Do You Really Know What You're Eating?

Dinner for four comes in under $20

2012-01-30T16:01:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia
Live fluke from Jeju Island in Korea are sold in Fort Lee.

Editor's note: Today's bill of fare includes an inexpensive meal at home, good buys in Target's grocery section and a sale on free-range, grass-fed beef at ShopRite.

The cost difference between dining in and dining out is dramatic, and when you eat at home, you have a lot more control over the quality of the ingredients.

This afternoon, I stopped at the H Mart Fresh in Fort Lee and purchased fresh and prepared items that will feed four at dinner for only $17.35.

The fresh fish at this small Korean market is always displayed on plenty of ice, so the wild-caught porgy at $1.99 a pound caught my eye. The fish monger said they came in earlier in the day.

I asked him to clean five porgy, leaving the heads and tails on. The total was $7.22.

A tank held live fluke from Jeju Island in Korea -- at $17.99 a pound. But this flat fish is wonderful raw as sushi or sashimi, allowing you to avoid all the mercury you'd consume with tuna. Maybe next time.

Fresh Chinese broccoli was on sale for 58 cents a pound, so for $1.13 I bought just under 2 pounds to blanch and sautee with sesame oil and a little soy sauce.

I also picked up two prepared items -- a seaweed, rice and vegetable roll called kimbap or gimbap ($4.99 for 20 ounces) and a trio of pan-fried kimchi pancakes ($3.99).

Image via Wikipedia
Kimbap and kimchi.

How do you say, "Dinner's ready," in Korean?

H Mart's discount coupon book hasn't been issued for about two months, but there are plenty of in-store sales. Employees say they don't know why the supermarket chain stopped issuing its own coupons.

H Mart Fresh, 1379 16th St.,Fort Lee; 201-944-9009.
Metered spaces in front of store are free after 12 p.m.

Target's stealth discounts

I drove to the Target in Hackensack on Saturday to pick up lactose-free milk and eggs, and they rang up for much less than the shelf price. I didn't see anything about a sale.

A half-gallon of Market Pantry lactose-free milk usually is $3.19 -- about 20 cents less than at ShopRite. I bought two half-gallons of 2% lactose-free milk, and they rang up at $2.89 each.

A dozen large white Nearby Eggs from Pennsylvania were on a shelf with a price of $1.49, but I paid only 79 cents for them. I saved another 5% or 33 cents by charging the items to a Target credit card.

Sale on free-range beef

Nature's Reserve Whole Beef Tenderloin for Filet Mignon is on sale again at ShopRite for $7.99 a pound or $5.99 a pound with a store card through Feb. 4.

This beef, from Australian cattle, is described as grass fed and free range. You usually have to buy 4 to 6 pounds of beef.

When you get it home and trim it, you can cut it into filet mignon steaks or slice it thin for Korean barbecue.

The same cut of conventionally raised, USDA Select beef is on sale for $9.99 a pound or $7.99 with a store card.

Two 59-ounce clear-plastic containers of Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice are on sale for $5 with a store card (limit of 4).

From 'soup to nuts' in Allendale

2012-01-29T14:32:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia
Get off the NJ Transit train in Allendale, above, for a good meal at the family friendly Allendale Bar and Grill.

We had an early dinner at the Allendale Bar and Grill on Saturday, then headed over to Northern Highlands Regional High School for an a cappella tournament.

I inadvertently had the "soup" when I ordered a pasta dish that was served in a large bowl with way too much garlic sauce.

"Nuts!" was my reaction at the high school, where we and 30 to 40 others were told we needed tickets to the concert, but it was sold out.

At least most of us were happy with what we ordered at the noisy, family friendly restaurant, where children can help themselves to bowls of popcorn while waiting for their food.

And they'll wait a long time, if our experience is any guide.

We were hungry when we arrived around 4:45 in the afternoon and sorry we didn't order appetizers as we waited for what seemed like forever for our entrees (30 minutes-plus).

We sipped our soft drinks, and free refills, and watched the upstairs dining room and bar fill up with other customers, including a large number of families with young children.

My wife ordered lobster bisque, but was told it wasn't ready, so she settled for a cup of chicken-noodle soup ($3.25). I nibbled on a side salad that came with my pasta dish.

My Tuscan Vegetable Saute was described on the menu as sauteed garden vegetables in a heart-healthy garlic sauce over whole-wheat linguine ($11.95). For another $4, I added shrimp.

When the dish arrived, the pasta and sauce were completely covered by vegetables -- including broccoli florets and small, round Parisian carrots -- and five crunchy jumbo shrimp, but once I started eating, I could see the soupy sauce everything was swimming in.

The linguine was properly al dente, but didn't appear to be 100% whole wheat and was too stiff to twirl around my fork. I didn't finish the dish. My son ate several mouthfuls and said he liked the sauce.

Unfortunately, the side salad was made with iceberg lettuce. I could have ordered a side of sauteed spinach instead of the salad for $3, but when I asked for the spinach in addition to the entree, it cost $5.95.

My son ordered baby back spare ribs with french fries ($12.95 for a half-rack). My wife and mother-in-law both had Chef Pierre's dinner special -- a thick, moist salmon fillet resting on spinach-and-feta-cheese risotto, with asparagus and sliced portobello mushroom ($16.95 each).

The risotto had been formed into a cake and possibly deep fried, leaving a crust around it, so my wife ate only the interior, but loved the dish, as did her mother.

They drank pink lemonade ($2.50) and I had seltzer ($2), plus a glass of cabernet sauvignon ($5.95).

Even with generous portions and fair prices, we spent $107.90 for four, including tax and a $14 tip.

Allendale Bar and Grill, 67 W. Allendale Ave., Allendale;
201-327-3197. Parking lot, free street parking.

Web site: Founded in 1941

How one diner penalizes dieters

2012-01-27T15:50:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia
If you want extra spinach in your omelet, The Ridge Diner will charge you 50 cents more.

At The Ridge Diner, the Greek Omelet with potatoes and toast is $7.95.

But if you're on a diet and trying to limit your intake of whole eggs, you'll pay 75 cents more for egg whites. If you want more healthy spinach in the omelet, that will be an extra 50 cents.

If you ask the waitress to hold the potatoes and toast, as I did, nothing will be deducted, so you might as well ask for them to go.

I paid $9.20 for that omelet on Thursday, plus another $1.45 for coffee. If there was extra spinach, I couldn't tell.

So, if you're on a diet, The Ridge Diner may not be for you.

The restaurant was packed around 1 on Thursday afternoon and I had to wait for a parking space and then a table.

The Ridge Diner, 125 Kinderkamack Road, Park Ridge;
201-391-4242. Small parking lot.

A tale of two Korean pears

2012-01-26T10:46:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

A friend greeted me at the gym this morning with a complaint:

Although I said in Monday's report that shoppers can save 20 cents by buying Korean pears at Costco Wholesale instead of at H Mart, I didn't mention the weight of the respective packages.

Did a trio of the large pears from the Korean supermarket weigh more, thus wiping out the price difference? I said pears from the two stores looked to be about the same size.

I was wrong. The lower-cost package of three pears from the Hackensack Costco actually weighs more than the package from H Mart, which is about 2 miles away in Little Ferry, so the former is an even better buy than I thought.

At Costco, Jumbo Shingo Pears from Happy Valley Farms weighed a total of 3 pounds and cost $6.79 or 14.1 cents an ounce.

I had to fish the H Mart container out of our outdoor recycling can. The package of three "Sweet and Crispy" pears weighed 2.7 pounds and cost $6.99 or 16.2 cents an ounce (not 15.8 cents an ounce, as I wrote earlier).

The pears from Korea come in form-fitting, clear plastic containers, and each pear is wrapped in a padded plastic net. They are also available in boxes that hold up to 10 pears.

They are called pears, but they are apple-shaped.

'Honey, I forgot the milk'

2012-01-25T12:09:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia
The imported Pecorino Romano sheep's milk cheese sold at Costco has more sodium than the aged Manchego from Spain, but costs less.

My wife brought home a lot of food from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack on Monday, but forgot organic milk and egg whites.

When I returned on Tuesday for the milk and eggs, I picked up seven other items, and ended up spending nearly $84.

I'm the only one in the family who doesn't eat meat, so I bought fish: fresh, wild-caught haddock fillets from Iceland for dinner tonight and salted Pacific cod, both $7.99 a pound.

A 2-pound package of strawberries from Mexico were $4.99, and 3 pounds of bananas were the usual $1.39. A dozen 6-ounce cups of Stonyfield Organic Low-Fat Yogurt with Fruit on the Bottom were $7.89.

