THE BEST: NYC Butcher

[weinoo]

Will do.  There are 4 locations (3 in Bklyn) with a 5th coming soon (also in Bklyn).

 

The French breed chicken I bought there last week was quite good.

[KennethT]

@weinoo btw, Fresh Direct carries that brand of cornish hen - rather than Poulet Rouge Fermier, it's Poussin Rouge Fermier... I made it a month or two ago - it was quite good as well.

[weinoo]

Good to know, @KennethT, if I ever decide to use FD.

 

Interestingly, La Pera Brothers also delivers.

[KennethT]

@weinoo we primarily use FD for bulky/heavy things - paper towels, toilet paper, sparkling water... but here and there we get other things like that cornish hen since it's not available in my neighborhood, and lately we haven't had much time to go further afield... but I'll check out La Pera Brothers... thank you!

 

ETA - just checked out their website... which is a little frustrating - why do they show cute photos of the animals walking around (unannotated with breed or information), but don't have a list of the stuff that they sell or prices?  it's great that they deliver, but I still have to go to Brooklyn to go to their shop to find out what they have and how much it costs.

Edited March 21, 2018 by KennethT (log)

[weinoo]

Or call.  They carry the Sasso birds.

[paulraphael]

On 3/21/2018 at 8:27 AM, weinoo said:

Interestingly, La Pera Brothers also delivers.

 

What do you know about their chickens? Their site doesn't have much info.

[weinoo]

On 3/24/2018 at 10:00 AM, paulraphael said:

 

What do you know about their chickens? Their site doesn't have much info.

The must have 5 or 6 different types (breeds?) of chicken for your dining pleasure. I'm pretty sure all the birds he sells are "organic," but whether that means anything any more is a matter of semantics, I guess.

 

I buy the Sasso bird, and learned about that particular chicken after seeing a couple of articles about it.

 

Quote

Sasso’s presence on posh New York plates is owed to the efforts of Jacob Helfrich, second-generation owner of Watkins Poultry Merchants in East New York, a wholesale distributor to the city’s 80-odd live-animal markets. A few years back, Sasso bigwigs enlisted Helfrich to launch their line on the East Coast, flying him over to France to sample their wares and select the specific genetic cross he’d market to his customers, most of whom serve immigrant communities with very specific poultry-buying criteria. These connoisseurs, it turns out, desire distinct reddish coloring; long legs and a thin, narrow, V-shaped breast; substantial amounts of yellow fat; and the richer flavor and firmer texture that are the hallmarks of a slow-growing, well-raised bird. Such characteristics define the X44B, Sasso’s proprietary name for the animal Helfrich now traffics in: French-bred, Quebec-hatched, Pennsylvania-reared, and sold live at places like LaPera Bros. Poultry, a Borough Park relic where manager Carlo Formisano made the shrewd decision to market it to chefs under the exotic-sounding Sasso name, rather than the more generic red pullet. Since his first Sasso chef sale to Daniel three years ago, business has boomed; Le Turtle’s Proechel has gone from selling four or five birds a night to 60 to 80 a week.

 

Grubstreet

 

Sasso

 

Watkins Poultry

 

 

[paulraphael]

52 minutes ago, weinoo said:

The must have 5 or 6 different types (breeds?) of chicken for your dining pleasure. I'm pretty sure all the birds he sells are "organic," but whether that means anything any more is a matter of semantics, I guess.

 

I buy the Sasso bird, and learned about that particular chicken after seeing a couple of articles about it.

 

 

Grubstreet

 

Sasso

 

Watkins Poultry

 

 

Cool, thanks. How do the Sasso birds compare with the Bobo "black plume" birds that Jeffrey used to sell? I thought those were great, and only about $4/lb at the time. 

Do you recall what Lapera charges for the Sassos? 

[weinoo]

I think it's the best chicken I've ever tasted in the US.  Great texture, flavor.  That Fermier Rouge I bought at Union Market is also good, but there's obviously no match for the freshness of a bird you buy at La Pera; as a matter of fact, you actually should wait 24 hours before cooking the bird from La Pera, so it relaxes after slaughter.

 

My memory says $2.99/lb. for the Sasso chicken, and they give you a card that gets stamped for every bird you buy - buy 10, get one free!

 

 

[KennethT]

I still get the Bobo black plume at meat markets in Chinatown... you can do a search on Bobo's website for which stores sell their products.