuff you can't get at the supermarket. It's really a meat and product market; you're not going to find Stouffer's TV dinners here. But it's probably worth a trip once in a while.
Note that the listeria tests are only for prepared, ready to eat foods and cold cuts. I never bought cold cuts here; I didn't like they way they pre-cut them and laid them out on a display case. Even when I occasionally bought cooked shrimp, I still boiled them before eating.
We don't normally report this kind of thing because it's fairly common; *most* restaurants don't handle food properly. Many places have faulty refrigeration. Many places fail inspections. Meanwhile it's very rare that people get sick.