I wanted a sheep's milk cheese to enjoy with fruit and had two choices, Villacenteno Manchego, an aged cheese from Spain, at $8.29 a pound; and aged Kirkland Signature Pecorino Romano from Italy at around $5.50 a pound (I don't remember the exact price).

I looked at the Nutrition Facts labels and chose the Spanish cheese, which has less sodium than the Pecorino Romano, but different serving sizes made figuring that out a challenge.

The Manchego went perfectly with slices from a wedge of Spanish fig cake with nuts I picked up at Fairway Market in Paramus the other day.

At Costco, I also picked up another 5-pound box of Sunset Beefsteak Tomatoes for $6.99 (10 tomatoes). They are greenhouse grown and vine ripened.

I prefer the superior taste of Sunset's Campari Tomatoes, but refuse to pay $5.49 for a 2-pound package.

Three half-gallons of Kirkland Signature Organic 1% Milk were $8.99, and the price has held steady for many months. Six 16-ounce containers of Kirkland Signature Real Eggs were $9.59.

Fishing for an honest retailer

2012-01-23T18:46:00.000-05:00

Image by Newton Free Library via Flickr
You'll save 20 cents by buying three Korean pears at Costco Wholesale instead of at H Mart, a Korean supermarket.

Editor's note: A Consumer Reports investigation questions the honesty of seafood retailers. Today's bill of fare also includes a new tofu restaurant in Palisades Park, and more on Costco produce.

A Consumer Reports investigation on the mislabeling or employee misidentification of fish is based on samples purchased at retail, but Costco Wholesale is conspicuously absent.

Seafood was purchased in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut at Whole Foods Markets, including the Edgewater store; Wegman's, A&P, and Red Lobster Restaurants in Paramus and Scardale, N.Y.

Magazine staffers who served as mystery shoppers bought a wide variety of fish from 55 stores and restaurants in the fall of 2010, including five "big-box stores," but Costco is not named in the article.

Costco is a major seafood retailer of fish fillets, both fresh and frozen, farmed and wild-caught; large farmed shrimp, sea scallops, crab, lobster tails and other items.

The story is in the December 2011 issue of Consumer Reports magazine. It ran under these headlines:

Mystery fish

The label said red snapper, the lab said baloney

We ordered red snapper at Amici Family Restaurant in Bergenfield, and got a tough, sinewy fillet. We asked the waitress to check with the cook, and she quoted him as saying it was red snapper. We never returned.

The magazine said none of the 22 "red snappers" it bought at 18 markets "could be positively identified as such."

When dining out, I always order seafood and we get whole fish, if it's available. We're always pleased with the choices at Wondee's, a Thai restaurant in Hackensack with relatively low prices on fish and other seafood.

When dining in, we split our seafood purchases between H Mart, a chain of Korean supermarkets in North Jersey, and Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

At H Mart, we usually buy whole fish, which are labeled with country of origin and whether they are farmed or wild.

Costco's labeling of fish is better than most other retailers, judging from Consumer Reports, which says cod labels don't have to specify whether the fish is from the Atlantic Ocean, where the cod population is low, or the more abundant and sustainable schools in the Pacific Ocean.

The cod fillets I've purchased at Costco have all been labeled "True Pacific Cod."

New tofu restaurant

If you put the word "tofu" in the name of your Korean restaurant, make sure you do a good job on your signature dish.

We were a little disappointed with the soft-tofu stews we were served on Sunday evening at K.J. Tofu House in Palisades Park, but liked the other food we tried and the unusual number of free side dishes.

The restaurant has been open about two months in the space formerly occupied by the Soft Tofu Restaurant. We were told K.J. Tofu House has separate owners.

The modern interior has black-stone table tops, some with electric grills, and there is jazz playing on the sound system. A banner in the window advertises a $6.95 breakfast.

K.J. Tofu House has a traditional, full Korean menu, plus a dozen different soft-tofu stews, including curry, ham and cheese, and "intestines." Most are $8.95 at lunch and $10.95 at dinner.

But along with the soft tofu stew, you get rice, an egg and 10 free side dishes at dinner, including two small, whole fish. So Gong Dong, our favorite tofu house, serves only four side dishes for $9.99.

At K.J. Tofu House, my wife ordered a pork soft-tofu stew ($10.95) and I ordered a combination meal pairing two large, broiled mackerel fillets and a small seafood tofu stew ($21.95).

After we placed our order, a server brought over the 10 side dishes, including spicy and white cabbage kimchis, tiny shrimp, potato salad, greens, and pickled jalapeno slices. Then, the entrees arrived, accompanied by two hot stone bowls of white rice.

Clearly, we had ordered too much food.

The kitchen mixed up our orders, making my wife's tofu stew spicier than mine, and my smaller stone bowl of stew didn't contain any seafood. But the mackerel was some of the best I've had, and the side dishes were terrific, ensuring a return visit.

The staff is eager to please, and we were asked how we liked the food twice. When a server didn't seem to be around to take our order, the woman behind the register ran out to write it down.

Cups of a sweet drink came with the check.

K.J. Tofu House, 268 Broad Ave., Palisades Park; 201-363-0700.
Open 7 days from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. BYO.

Korean pears

My wife picked up a package of three large Korean pears for $6.79 today at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, compared to the $6.99 I paid at H Mart in Little Ferry.

A 10-pound bag of Earthbound Farm Organic Carrots was $6.99; a 1-pound package of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix was $4.79; a 3-pound bag of "thoroughly washed" Eat Smart Broccoli Florets was $4.99; six heads of Andy Boy Romaine lettuce were $3.99, and a 5-pound bag of limes was $5.99.

A 1-pound package of Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon was $15.39.

Though it has more sodium in a 2-ounce serving than Kirkland Signature's Imported Smoked Salmon, it also tastes better and its thicker slices have more body than its farmed cousin.

New tofu house seeks foothold

2012-01-22T10:53:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia
You can poach an egg in the bubbling soft-tofu stew.

The banner in the window of a new restaurant in Palisades Park beckoned as we drove down Broad Avenue on Saturday evening toward our favorite soft-tofu house, So Gong Dong.

Actually, the big numbers on the sign at a new soft-tofu restaurant were all I could understand: $6.95. The rest of the sign was in Korean.

Does that mean soft-tofu stew, rice, fresh egg and side dishes cost only $6.95, compared to $9.99 at So Gong Dong and the affiliated So Kong Dong in Fort Lee?

The restaurant opened recently in the same space as Soft Tofu Restaurant, which served a varied Korean menu before it closed last year. Are these the same owners? Have they just remodeled?

Are they using an introductory low price to gain a foothold just a couple of blocks away from the popular So Gong Dong?

I ate in the Soft Tofu Restaurant a few times, but when I took my family there, they were unhappy with the tofu stew's lack of red pepper, even though my wife and son asked for it extra spicy and sent it back to the kitchen for replacements. I had a comforting stew with a whole spring chicken.

On Saturday, we were very happy with our meal at So Gong Dong, which specializes in soft tofu -- available in 10 varieties -- and offers only a limited number of other dishes.

In addition to four soft-tofu stews, we ordered a seafood pancake ($11.99) for me and sliced, prime-beef bulgogi barbecue for the meat eaters in my family ($14.99).

The soft-tofu stew comes in a stone bowl with a second stone bowl of steamed rice, a fresh egg and four side dishes: spicy cabbage and cucumber kimchis, bean sprouts and raw squid in a really spicy sauce.

They are brought to the table after you order your main dishes and usually are replenished without prompting.

Poach an egg

I cracked two small eggs into my bubbling oyster stew, and a few minutes later, broke a perfectly poached yolk over my steamed rice and ate them together with a spoon -- a terrific taste combination.

For the first time, I asked for my "more spicy" stew to be made with hot water instead of beef broth, and I couldn't tell the difference.

This is a family restaurant, with mostly Korean customers and a scattering of Japanese, Chinese and American loyalists sitting around a great comfort food.

At the next table, a dozen adults and children speaking Chinese placed their order in English, ordering their stews "little spicy" or "not spicy."

All the prices on the place-mat menu are rounded up one cent on the bill: $10 for a complete soft-tofu meal, $12 for the pancake and $15 for the prime beef slices, but tax is included.

So Gong Dong, 118 Broad Ave., Second Floor, Palisades Park;
201-313-5550. BYO. Credit cards accepted.
Free parking on side streets.

Related articles

A 'better chicken' from Perdue?

2012-01-21T12:50:00.000-05:00

Editor's note: Today, I discuss Perdue chicken, Korean pears and Fairway Market in Paramus.

