Cordons Ranch Market

There’s a sign on the door «Temporarily Closed» with a dumpster out front and looks like it’s been gutted. Anyone know what’s up?

It has been a coin toss to get carne asada over the weekend. The last time they ran out, they said to call in advance. The subsequent time, II called repeatedly, no one answered… and guess what… they were out again. I won’t be coming back.

I love Cordons being it is walking distance from my house, and the produce is great and priced so cheap. The butcher style meat section is always equipped with a very knowledgeable and personable counter person.
Richard (manager, chief cook and bottle washer… lol) is really the best part of Cordons as he goes out of his way to please his customers. He is so authentic and truly cares about each and every person who steps into his store. Every year I order my Prime rib for our Christmas dinner, and every year it is even better. The best quality and priced meats you will have experience. I have never been let down there, and the icing on the cake? He always remembers and follows up on when he sees me come in the door. I appreciate that true caring and welcoming attitude. It reflects on the people who work there as well as they are all very friendly and caring individuals as well. That is what a neighborhood market is about… or how it should be everywhere!
You may not find everything you need there, but all you have to do is ask, and I am sure Richard will do his very best to get if for you! Thanks Richard and Cordon’s staff for making me feel like family over the period of the 20 years I have frequented your store, and I look forward to many more years of excellent service products!

I shop at Cordon’s because it is a family atmosphere and it is a local small business. I enjoy Trader Joe’s but I hate the parking. They moved just to get better parking and I find the parking still stressful. I love Cordon’s new bbq restaurant. When I am tired and off of work I find it convenient to have a meal and then shop for groceries. I like how everyone that works there knows you and is so friendly. I like the growing improvements of a small family owned business. I like supporting them. I know they had some problems with their freezers and they did a complete re-​haul so for a short time it was in disarray. I don’t expect the high price perfection I get at more expensive stores but the warm people that work there make it priceless. I don’t want to see our country become only corporate and online groceries. I will continue to support our local small business owners.

This market has some real mixed reviews on Unilocal.I’ve always driven by but never really gone in.
The market has it’s pro’s and it’s Con’s.
I will start with the pro’s first, they have a real fresh selection of Armenian and Lebanese bread. They have their own bakery, which is pretty good, but at times a little inconsistent. But still fresh and good.
Their prices are pretty good and they have a lot of things if you plan to entertain guests for a BBQ (like charcoal and things of that nature)
The staff is pretty nice and the older Armenian guys baking the bread are really nice.
I like their beer selection and will have to stop by for some good beer.
Plenty of parking which is great.
The con’s the meat selection preparation. In this day and age Armenian BBQ prepared properly is a hot seller in any market that has fresh meat.
Who doesn’t love an old school BBQ on some metal scours.
The produce is ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ and I know the weather is warm so I would like to see how the produce quality will be when it cools down.
Over it’s an older market that needs some management to just make it better than it is.
I look for a one stop shop to go in and get all the things needed for the family. Quality Price and selection is the most important thing.
I look forward to seeing some improvements in the establishment and will continue to shop their for the fresh Armenian barbari bread.

Wow, can’t believe that I never visited this place while living in La Crescenta for so long. The market itself has a wide variety of things but I think it is the people that work there that makes it so nice, everyone seems so happy and friendly. We tried their smoked meats and O-​M-​G it is so good. The brisket was my favorite and I just pretty much loved everything. We had a large order placed for catering and everything was made well. We also tried the bakery and I don’t know what I got (it’s like a cheese bread boat with eggs on top) but it was really good too. I will definitely be coming back for the smoked food.

This is my favorite market to shop at. It’s fairly small but it has a larger variety of foods and produce than the local big chain supermarket. My wife and I do quite a bit of international cooking and this is the only store around that carries things like capers, Indian and middle eastern spices and foods at reasonable prices. The produce is always very fresh, and the fruit is almost always sweet and juicy, even if it isn’t always as pretty as the supermarket fruit, that usually tastes plain and rather dry at twice the cost.

