Marconda’s Puritan Poultry

I went here on the suggestion of Unilocal.The marinated bulgogi was good. I made it in the oven, and threw in some yellow potatoes. My favorite, however, is the BBQ chicken legs which I just threw on the grill. Mouth watering, tender and packed with flavor! Marconda Poultry is da bomb!

The chicken breasts we purchased here were amazing. Apparently hormone free etc. They were expertly trimmed by the butcher. He offered advice and suggestion about their duck. I would say this is the place to come when a recipe lends itself to showcasing the bird.

Every Thanksgiving, my wife and I get a Willie Bird turkey from Marconda’s Puritan Poultry. We also pick up their cage free eggs and natural whole chickens when we’re in the area.
What I really like about Marconda’s (both at Puritan Poultry and the Meats store nearby) is the service. They have great prep and cooking advice/​recipes, as well as a lot of helpful info on picking out the best meats.

The signage above this stall used to be blue-​ish and only says «Puritan Poultry» as it still does on the Original Farmer’s Market website (
), but now the signage is red and matches the other half of Marconda’s Meats and Puritan Poultry.
Marconda’s is split into two stalls at the Farmer’s market. The flagship counter with the impressive meat selection, band saw and freezers in the back is still at stall 514.
Puritan Poultry is at stall 226… kind of in the middle of it all, near the candyland and Loteria Grill.
It’s a much smaller stall featuring only the feathered varieties. Chicken chicken chicken — whole, breast/​wings/​thigh pieces, giblets, free range/​cage free, «California grown» etc. squab, duck, quail turkey, goose, tubs of chicken fat, duck fat, processed birds, etc.
After having eaten many tiny jars of chicken pâté off charcuterie boards, I decided that it was about time that I try to make my own. There are tons of recipes online and it seems like you really can just take whatever the heck you want and blend it together with cooked chicken liver, refrigerate, serve with a flat piece of carb and voila! That’s all there is to it.
The tiny stall was manned by an Asian guy today… I’ve never seen an Asian butcher aside from those who work at Ranch 99. Cool. There was a tray of chicken livers swimming in chicken blood next to a tray of chicken hearts. $ 2.29 a pound, it says. I asked the butcher how much (volume) is 2 pounds and he says probably the entire tray and he was right! 2.01 pounds was what I brought home, blood and all.
What I didn’t like about Marconda’s/Puritan Poultry is that I can’t tell if these livers came from their free range or organic or «California-​grown» chickens. California-​grown could mean conventional/​caged right? I asked if they have free range or organic chicken livers and he goes, «oh these?» I could be wrong but I wasn’t super convinced. But, psychologically, I feel a little better buying them here than from a conventional grocery store.
**UPDATE** Lou D., the owner of the Marconda Meats Unilocal page messaged me the following:
«Just wanted to let you know that None of our California grown chickens have been caged. Sometimes we get Organic and sometimes we can not on the livers. On all of our regular chicken parts and whole fryers that we sell cut up or whole they are always California grown, Antibiotic free from birth, hormone free, from birth as well as never caged, humanely raised and sustainably farmed.»
**end of update**
Apparently chicken livers only really seem to last a day so once you buy, you better prepare it the same day. The livers I got seem to be in good color — some looked like uni, which worried me but as long as they are not green or slimey, I guess I should be OK.
My chicken pâté turned out great! It has carmelized onions, slow roasted garlic, salt, fresh cracked pepper, rendered fat from marrow bones (I was also roasting marrow bones tonight), and brandy. Nice, smooth and spreadable, and under $ 5 for about 10 jars.
I would buy from here again… even though parking sucks and is always crowded, I most likely will get more organic chicken parts that I can’t get from Costco.