I came across a coupon for a Perdue Oven Ready Chicken or Turkey Roast that shows a smiling Jim Perdue, chairman of Perdue Farms, under a slogan: "We believe in a better chicken."

Image via Wikipedia

Who doesn't? But believing in a better chicken and actually raising one are miles apart, and Perdue isn't ready to make the journey.

The coupon page also has a photo of an enormous cooked breast that looks dry. What you can't see are all the antibiotics used to raise the bird.

The "roast" comes in its own cooking bag, which is likely made of plastic. I wonder if there is any transfer of chemicals from the plastic bag to the all-white-meat poultry during the cooking.

Don't waste your money.

Image by FotoosVanRobin via Flickr

Korean pears

H Mart in Little Ferry had a display of large Korean pears near the entrance on Friday -- in a package of three for $6.99 or a box of nine or 10 for about $22.50.

The crisp, juicy Korean-grown pears are a cross between an apple and a pear, and they are carefully wrapped inside the package (see photo).

I also found Kabocha or Kabucha squash for 99 cents a pound, and a 2-pound box of blanched Greenshell Mussels from New Zealand for $6.99.

Bok choy tips were on sale for 88 cents a pound, and plantains were two for a dollar.

'Shock prices'

Fairway Market in Paramus continues its "shock prices" promotion through Jan. 26.

Paramus ShopRite hit with $470 fine

2012-01-19T13:08:00.000-05:00

Image by dklimke via Flickr
It took some doing to buy a can of Progresso Soup for $1.09 during the ShopRite Can Can Sale.

Editor's note: Bergen County consumer affairs officials have stepped into a dispute over Can Can Sale prices at ShopRite. Today, I also discuss Restaurant Week in Manhattan, the difference between farmed and wild salmon, and rising prices at Costco.

The ShopRite supermarket in Paramus has been fined $470 for misrepresenting the price of Progresso Soup during the Can Can Sale.

On Wednesday, an official at the Bergen County Weights and Measures Office in Hackensack said "corporate" sent the word out to other ShopRites to honor the lowest price, even if the customer doesn't buy the 10 cans listed on a Super Coupon in the sales flier -- "10 for $10.88."

There is nothing in the coupon or the flier indicating the customers "Must Buy 10," as in the past. However, there is a $10 minimum purchase. The Can Can Sale price is $1.25 per can and the Super Coupon price is $1.09.

The consumer official said when he tried to buy nine cans at the Paramus ShopRite, they rang up at $1.25 each. He cited the store for nine counts of misrepresenting the price of the soup.

Today, at the Hackensack ShopRite, it took a bit of doing to buy eight cans of Progresso Soup for $1.09 per can.

An employee at Customer Service wasn't aware of any change, but I asked to speak to the manager, who said the "front end" had been notified. At checkout, my cashier was clueless and she called over an assistant manager.

He made sure I had $10 in other items. Then, the soup rang up at $1.57 a can, a savings of $1.02, with another 32 cents deducted automatically, bringing the price to $1.25 a can. Another $1.28 -- or 16 cents a can -- was deducted manually, giving me a final price of $1.09.

Weights and Measures took action after two consumers complained about the stores' refusal to honor the lowest price for less than 10 cans.

I also purchased a half-gallon of Smart Balance Fat-Free Lactose-Free Omega-3 Milk for $3.99, then doubled a 75 cents coupon for a final price of $2.49. Last week, the same milk was on sale for $1.99.

I put 2 liters of Goya Extra-Virgin Olive Oil from Spain in my basket, thinking it was on sale for $4.99 a liter, but when I went back for a third bottle, I looked carefully at the shelf sign and realized the sale was on half-liter bottles or the equivalent of $9.98 a liter.

I didn't buy any.

$24.07 lunch

It's Winter Restaurant Week in Manhattan, so we had a three-course, $24.07 lunch at Blue Fin Seafood and Sushi Restaurant on Wednesday before catching "Jersey Boys" on Broadway.

I started with a tasty Winter Vegetable Minestrone and my wife had the Blood Orange and Endive Salad. We both enjoyed the cheesy bread crisps with sesame seeds served in a basket with a couple of rolls, but my wife said the butter was too salty.

For an entree, we both had the Sustainable Scottish Salmon served on a bed of wonderful lentils and pureed winter squash with a blood-orange vinaigrette, and it was a valuable lesson in the difference between farmed and wild-caught fish.

The Blue Fin salmon fillet tasted fine, but it was paler in color than its wild cousins and didn't have the same robust flavor. In farmed fish, the color is artificial, added through the feed.

However, the restaurant cooked the skin until it was crisp and presented the fillets skin up. I ate mine in one bite and gulp. Extraordinary.

For dessert, I had a trio of sorbets and my wife enjoyed a trio of ice creams. We paid a total of $62.04, including $4.27 in tax and a $9.63 tip (20%).

We had coffee at Starbucks, 1585 Broadway, the first I've seen with large touch-screen computers that allow you to take your own photo and send it to your e-mail address.

Winter Restaurant Week ends Feb. 10 (Monday to Friday).

Web site :

Three Courses for $24.07

Blue Fin Seafood and Sushi Restaurant, Broadway and 47th Street,
in the W Times Square Hotel; 212-918-1400.

Salt in smoked salmon

Almost every item I bought at Costco Wholesale on Tuesday cost more than a couple of weeks ago.

Earthbound Farm's Half and Half organic salad went up 20 cents, to $4.99; 5 pounds of Sunset Beefsteak Tomatoes were $6.99, up $1; Salted Alaskan Pollock was $7.29 for 2 pounds; and Jarlsberg Thin-Sliced Reduced-Fat Swiss Cheese was $9.49 for 2 pounds, up 50 cents.

And for the first time, I bought Kirkland Signature Imported Smoked Salmon, an artificially colored farmed Atlantic salmon, because the Hackensack warehouse store was out of smoked wild salmon.

The 1.5-pound package, divided between two pouches, was $18.99, a better buy than a 1-pound package of Blue Hill Bay Smoked Salmon for $14.59, also farmed and artificially colored.

I tried the Kirkland Signature salmon in an omelet this morning and found it paler in color and less flavorful than the smoked wild sockeye salmon from Alaska that is also sold under the Kirkland Signature label.

But the Kirkland salmon is far less salty than the fish from Blue Hill Bay -- with sodium listed at 19% for a 2-ounce serving of the former compared to 33% for the same serving size of the latter.

Many food claims don't hold water

2012-01-17T12:23:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia
If you want pure juice, don't buy Trop50.

Have you seen the TV ad for Trop50, which Tropicana calls "fabulously refreshing with 50% less sugar and calories"?

How do they do that, I wondered as I watched the ad from the maker of 100% pure orange juice on Monday night.

I found out when I looked at the Trop50 label at the Hackensack ShopRite this morning.

It is only 30% juice and labeled a "fruit juice beverage," and it's sweetened by PureVia -- called an all-natural plant extract.

McDonald's beef

Another TV ad from McDonald's seems to suggest the fast-food giant is using naturally raised beef in its hamburgers.

The ad shows a rancher, who says he supplies McDonald's, in a field where cattle are grazing -- what you'd see if the animals are grass fed

Image via Wikipedia

and free range.

But the ad tells you nothing about whether the cattle are raised on antibiotics and growth hormones, and whether they spend most of their lives eating grain in the confines of a feed lot with hundreds of other animals.

Shrinking boxes

I've been buying mostly 100% whole wheat pasta, but many brands come in a box that is less than a full pound.

ShopRite, Barilla and other brands offer whole wheat or whole grain pasta in boxes that are about 13 to 14 ounces. Dreamfields Pasta boxes also hold less than 16 ounces.

Even on sale, they are not a good buy.

Last week, Jerry's Gourmet in Englewood had 100% whole wheat capellini from Italy in a 16-ounce package for $1.49. Trader Joe's sells a 16-ounce package of organic 100% whole wheat spaghetti for $1.39.

Coupon madness

The ShopRite in Hackensack today refused to honor a Progresso Soup Super Coupon from its sales flier that said "10 for $10.88" unless I bought the full number of cans.

Nowhere on the flier or coupon does it say "Must Buy 10" to get the price of about $1.09 per can compared to the Can Can Sale price of $1.25.

I left a message at Bergen County Weights and Measures in Hackensack.

'Meat glue' exposed in Australia

2012-01-16T18:07:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

An Australian TV station has exposed "meat glue," which is used to make two or more pieces of beef, chicken and lamb appear to be one.

The reporter notes the use of meat glue is barred outside of Australia. Here is a link to the report:

Meat Secrets Exposed

How much do you spend on food?