Can’t believe I have overlooked giving Cordon’s a good, solid Unilocal review. Lots of haters on Unilocal for this place, but it has a lot of good points.
The best part about this place is the manager, Richard. He is so nice and personable! He tried and tried to accommodate my request to carry Zevia soft drinks before they were readily available here in L.A. He was not ultimately successful, but I did appreciate his efforts.
They certainly don’t have the best prices on everything, but the produce is always a good bargain as are the Mexican-​style small bags of spices. Lots of specialty Middle-​eastern products for low prices here. Check the weekly flyer if you get it in the mail, as their best deals are always set forth therein.
We don’t go here as much as we used to since TJs, Fresh & Easy and Sprouts came to town, but we always enjoy stopping by here whenever necessary.

Not everything is going to please you at Cordon’s. It’s a very interesting store with lots of Armenian, Middle Eastern goods, and since Armenia was once part of the Soviet Empire, you have a smattering of Slavic. Let’s just say that Cordon’s is very eclectic with its own brand of idiosyncracies.
You have to get to know this store to find its perceived strengths & weaknesses which will vary depending on a person’s temperament, cultural inclinations & culinary knowledge.
I find that Cordon stocks a good representation of goods from the Middle East. I buy my Somagh (ground sumac which tastes refreshingly sour with dill pickle-​like finish); Bugarian Feta which is so full of subtle, goaty Umami, etc.
They stock interesting fresh herbs from the TransCaucus/​Middle East such as Verdolaga, a small bright, refreshing green leaves that are slightly crunchy & then let out a slight okra like sliminess. Verdolaga is one of the ingredients in Fatoush salad along with other ingredients such as super crisp Persian cucumber which you can usually get at Cordon’s too. The flat breads are good, & they even have a version that is more typically Persian/​Iranian.
I fell in love with a Polish beer, Hevelius Kaper Beer 8.7% by the Zywiec Brewery Group. To me, this is closer to an Ale with rich flavours such as treacle, slightly smoky malt, good amount of hops to add refreshing bitterness & green herbals to lighten the treacle/​brown sugar undertones.
Also, whoever stocks the house plants sometimes goes crazy & brings in some unusual flora. I bought my Cardboard Sago which is a rare version of the more ubiquitous Sago «Palm». Also got a succlent that has thick jade green roseate clustered leaves with flowers that have a warm pink glow even after they wither & dry. I come into Cordon’s once in a while just to see if they have something new & great to buy.
In some ways, I think of Cordon’s as a modern day Souk or market place with many different venders selling many different things. Not everything will interest you. The Souk is not always the most pristine place to buy, but it holds culinary treasures for those who are savvy enough to know what is of worth or not.

I’ve been here four times. I have to drive past a Ralph’s and two Von’s to get here, but I plan to do that more often in the future. This store is what would have been called a supermarket 40 years ago — so if you’re young, just see if you can adjust to the size. The meat department is excellent — good prices and great service. This morning I asked for organic ground beef. The clerk said they didn’t carry it, but the manager overheard me and explained how they source their beef. Partially grass-​fed, no hormones, no antibiotics — that’s all I was really looking for, so I bought some. Who in Ralph’s is going to take the time to explain that to you? Black Angus at $ 3.29/pound. I have found everyone else in the store to be as friendly as the corporate stores’ staff, and then some. There’s all kinds of «finds» in there, too. 6 kinds of Polish beer? Rosemary olive oil sourdough bread? Exotic veggies? A gallon can of dill pickle slices? They’ve got it. This is just cooler, cheaper, and better than the generic corporate markets around me.

I went to Cordon’s for the first time yesterday. It was nice looking. Food looked good. Bought myself some veggie pizzas for lunch the next day and some milk. I was dismayed this morning when I took the pizzas out to find them moldy. I took them back to the store and the manager was lovely. He exchanged them for a new bag, checked the date to insure they were fresh and I was on my way. Awesome. Until lunch, when I took the pizzas out and also found them moldy! The store has great atmosphere, but paying a little extra for moldy pizza doesn’t really work for me, neither does two extra trips to the store, even if I could exchange the pizzas a second time… there’s nothing else there I wanted and a refund wasn’t offered.

