Gamasot Restaurant in Fort Lee

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One of our favorite meals is spicy Korean soft-tofu stew with steamed rice and side dishes. At $10 or less -- including tax -- soft tofu is not only delicious, it's good for you, too. And it's a welcome alternative during our meatless pledge.

On Saturday night, we tried the new kid on the block -- Gamasot (Korean for iron pot). The full price for a soft-tofu meal here is $9 -- $1 less than So Gong Dong, our favorite, in Palisades Park. When we've tried soft tofu elsewhere in the past, we couldn't get it as spicy as we wanted.

Gamasot offers a range of spiciness, as do most places, but didn't take us seriously and delivered three stews with seafood that fell a bit short on the heat scale. Yet, these stews were bubbling so furiously when brought to the table, the two fresh eggs I cracked into mine became hard boiled, rather than soft, which tastes great broken over the rice.

The stone bowl with the steamed rice seemed a little smaller than at So Gong Dong, but we liked the side dishes -- cabbage kimchi brought to the table in a special bowl and cut with scissors, and cucumber and radish kimchis, plus bean sprouts and sliced hot peppers in a sweetish sauce. The entire meal was terrific and we plan to return. (Photo: Typical Korean side dishes.)

Another specialty at Gamasot is milky ox-bone soup, which the greeter said is cooked for 24 hours and served a number of ways. Korean barbecue also is available. The restaurant is housed in an enclosed, two-level  shopping mall with parking underneath, but some stores are vacant, and Korean restaurants have come and gone over the years.

Gamasot Restaurant, 1550 Lemoine Ave., 
First Level, Fort Lee; 201-242-1155


So Gong Dong, 118 Broad Ave., Second Floor,
Palisades Park; 201-313-5550.