2012-01-15T14:06:00.000-05:00

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I spent $8,700 at Costco Wholesale in 2011.

Editor's note: A year-end summary for one of my credit cards tells me something I already know. We spend a lot of money on food. Today, I also discuss another great meal at Simply Vietnamese in Tenafly.

I spent about $100 a week on dining out in 2011, but went through about $12,000 at supermarkets and warehouse stores -- most of that for food.

My restaurant spending totaled just over $5,000, including take-out. That doesn't include meals charged on another credit card I had to use at places that don't accept American Express.

The $12,000 I spent at supermarkets and warehouse stores includes non-food purchases -- everything from paper goods to batteries to flannel sheets -- and online purchases of food from Amazon.com.

About $8,700 of that was spent at Costco Wholesale, which I rely on for most of my food purchases. We usually dine out once a week and do takeout on another night.

My year-end summary for the American Express Costco True Earnings Card doesn't include cash rebates of 3% for gasoline; 2% for restaurants, cut from 3%; and 1% at Costco and everywhere else.

And in the last two months or so of 2011, I started to use another American Express card, called Blue Cash Everyday, to get 3% back at ShopRite and other supermarkets.

Now, besides ShopRite, I use the Blue Cash card at Whole Foods Market, Fairway Market, Trader Joe's and Brothers Produce in Paterson.

A well-balanced meal

On Saturday night, I ordered the same well-balanced dinner at Simply Vietnamese in Tenafly as I did in October: pan-broiled Basa fillet, a farmed catfish from Vietnam, served over bok choy with a bowl of brown rice ($19).

The fillet was so big it was served in two pieces, and covered with carmelized onion and sweet pepper. This is a healthy, one-dish meal.

My wife and mother-in-law had filling bowls of boneless Roast Duck Soup ($12) with rice noodles, and my son had the House Noodle Soup with thicker noodles and ribs ($13).

We shared two appetizers, Goi, a crunchy Vietnamese salad topped with crushed peanuts ($7); and delicious Broiled New Zealand (Green-Lipped) Mussels in a wasabi ginger sauce ($8.50). Service is attentive.

Another great meal at Simply Vietnamese in a beautiful, deep-red dining room.

It would have been perfect if there was a hook near our table where I could have hung my hat and long winter coat instead of doubling the coat and putting it over the back of my chair.

With the closing of Mo' Pho in Fort Lee, Simply Vietnamese is the only North Jersey outpost of Chef K.T. Tran, who is at the top of her form.

Simply Vietnamese, 1 Highwood Ave., Tenafly;
201-568-7770. BYO, free street parking. Reservations
recommended on weekends.
Web site: Simply Delicious

Can you imagine worse service?

2012-01-14T12:44:00.004-05:00

Image by the justified sinner via Flickr
A cup of coffee at the shiny Chit Chat Diner in Hackensack was my first and last there. It might as well as look like this.

Editor's note: We had two vastly different restaurant experiences on Friday. Today, I also discuss continued confusion caused by ShopRite's Can Can Sale, which enters a second week on Sunday.

I had a cup of coffee at the glitzy Chit Chat Diner in Hackensack on Friday and learned a valuable lesson on where not to meet for a bite to eat.

Here is a little history from the diner's Web site:

"The Chit-Chat Diner was opened on January of 2009. Our recent renovation has yielded us a Classic American joint in a more chic setting. Our goal is to provide an upscale meal and setting with an affordable price in a comfortable atmosphere."

Conspicuous by its absence is any mention of service.

I'm on diet and ordered only black coffee after the waiter said the diner didn't have 2% milk, only skim. My friend wanted a slice of pie with ice cream, and tea.

Another server poured cold water for us, and then he and the waiter seemed to disappear. A heavyset waitress with a bored expression took their place and was serving people in the next booth.

My friend asked her to refill his small tea cup (with its used tea bag). She returned with his cup only half-full, and ignored my empty coffee cup.

I tried to get her attention as she walked past a few minutes later, but she apparently didn't hear me or didn't want to hear me.

The bill was just under $10, including $1.75 each for the beverages. My friend was upset and left only a $1 tip (a standard 15% tip would have been $1.50), and we complained to the hostess, who was at the register as we left.

I've driven past the Chit Chat on Essex Street since it was renovated three years ago, and have wondered whether I should take my family there for dinner there. Now, forget about it.

I've been meeting a friend at the Suburban Diner on Route 17 in Paramus, and even when it is packed, the service is far superior to what we experienced at the Chit Chat, which was mostly empty during our visit.

Filling Japanese meal

On Friday night, we met friends at Yuki Japanese Restaurant, a popular BYO in Montvale, for a delicious meal.

The other couple brought a bottle of wine and we also drank hot green tea with our appetizers of shrimp and vegetable tempura ($6.95), and a California roll ($4.95). Service was excellent.

Our entree was nabe (the word for "pot") -- lobster, fish and clams; tofu, vegetables; and slippery, translucent noodles in a tasty broth, served in a pot placed on a table burner, with bowls of white and brown rice ($24).

The menu wasn't clear on whether the entree was for one or two, so I asked for nabe for two, and we were charged $48. Next time, I'll order one nabe and another entree, such as the cooked yellow tail fish that was available on Friday night.

The shrimp and vegetable tempura was beautifully fried and grease-less, good down to the crunchy shrimp tail. We also enjoyed the California roll, which is the only roll my wife will eat, because she doesn't like raw fish.

The other couple had large platters of tuna sushi and rolls, including broiled eel. We split the bill, which totaled $50 a couple, plus tax and tip.

Though the family running the restaurant don't appear to be Japanese, we were happy with our first meal there and plan to return.

Yuki Japanese Restaurant, 208 Kinderkamack Road
(at Grand Avenue), Montvale; 201-391-9877.
BYO. Entrance off rear parking lot.

Can Can confusion

The Can Can Sale at ShopRite starts a second week on Sunday, but confusion remains on minimum purchases needed to get the lowest sale price.

The flier that came with the newspaper today contains a Super Coupon for Progresso Soup at 10 for $10.88. Nowhere on the coupon or the flier does it say the customer must purchase 10 to get the price of about $1.09 each, compared to the sale price of $1.25.

This week, a Bergen County woman said the Paramus ShopRite refused to sell her fewer than 10 cans of Progresso Soup for the lower price. The store was fined. A new Super Coupon was supposed to reflect the "Must Buy 10" rule.

Customers must use their Price Plus Club store card to qualify for Can Can sale prices.

ShopRite customer told to can complaints

2012-01-13T12:05:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia
A company called Glass Gardens owns and operates nine ShopRite supermarkets.

Editor's note: ShopRite's Can Can Sale can be a challenge, to put it mildly. Today, I also discuss inflexible "shock" prices at Fairway Market in Paramus; a quick meal of fresh fish, brown rice and Chinese broccoli; and ways to cut down on your salt intake.

A Bergen County woman who complained about how ShopRite is conducting its Can Can Sale was told by a store owner that if she didn't like it, she should shop elsewhere.

The woman said she went to the Paramus ShopRite for Tetley Tea and swordfish, two items featured in the Can Can sales flier, but was told the store didn't have any.

She also wanted to use a Super Coupon from the flier for 10 cans of Progresso Soup for $10.88. She bought less and was told she must by all 10 cans to get the discount. She pointed out there was no mention of that on the coupon.

She called consumer affairs, and a Bergen County official visited the Paramus store twice, eventually imposing a fine. A new sales flier with the Super Coupon specified that 10 cans of Progresso Soup must be purchased to get the lower price of about $1.09 each.

On one of her visits, she was told by Irv Glass of Glass Gardens Inc. that if she didn't like the policies of the Paramus ShopRite, she should go elsewhere.

Irv and Terry Glass of Glass Gardens own and operate nine ShopRites, including stores in Paramus, Rochelle Park and Englewood.

The company Web site has this to say:

"SERVICE: To provide a level of customer-driven service that exceeds the customer’s expectations and helps to take the worry out of shopping."

'Shock' prices at Fairway

Fairway Market sometimes seems desperate to lure shoppers to its odd location in the Fashion Center, which is one of the poorest performing malls in Paramus.

At least that's how I interpret recent sales fliers heralding "shock" prices. I received two fliers with my local newspaper, one for Jan. 6-12, 2012, and another for Jan. 13-19.

Image via Wikipedia

The real shock isn't the prices, but that different items are on sale each week.

On Thursday, the last day of the first "shock price" week, I went to Fairway for freshly ground coffee and other items.

I bought a 5-pound box of clementines from Spain for $5.99, but today, in the second week of the sale, the price was lowered to $4.99. A also picked up Fuji apples for 75 cents a pound.

