Costco Wholesale's drug-free tilapia, A&S Fine Foods, Total Wine

Seafood Salad, top, and Roasted Red Peppers are two of the high-quality specialties prepared by A&S Fine Foods in Wyckoff. I paid $15 for an Amazon Local voucher that entitled me to purchase $30 worth of food at the Italian-American pork store, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A seemingly remarkable farmed fish stars this month in Costco Wholesale's lifestyle magazine for members.

A special section on Costco's private label, Kirkland Signature, describes tilapia fillets that may forever change my opinion of this common fish:

"Kirkland Signature Tilapia is raised by Regal Springs in pristine lakes ... in Mexico and Indonesia without chemicals, growth hormones or antibiotics," the September issue of The Costco Connection says.

I've been careful to buy wild-caught fish at Costco and other stores to avoid just those harmful additives, which are commonly found in tilapia and other farmed fish.

But on Thursday, when I went looking for this tilapia at my Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, I couldn't find any.

Tilapia also is known as St. Peter's Fish, and I first encountered the wild variety in the late 1970s at a kibbutz restaurant on the Sea of Galilee in Isreal.

Elusive shrimp

Another item I saw in the magazine, Kirkland Signature Cilantro Lime Shrimp, wasn't available when my wife went to Costco on Tuesday.

The magazine said the shrimp used are "free of chemicals and antibiotic residues," and Costco makes sure they meet "our microbial, chemical and quality standards."

Instead of Cilantro Lime Shrimp, my wife came home with Kirkland Signature Shrimp Salad, which has a dressing made from cultured cream, milk, egg yolks, sugar, corn starch and other ingredients.

I returned that salad for a refund on Thursday.

Foods carrying the Kirkland Signature label usually, but not always, are of high quality.

This what Kirkland Signature Shrimp Salad looks like in the container.

Ingredients in the Kirkland Signature Shrimp Salad include guar gum, carageenan, calcium sulfate and other preservatives.

Kirkland Signature Shrimp Salad is $9.99 a pound.

A&S Fine Foods

The A&S Fine Foods in a small shopping center on Cedar Hill Avenue in Wyckoff is one of 26 stores in the Northeast that were started by Italian immigrant Anthony Scicchitano.

Scicchitano sold the Wyckoff store to the present owners.

I loved the fresh garlic, celery and red onion that gave crunch to the wonderful Seafood Salad, and the fresh herbs in the lovely Roasted Red Peppers I bought there.

Using an Amazon Local voucher meant I paid half-price for the food I purchased, including organic dried pasta from bronze dies and store-made marinara.

Would I pay full price? That's a good question.

A&S Fine Foods, 525 Cedar Hill Ave., Wyckoff; 1-201-447-0800. Open 7 days.

The Seafood Salad I purchased at A&S Fine Foods on Labor Day was made with tender small shrimp, squid and baby octopus, and had plenty of crunch from celery and red onions ($16.99 a pound).

I used my $15 Amazon Local voucher to purchase a 1.1-pound box of imported Organic Fusilli made from farro, a type of hulled wheat ($6.49); a 32-ounce container of Marinara Sauce prepared in the store ($7.99), a half-pound of Seafood Salad and a half-pound of Roasted Red Peppers. My total was $31.72, so I paid $16.72 for the food.

Total Wine & More

Total Wine & More in River Edge offers a discount of 10% on six bottles with prices that end in "9."

Late last month, I bought six bottles of red wine, including cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, merlot and shiraz for $4.99 to $6.99 a bottle.

The total for six bottles with the so-called Mix 6 Discount was $31.44, plus tax, or about $5.20 per bottle.

Today, a Total Wine newspaper flier included a coupon for 15% off six bottles of wine with prices that end in "9." 

The coupon is good until Oct. 4.

Whole Foods Market in Paramus also offers a 10% discount on six bottle of wine.

Total Wine & More, 135 Kinderkamack Road, River Edge; 1-201-968-1777.