I wish I could give no stars — this is an outdated, old looking market which is great for your local neighborhood market — IF the products are fresh and of quality. But other than the produce section, many of the products are old and expired on the shelves! After rummaging through several boxes of ice creams to buy for a kids play date, I found a few boxes that were not beat up and not expired. I should have known better though! Fast forward 15 mins: we’re at the play date, kids are eager to eat the ice — we open the first box of crunch bars and they’re all melted, flattened, crushed — GROSS. We open the second box of popsicles and they all look like they melted down, then were frozen, and now are smashed frozen looking forms. DOUBLE GROSS. Needless to say this was embarrassing for me since I brought the ice cream to the play date. NEVER will go back here.

i am writing this as an update to my latest review of feb. 2012. i walked in to this store this morning to shop for a few of their tuesday specials. before i got started, the manager approaches me and asks me why i wrote a bad review on his store. after discussing the why’s, he still could not understand why i did what i did. after getting sick on their fish and a misunderstanding on his part about which avacados were on sale, he still couldn’t understand why i gave them a bad review. he also reminded me that i wrote a bad review on them 2 or 3 years ago on their advertised beef steaks.
i kept telling him, if he didn’t want me in his store, to just let me know. he kept pestering me, so i told him to leave me alone. any shopper should have peace of mind when shopping. he mentioned i was the only one with bad reviews on his store. this is not true, also. i asked him one more time to tell me if he didn’t want me to shop there and his reply was. «i don’t want you shopping here if you’re going to bad mouth us. i have contacted Unilocal and next time you bad mouth us, i will file a lawsuit for defamation of character.» does this tell you something about this store manager?
whatever happened to freedom of speech? no one should have to endure verbal abuse from store employees, especially the manager. he has threatened me with a law suit. i guess i’ll just have to wait for the paperwork. he will not succeed with his intimidation tactics.
don’t let me stop you from visiting this store, but if you find a negative, please remember what i wrote here.

My husband and I go here every week to get our produce. It is very fresh and a lot cheaper than even going to the farmers market. We are actually looking forward to the Trader Joe’s going in because we can ride our bikes to Cordons, get our produce, then ride over to TJ’s and get the rest of our food. We also like their bean salads and grape leaf wraps that they have in the back. I don’t eat meat, but it looks like they also have some great marinated meats. Also a nice selection of lavash and baklava.
In general, the prices are a little high on other products in the store but we don’t generally go there for standard grocery products.
I would highly recommend this place for your produce, it is also never crowded and service is good.

This is a sad market. It’s dusty and the produce is dusty.
It’s going to get killed by the new Trader Joe’s moving down the street.
Whole Foods should take over this space.

This is a great local market. Having recently moved back into the area, I was extremely excited the first time I visited this market. They have a huge variety of products and their vegetables and fruit look like they just came out of the garden! They have incredible specials every week. Not everything is the cheapest but they definitely have amazing prices on many items. Onions are always 49cents a pound! You can’t find that anywhere else. They have every kind of fresh herb you could want for cheap.
And the meat department is amazing! Their meat all comes from a local ranch and everything we’ve tried has been of great quality. They recently started carrying Angus beef from the local ranch. You can’t beat the prices — $ 4 or $ 5 for Porterhouse and $ 8 for Filet Mignon. Amazing! And way better than meat you get at the local major grocery chains. Their seafood is really good too and the prices are just as good.
I’ve always experience great customer service here. Everyone is always very helpful whether in the produce or meat department. I highly recommend this market!

I don’t go in there for anything else but the vegetables. i come skipping out because of all the fresh veggies I can get for so cheap!

Poor Sergio. He obviously goes to a different store than I do. What I like about Gordon’s is that the produce is always fresh and they adjust the price to what they paid for it. I will not buy ground meat anywhere else because they grind it themselves and also because they have Harris ranch meat which is local.

i like this place. it has almost everything you might need, BUT its TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SMALL. everythings crowded and it makes you feel like everything is closing in on you and you might pass out. but its awesome LOL. and the people who work there are really nice :)

This is a great, homey neighborhood ranch market with lots to choose. I like the ethnic finds on spices, drinks, jams, alcohol, fresh fruits and veggies. I was so happy to find an Arab fig jam that I tried once and it was a great buy too. They also have chili mango’s that I love and again, couldn’t find anywhere else. Cashiers are very friendly and always available for extra help when you’re looking for something particular. Parking can be found on the street or in the big lot next door. They have great deals every week so check out their ads or just stop by.