I took three 1-pound containers of Campari tomatoes to the check-out counter and asked if I could have the "shock" price of $5 for the trio, but was told I couldn't get that until today.

On Thursday, the price was two 1-pound containers for $5, more than I would pay at Costco Wholesale, where I spend most of my food dollars.

One "shock" price I saw in the store was $6.99 for a pound of Colombia Supremo coffee beans, so I bought two bags, and asked for a Turkish grind.

Fairway is the only supermarket I know with coffees from around the world that are roasted and custom-ground in the store -- the only reason I continue to go there.

I also picked up another item I see nowhere else, Spanish Pajero Fig Cake with almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts at $9.99 a pound. My wedge cost $6.99.

Quick dinner

My wife picked up about 2.2 pounds of fresh, wild-caught haddock fillets from Iceland at Costco Wholesale on Wednesday ($7.99 a pound).

We had a bottle of Goya Salsa Verde, a mildly spicy Mexican sauce that is handy for preparing a one-pot entree, plus organic brown rice from Costco and fresh Chinese broccoli from H Mart.

The brown rice went into an electric rice cooker along with Organic Sprouted Bean Trio (lentil, adzuki and mung beans), also from Costco.

I cut up the fish and placed it on top of the green salsa, which I had poured into a large skillet. Covered, the fillets took about 10 to 15 minutes to cook through on a medium flame, plumping up and turning white.

I blanched the leafy broccoli, along with thick, cut up stems, in boiling water for about 5 minutes, drained the water and added a little extra-virgin olive oil, salt and no-salt seasoning.

We spooned the fish and sauce over the steamed brown rice and beans, and served the bright-green, al dente broccoli on the side. Wonderful.

No-salt zone

You need salt with potassium iodide for complete physical and mental development, but there are a few places you can cut down on sodium when preparing home-cooked meals.

There is really no need to salt water for boiling pasta, because there is plenty of sodium in bottled sauces and the grated cheese you'll eat with it. And pasta boils just as well in a minimum amount of water as it does in gallons of the stuff.

When we cooked the haddock fillets, I used no-salt seasoning, knowing the green salsa had plenty of sodium in it. Fresh lemon juice also is considered a salt substitute.

I once bought jars of roasted and salted almonds from Costco, but now I buy a 3-pound bag of Kirkland Signature raw and unsalted almonds ($9.49), and roast them in the oven at 275 degrees for 1 hour.

Do we really need restaurants?

2012-01-11T17:27:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia
Parmigiano Reggiano is an aged, part skim-milk cheese from Italy that goes great with crisp apples and other fruit, but try to find it served that way in a restaurant.

Editor's note: Why go out to eat in restaurants when you can dine like a king at home? Today, I also discuss further Can Can Sale adventures at ShopRite.

I had a wonderful Italian dinner on Monday night -- small shrimp and unusually tender squid in a fra diavolo sauce, vegetable frittata, shell pasta with tuna, stuffed mushroom, eggplant caponata and a nice, four-green salad -- and drank a full-bodied Italian red wine with it.

My wife and mother-in-law ate baked fillet of sole and my son had barbecued chicken wings, all with similar side dishes.

My dessert: crisp apple sections paired with Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. They had ice cream. And we enjoyed all of this in the comfort of our own home.

Why go out?

When I think of our recent restaurant experiences, I wish we could eat like this every night and never leave the house.

That morning, I stopped by Jerry's Gourmet and More in Englewood, and picked up four Meals To Go at a mere $7.99 each -- less than the cost of a restaurant appetizer.

We could have a different meal from Jerry's every night or order takeout delivered to our door from our favorite places.

Then, we wouldn't have to go out and sit in a drafty dining room, as we did recently in settings as diverse as Nanoosh, a casual, organic Middle Eastern restaurant at a mall in Paramus, and Lupa Osteria Romana, a popular Manhattan trattoria where a skimpy meal for three cost more than $100 -- without wine.

Routine gouging

And I wouldn't have to pay $5.50 for a bottle of light beer, $10 to $12 for a glass of wine or $2.95 for a cup of lukewarm coffee.

We long ago started trying to reproduce at home some of our favorite dining-out meals, such as Korean barbecue, which my son refers to as "cook on the table."

For years, we ate what is essentially mystery meat in Korean restaurants before I started buying Nature's Reserve free-range, grass-fed Australian beef at ShopRite, sliced it thin and placed it in a freezer bag with Korean marinade.

Now, we cook this fun Korean meal on a stove-top grill at home and wrap the beef in red-lettuce leaves with spicy bean paste, garlic, rice and kimchi -- just as we did in restaurants.

We don't have to tip or rush because other people are waiting for our table. And a cold beer, which goes great with Korean food, is as close as the refrigerator.

Made to order

I don't know any Italian-American restaurants in North Jersey that serve whole-wheat pasta with a red sauce and sardines, one of our favorite meals at home.

Or would be willing to add a half-pound of fresh spinach to wilt and mix with a pound of pasta with garlic, oil and anchovies.

By eating at home, we can enjoy antibiotic-free poultry and meat, grass-fed lamb and wild-caught salmon -- fresh, frozen or smoked. Our salads are usually made with organic greens.

For dessert, there are always a few kinds of cheese in the refrigerator to have with fruit and organic black tea.

At Lupa in Manhattan, the menu tells customers all poultry and meat are from Heritage Foods USA, a network of farms and ranches where animals are raised naturally and not pumped full of growth hormones to get them to market as fast as possible.

Silent menus

In North Jersey, most restaurant menus are silent on the origin of the poultry, beef and pork served in their dining rooms or the owners cut corners to maximize profits.

Celebrity Chef Bobby Flay's so-called Hamburger Palace in Paramus uses Certified Angus Beef, which is raised conventionally with harmful additives. Flay could buy a more expensive natural line of Certified Angus Beef free of antibiotics or growth hormones, but doesn't.

Restaurant owners seeking maximum profit at the expense of their customers' health are aided by restaurant critics who don't bother to ask about the origin or quality of the food they sample and promote in their reviews.

If reviewers paid for their own meals -- instead of spending their employers' money -- they might pay more attention to the quality of the food they're served and produce critiques that are more consumer-oriented.

When we ate at Lupa, we loved the service. Still, I felt like having wine, but refused to pay $12 for a single glass when I could buy an entire bottle for less.

You can't eat paint

Why go to Sear House, a steakhouse in Closter, where the brothers who own the place claim they spent $5 million to renovate, then served a critic "smelly" tuna sushi and an ordinary, fatty rib-eye for $45?

Yet, the reviewer still gave the place 3 stars out of a possible 4.

We liked Amici Family Restaurant in Bergenfield until the night we were served a tough, sinewy piece of fish the menu said was red snapper. When we asked, the waitress relayed the chef's insistence it was red snapper.

We won't return.

And if you believe what you read in the newspaper, why go to a restaurant where owners think you're complaining about the food to get a free meal?

Places we love

It would be difficult to kick the restaurant habit altogether, even though we usually eat out only once a week and do takeout on another night. And in retirement, I enjoy meeting friends for breakfast or lunch out.

At Rosa Mexicano, a fine-dining mall restaurant in Hackensack, I had the wonderful, made-from-scratch fish tacos for lunch on Tuesday and a friend chose the Enchiladas Suizas. The entrees included several side dishes and terrific salsas.

We had to order a la carte, because the fish tacos and his chicken enchiladas weren't included in a $16.50, two-course lunch special. But the two light beers he drank cost $11 and the bill came to $54 and change with tip and tax.

And there are places we've been going to for years we'd have a hard time living without, such as Wondee's and Lotus Cafe in Hackensack, and So Gong Dong in Palisades Park.

Wondee's is a Thai restaurant with terrific prices for whole fish, which you can get steamed and covered with a spicy blend of chili and garlic. (In fact, a whole fish at Wondee's is only a few dollars more than the fish tacos at Rosa Mexicano.)

Lotus Cafe specializes in big Chinese meals, such as the 11-course Formosa Banquet for Ten at about $31 per person, including tip and tax. And So Gong Dong serves a healthy meal of Korean soft-tofu stew, kimchi and other comfort foods for $10.

All are BYOs, and all are unpretentious, welcoming places where families gather for a good meal at prices that won't break the bank.

I can Can Can

We continue to shop the Can Can Sale at ShopRite with mixed results.

My wife went to the Englewood ShopRite for more Adirondack seltzer and Airwick air freshener, then wiped out any savings with the purchase of Cortizone-10 hydrocortisone cream for $8.27.

I returned the 2-ounce tube for a refund today and managed to find a 1-ounce ShopRite-brand tube of the same anti-itch cream for $2.99, the last one on the shelf. My wife said there weren't any when she shopped.

Today, I also picked up a half-gallon of Smart Balance Fat-Free Lactose-Free Milk with Omega 3 for $1.99 or half-price, compared to $3.39 for the ShopRite brand.

Bottles of VO5 shampoo were 88 cents each, but a can of Progresso soup was $1.25. I bought five of the former, none of the latter.

At last year's Can Can Sale, Progresso soups were $1.19 a can or 10 for $10 with a coupon and store card.

Getting a kick out of the Can Can Sale

2012-01-08T14:14:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia
The wild and wonderful, heart-healthy sockeye salmon is available year-round at Costco -- fresh, frozen or smoked.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss ShopRite's Can Can Sale, which isn't what it used to be; a new place for Chinese take-out, and problems with the premium produce from Costco Wholesale.

I shopped the first day of ShopRite's "World's Greatest Can Can Sale" in Hackensack today, but found a lot of items weren't on sale or weren't good buys even at the lower prices.

I wait for the Can Can Sale to stock up on Adirondack seltzer, air freshener, ShopRite extra-virgin olive oil from Italy and other items. The sales flier claims "over 2,000 items [are] on sale."

Today, I bought three 12-can packs of Adirondack seltzer at $1.99 each, a savings of $1.60 each; eight cans of Airwick Air Freshener at 89 cents each or 25 cents off, but usually 99 cents each; five small cans of ShopRite tomato sauce for $2, and a dozen Eggland's Best Large White Eggs for $1.99 or 70 cents off.

Lysol-brand air freshener also was on sale for $2.99 for a 19-ounce can, but the shelf label showed it cost more per pound than the 8-ounce Airwick cans.

There was no limit on the seltzer, but I could find only two packs of my preferred flavor, Lemon-Lime, so I bought one pack of Original.

Canned red salmon from Alaska isn't on sale. The flier lists a half-liter of ShopRite 100% Italian Extra-Virgin Olive Oil at $2.99 -- or $6.98 a liter -- but in the store, I saw the liter bottle of the same olive oil for $7.99.

It doesn't have to be in a bottle or can to be on sale. But the only poultry at deep discount is the crappy stuff from Tyson. The Can Can Sale is on through Jan. 14, but is usually extended.

New year, new place

We tried a new place for Chinese take-out on Saturday night, Empire Hunan in Teaneck.

I called in the order and drove the 2 miles to pick it up to avoid a $1.50 delivery charge. The BYO also doesn't accept credit cards.

The dining room is pleasant and tables are covered with white cloths. I also saw tuna and other raw fish in a sushi case and a sushi chef working behind the counter.

We loved the food, but portions were small -- less than we would receive in an order from our usual take-out place, Zen Kitchen, also in Teaneck.

I had an Empire Hunan menu with 21st-anniversary coupons for $10 off on any check of $20 or more for pick-up or dining in, but they had expired.

Four of us tried steamed shrimp dumplings, six for $5.50; spinach with fresh garlic, instead of the listed garlic sauce, $8.75; Crispy Fillet of Fish with Hunan Sauce, $12.95; and Sesame Chicken, extra spicy, $10.95.

One takeout container was full of wonderful water spinach, another with chicken, but the fish container was far from full. My 14-year-old son told me to order more food next time.

I asked Alice, the woman who took my order, about the fish and was told striped bass was used. The fillets were breaded and beautifully fried, but they were small and thin, maybe 1 ounce each, and there were about eight of them.

The Hunan Sauce, in a separate container, was too sweet for me and appeared to be thickened with corn starch. The spinach was terrific with brown rice, but I didn't have the chicken.

Empire Hunan, 444 Cedar Lane, Teaneck; 201-801-0096.
Web site: Dine In or Take Out

Zen Kitchen, 1443 Queen Anne Road, Teaneck; 201-837-7322.
Web site: Take-Out Only

Costco quality

Thanks to Costco Wholesale, I can enjoy wild-caught sockeye salmon year-round -- either fresh, frozen or smoked.

The Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon originally was sliced and sold by the pound in a single package that varied by weight.

But last year, the preservative-free wild salmon started showing up in two connected packages weighing exactly 1 pound. I still don't know how they do it.

The slices in the last package I purchased for $15.39 were difficult to handle when I tried to pick the fish off of its cardboard base, with tiny pieces breaking off that stuck to my fingers or the board.

I use the smoked salmon in omelets and salads, usually with reduced-fat Swiss cheese slices, or simply roll up salmon and cheese for a snack.

Costco also sells three large cantaloupes for $5.99, but the last two times I've bought them, quarter-size soft spots developed when I left them out on the counter to ripen.

When I cut into them, the interiors usually were ripe, even though the exteriors were still green.

I've also found that those large, seedless hothouse cucumbers aren't created equal.

Lately, I've been buying the Euro Fresh Farms brand, which is labeled pesticide-free, over the Sunset brand. Both are three for $3.99.

The Sunset cucumbers appear bigger, but haven't held up as well in my refrigerator, and sometimes they rot or soften after several days. I haven't had the same problem with the other brand.

But I couldn't be happier with Sunset's beefsteak tomatoes, which are sold in an open 5-pound box -- usually, you get nine or 10, and the cashier sometimes counts them to make sure customers aren't adding more to the box.

The prices for Campari and Roma tomatoes are around $2.25 to $2.50 a pound. But at $5.99 a box or about $1.20 a pound, the beefsteaks are a better buy and taste great, too.

Our Korean lunch had a hot sauna appetizer

2012-01-06T16:39:00.000-05:00

Image by FotoosVanRobin via Flickr

The gochujang in a squeeze bottle at the King Spa Fitness restaurant is among the spiciest I've encountered in Palisades Park.

We sat down to a nice Korean lunch on Friday in Palisades Park -- after our bodies were heated and cooled, scrubbed and showered at King Spa Fitness.

I counted eight saunas on two levels of the Korean spa, and tried most of them, but took only a few steps into the hottest before my burning bare feet forced me to leave.

I had forgotten to use the burlap foot protection provided in a bin outside the door. A sign warns customers to leave cellphones, eyeglasses and the plastic wrist band with their locker number and key outside the 250-degree sauna.

At one sauna, a sign says customers with heart conditions should not enter. Another sign cautions that drinking alcohol before using the sauna may trigger a heart attack. Most of the saunas are small, accommodating about 10 customers.

One Korean woman I spoke to said she took the day off and "left the kids at home." I also saw families and businessmen enjoying a few hours at the spa.

The ceiling of the Gold Sauna resembles the inside of a pyramid. The Mud Sauna is made of mud. Bags of herbs hang from the domed ceilings of other saunas. All have mats and wood headrests on the floor.

After you heat your body, you can sit on a log stool and cool off in the Ice Sauna.

Customers are provided with shorts and T-shirts -- pink for women, white for men -- but everyone goes barefoot. They mingle in the restaurant or common areas, which have reclining chairs, big screen TVs, chess boards and computers for surfing the Web.

Men and women use separate levels with lockers, showers, hot and cold tubs, and steam rooms. Messages and body rubs are available. No clothes are worn in the shower/tub room.

I paid extra for a 20-minute body scrub, which included rough and soapy scrubs, a back message, stretching of arms and legs, and rinsing with pails of hot water -- all while I lay on a narrow, slippery table.

The Korean attendant apparently didn't understand when I pointed to my 9-inch scar from open-heart surgery in September, and asked him not to scrub it. He did the opposite.

Still, I felt great afterward and spent some time in a hot tub before I dressed in shorts and a T-shirt and met my wife in the restaurant, where you order and pick up your food at a counter.

A counter worker scans a bar code on your wristband to add the meal to your bill.

We both had bibimbap -- julienned vegetables, rice and a fried egg in a steel bowl, with or without ground beef, and we both added gochujang, a vinegared red-pepper paste, mixing everything up and eating it with a spoon.

Four side dishes -- tiny dried fish, potato, eggplant and kimchi -- and a hot seaweed soup came with each entree. The kimchi was just OK, but the gochujang was among the spiciest I've encountered. We drank ice water.

A visit to the spa is a splurge. Admission with an e-coupon I found on King Spa's Web site was $28 each. My body scrub cost $50, including the gratuity. Our lunch was $22, and I tipped the parking valet $2.

King Spa Fitness, 321 Commercial Ave.,
Palisades Park; 201-947-9955.

Web site: Icy Hot Relaxation

Hummus with an organic difference

2012-01-04T16:53:00.002-05:00

Image by tk_yeoh via Flickr
Passion fruit.

Editor's note: We tried "an organic take on classic Mediterranean," found slim pickings in the Costco Wholesale fresh-fish case, witnessed a food-shopping frenzy at Whole Foods Market, and just got a flier heralding low "shock" prices at Fairway Market.

A mid-week break with dinner and a movie on Wednesday night confirmed once again that organic food tastes better and is worth the extra cost.

Our dinner at Nanoosh -- which calls itself an "organic take on classic Mediterranean" and a "Mediterranean hummus bar " -- tasted good, but failed to deliver the full flavor of authentic Middle Eastern food.

My wife and son both chose the Hummus Chicken Wrap ($11.75), which came with a diced Mediterranean Salad of tomato, cucumber, parsley and onion.

The wrap was whole wheat, and my son praised the tender, naturally raised chicken, but my wife complained there wasn't enough hummus in the dish. They both drank Organic Lemonade with fresh mint leaves ($2.75), which they loved.

I ordered three sides: Hummus Tahini ($4.75), made with organic chickpeas; Lebane ($4.75), and Tabouleh Salad ($4.95), and discovered they weren't as flavorful as the same dishes I have sampled over the years in Syrian and Lebanese restaurants in Paterson's wonderful Mideast bazaar.

I drank an unsweetened Pomegranate Raspberry Ice Tea ($2.75), though a "lightly sweetened" Organic Iced Mint Tea is available at the same price.

The Hummus Tahini was bland, because it is made without an essential ingredient, garlic. The Lebane or spreadable yogurt cheese was garnished with extra-virgin olive and za'atar thyme mixture, but there was so little of the latter, I couldn't taste it.

I enjoyed the Tabouleh Salad, even though it wasn't the mound of chopped parsley with a little bulgur wheat you'd find in a good Lebanese place. Nanoosh's salad is mostly bulgur.

Nanoosh also serves whole wheat pocket bread, but the two that came with the Hummus Tahini were unpleasantly thick and doughy, unlike anything you'd find in Paterson's Syrian bakeries.

The no-frills setting at Garden State Plaza seats just under 50 people, and the soundtrack is some sort of Euro or Mideast pop. I was able to make out the words to only one song, "Brasil."

But the small dining room is open to a busy mall corridor, so it's drafty. There's a hostess at the entrance and table service.

Almost everything served is organic and ground beef and poultry are raised naturally. Dinner for three reflected that quality. We paid $56.44, including a $7 tip.

Sadly, this is one of the few restaurants in Bergen County that serves almost an entire menu of organic and naturally raised food, despite the astronomical prices you see in some places.

From the Nanoosh Web site:

"We have an abiding belief in the power of food to help us live a healthier and more fulfilling life."

Nanoosh, 1 Garden State Plaza, Paramus; 201-556-1300.
Other locations in Manhattan.
Web site: The Power of Healthy Food

Fresh fish failure

On Tuesday, I went looking for fresh, wild-caught fish fillets at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, but found only cod and haddock, and both packages weighed 2 pounds or so -- more than I wanted.

So, I had to settle for a 4-pound freezer package of The Ultimate Fish Stick from Trident Seafood, made from wild-caught Alaska pollock fillets ($11.99).

When I got home, I felt like wild salmon for dinner, so I defrosted a sockeye salmon fillet from a Costco Kirkland Signature bag in the freezer.

I squeezed on fresh lemon juice and seasoned it with a little Aleppo red pepper before broiling it for about 15 minutes. I fried a single egg, sunny side up, and slid it on top of the fillet, which I had plated with a small Korean yam baked on a "Speed Cook" setting in the microwave.

A small salad made for a wonderful dinner.

I also bought two 26-ounce jars of "sugar-free" fruit spread from E.D. Smith in Canada for $7.39. But "sucralose" (an artificial sweetener made from sugar) and artificial colors are listed on the ingredients labels of both the Wildberry and Apricot, Peach, Passion Fruit.

I went looking for Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix in the usual place. Instead, I found Earthbound Farm Organic Half & Half, a tasty combination of Spring Mix and Baby Spinach ($4.79 for 1 pound).

Although I didn't find fresh, wild-caught fish, the atmosphere in Costco was relaxed -- in contrast to frenetic holiday food shopping.

Whole Foods

On Monday, we stopped at Whole Foods Market in Paramus, and the store was overrun by rushing food shoppers who apparently had rested up the day before, New Year's Day, but now had to restock their refrigerators and cupboards. The parking lot was packed.

At the fish counter, previously frozen, wild sockeye salmon fillets from Canada were on sale for $9.99 a pound, and Maine lobster tails were $5.99 each or $4 off.

But my wife decided to make soup after we found two packages of frozen organic chicken feet in the store freezer ($3.49 a pound). I ate leftover whole-grain pasta in garlic and oil, from my own recipe, which I'm still perfecting.

Today, I dropped my wife off at Costco, and drove to the H Mart in Little Ferry for fresh, whole croaker ($2.99 a pound), Chinese broccoli (88 cents a pound), and Kokohu Yellow Label white rice grown in California, on sale for $13.99 for 20 pounds.

The parking lot of the Hackensack warehouse store was packed, recalling the holidays, because it was the first day customers could use Costco discount coupons that arrive in the mail.

'Shock price'

A new Fairway Market sales flier is advertising what the Paramus store calls a "shock price" for rotisserie chicken, USDA Prime boneless top round London broil or roast, clementines and other items.

The prices are in effect Friday through Jan. 12, 2012.

No organic or naturally raised products are included in the "shock price" sale, nor is whole-bean coffee.

"Shock" sale prices include a conventional Fairway rotisserie chicken for $4.99; boneless top round, $4.99 a pound; 2 pounds of Fuji apples, $1.50; Eggland's Best Eggs, $5 for two 18 packs; clementines, three 3-pound bags for $10; and pork tenderloin for $3.99, presumably raised on antibiotics and growth hormones.

Why I love spending money at Costco

2011-12-31T14:28:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia
The interior of a Costco in South San Francisco, Calif.

Editor's note: How many food retailers publish their markup or try to sell for as little as they can? That's part of the philosophy behind Costco Wholesale. Today, I also discuss a sour note during an otherwise great Korean dinner at Gammeeok in Palisades Park.

I am spending more and more of my food dollars at Costco Wholesale, lured by high quality and low prices -- plus cash rebates that more than cover the annual membership fee.

Now, an article in in the January 2012 edition of Costco Connection -- called "a lifestyle magazine" for members -- explains the history and philosophy behind the warehouse store.

The writers say Costco's well-known strategies are "keeping markup to no more than 14 percent over cost (15 percent for Kirkland Signature products); providing a money-back guarantee on products and membership fees; focusing on a narrow selection of products in a wide range of categories; proceeding with steady, but cautious growth; and never selling seconds or other inferior good."

Costco also pays "above-average salaries" and offers health insurance to most employees.

The history of Costco Wholesale is traced to a new retail concept established by Fed-Mart in 1954 in San Diego, then to the Price Club, which opened its first store in 1976 in San Diego. Costco, which opened its first store in Seattle in 1983, merged with Price Club in 1993.

Today, Costco sells the highest quality food outside of Whole Food Markets and Trader Joe's, and its prices are often unbeatable.

We paid for rice

Rice is an integral part of every Korean meal, but when we used a Groupon at Gammeeok in Palisades Park on New Year's Eve, we were charged $3.74 for two small bowls of the starchy staple.

The Groupon was for pork-filled dumplings, a seafood pancake and beef barbecue -- two appetizers and an entree that normally cost $37.85. The Groupon was $18.

But if you ordered that same meal at any other Korean restaurant, you'd get free rice. I suppose the discount coupon we used at Gammeeok made a difference.

My wife and son shared those dishes, and they especially liked the hot, thick, crisp pancake with tender bits of squid and other seafood.

I ordered a stone-bowl bibimbap, and asked the kitchen to hold the ground beef and cook the raw egg that are usually placed over steamed rice and shredded vegetables ($13.95).

You also get a mildly spicy red paste called gochujang that you add before mixing everything up and eating it with a spoon. It's my favorite Korean comfort food.

Of course, we got four free side dishes: napa cabbage leaves, hot green peppers, shredded radish kimchi in vinegar and Gammeeok's wonderfully spicy cabbage and cubed radish kimchi, which are sweeter than most.

We had three small plates of cabbage and radish kimchi, and ordered a large container of the cabbage kimchi to go ($6.95). I brought a bottle of French sparkling wine to toast the new year during our meal.

Our meal for three cost $46.41, including the $18 I paid for the Groupon, a $9 tip and tax.

Gammeeok, 110 Broad Ave., Second Floor, Palisades Park;
201-945-6300. BYO. Non-metered parking on side streets.

Related articles

In hot sauces, look for the black label

2011-12-30T08:25:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia
Yellow-label Valentina is the milder of two versions of the Mexican hot sauce from Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss a hot sauce that won't hide the taste of food, extra-virgin olive oil from the Middle East and Costco produce that doesn't list a weight.

Valentina Salsa Picante has been made in Mexico for 50 years and I'm hoping this wonderful hot sauce will be around for another half-century.

We were almost out of Valentina when my wife picked up two 34-ounce bottles, which were $2.49 each as part of a "Manager's Special" at Hackensack Market on Passaic Street.

Four 12-ounce bottles of Valentina were $5, so the larger bottles were a better buy. Once opened, the hot sauce requires no refrigeration.

But my wife brought home the milder of two Valentinas, and I had to exchange the bottles for ones carrying a black label and marked "Extra Hot."

This is a thick, dark-red, spicy sauce that doesn't obliterate the taste of your food. And it's a much better deal than Tabasco, which was selling for $6.79 (12 ounces) and $3.49 (5 ounces) today at ShopRite in Englewood.

Valentina is made by Salsa Tamazula, and the ingredients list is short: water, chili peppers, vinegar, salt, spices and 0.1% sodium benzoate as a preservative.

I use Valentina on fried eggs, egg-white omelets and Jamaican ackee and saltfish, and the hot sauce can elevate an ordinary veggie burger into something you actually look forward to eating.

But even Valentina can't save Meal Mart Vegan Falafel Balls, one of the few food duds I've found at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack. They are fully cooked, but extremely dry after being warmed up in the oven.

Hackensack Market, 120 Passaic St., Hackensack; 201-996-9177

Oil from Jordan

I picked up a 3-liter bottle of Nablus-brand extra-virgin olive oil at Brothers Produce in Paterson with a label that didn't specify the country of origin, so I called the importer listed, Mediterranean Expo LLC (973-553-2640).

Brothers carries more than a dozen large tins or heavy glass bottles of extra-virgin olive oil, many from Lebanon and Syria. But I was told Nablus oil is 100% Jordanian.

The price was $14.99 or about $5 a liter.

Weighing in

Labels on Costco Wholesale's premium fruits and vegetables don't always list the weight, so you don't really know the price per pound.

Today, I bought six mixed sweet peppers -- yellow, red and orange -- for $6.79, and three large seedless cucumbers for $3.99. Neither package had a weight listed.

On the other hand, 5.5 pounds of large Gala apples from Washington State were $7.99, and 3 pounds of bananas were $1.39.

Changes in the Asian food scene

2011-12-28T14:18:00.000-05:00

Image by dougtone via Flickr
Visitors to Fort Lee will find Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Asian Indian restaurants. Mo' Pho, a Vietnamese noodle soup restaurant, closed.

Fort Lee has long been the place to go for the widest range of Asian food in North Jersey, and it continues to evolve.

Some of the changes have been in response to an influx of Korean-Americans in a community that many Japanese immigrants had called home for decades.

Now, the Korean supermarket chain Han Ah Reum has opened a small market in a neighborhood of high-rises and garden apartments, and dubbed it H Mart Fresh.

The market on 16th Street, across the street from the Fort Lee Community Center, replaced another Korean market, Good Nature Supermarket, and has been open about eight months.

Nippon Daido, a small Japanese market on the same block, is now a laundromat.

H Mart Fresh is an abbreviated version of the full-size H Mart supermarket a couple of miles away in Fort Lee's Linwood Plaza shopping center. One woman said she shopped at H Mart Fresh because she lives in the neighborhood.

On Tuesday, I picked up two prepared items at H Mart Fresh: a trio of sleek, 10-inch-long mackerel pike for $3.99 and a Korean pan-fried omelet stuffed with seaweed for $4.99. But I couldn't find any kimbap, those addictive seaweed, vegetable and rice rolls.

The small market had a beautiful, though limited, selection of fresh whole, wild-caught fish on a bed of ice, including red snapper and croaker, and I saw a solitary eel in a seafood tank.

A Korean restaurant, New Bang's Kitchen, is down the block, at 1355 16th St.

History of Hiura

In the 1980s, on the same block and possibly in the same space as New Bang's Kitchen, the Hiura family operated a BYO Japanese-Chinese restaurant that kept customers' sake bottles.

A fire in an adjacent business closed the restaurant, and sushi Chef Noboru Hiura eventually relocated to Main Street in Fort Lee, where the family now has a high-end Japanese sushi restaurant called Hiura.

Several blocks away on Main Street, a pizzeria replaced a Vietnamese restaurant, Mo' Pho, which specialized in steaming bowls of anise-flavored noodle soup.

Japanese pub closes

Meanwhile, in neighboring Cliffside Park, the opening of a new Japanese restaurant, Bushido, has been delayed. The address is 671 Palisade Ave.

Bushido is replacing an authentic Japanese pub, Izakaya Don, which replaced another Japanese pub in July 2004. The pubs served food and overflowing glasses of sake.

Bushido is the latest venture of Lebanese restaurateur Charles Hamade and Chef Yoshiharu Suzuki, who operated Wild Ginger, a BYO on Englewood's Palisade Avenue, for more than 16 years.

The high-end Japanese restaurant was renamed Wild Nigiri before it closed this year, replaced by Hamade's Papa Mole Mexican restaurant.

Hamade and Suzuki likely paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for Izakaya Don's liquor license.

H Mart Fresh, 1379 16th St., Fort Lee; 201-944-9009.
Parking on street or in difficult, sloping lot.

Failing a crash course in Italian food

2011-12-26T19:00:00.002-05:00

Image via Wikipedia
If you're looking for a quiet meal, Eataly isn't for you.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss a marketplace for Italian food called Eataly, our early dinner at Lupa in Manhattan and the apparent extinction of the 99-cents can of sardines.

I'm a dropout from Eataly -- a crash course in Italian food at Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street in Manhattan.

Chef Mario Batali and his partners stage a daily feeding frenzy in this sprawling, all-Italian marketplace, where customers are willing to eat standing up, at counters or at tables as scores of people rush past just inches away.

We spent less than 30 minutes there on Monday afternoon, but couldn't take the sensory overload or the noise. Think "mob scene" or "zoo" -- one hardly conducive to enjoying a meal.

Eataly has one proper restaurant that takes reservations, Manzo, Italian for "beef," and it has a full menu, including pasta and seafood. But it doesn't open until 5 p.m., we were told.

Fish, vegetables, a rotisserie, cold cuts and more are available elsewhere, at what looks like feeding stations, with seated and stand-up eating.

Searching for the rest rooms, I came upon one aisle lined with bags of flour, where two employees were slicing bread, and saw a flight of stairs, which led to an upstairs dining area for pizza and pasta.

In the market, a six-pack of Italian beer, Birra Moretti, was $9.80. Handmade butternut-squash ravioli were about $14 a pound. An autumn tasting menu in Manzo was more than $90. Wines by the glass are $7 to $19 each.

The Web site says Eataly has a fish market, but we didn't see it. Whole fish are served for $22 and $23, though the ones I saw in front of diners looked small.

The original Eataly opened in Turin, Italy, in 2007. Eataly New York opened in August 2010.

Eataly, 200 Fifth Ave., New York; 212-229-2560. Open every day.

Low prices, small portions

We still wanted to "Eat Italy," so we jumped into the car and drove downtown to another Batali venture, Lupa Osteria Romana.

Lupa has been a hit since it opened in 1999, and for peak dinner times, a reservation has to be made at least a month ahead, according to a re-review in The New York Times that awarded 1 star to the Roman-style trattoria last week.

Three of us arrived at Lupa around 4:15 Monday afternoon, and were told a table was available immediately, as long as we gave it up by precisely 5:35. We agreed, and were shown to a table in the intimate -- and drafty -- rear dining room.

Lupa employs a big staff, as we learned watching a procession of people going out a rear door and into a room where servers' uniforms hang in dry cleaner bags, and returning ready for work, but every time the ill-fitting door was opened, we got a gust of cold air.

Lupa is inexpensive by Manhattan standards, but portions are small. A nice touch is a glossary of Italian food terms on the back of the menu.

Service was good and the food was well-prepared, but the kitchen didn't seem able to keep up with orders, and our appetizers were agonizingly slow coming to the table.

We decided to share two antipasti -- a special of grilled sardine fillets ($14) and a Fall Vegetable Insalata ($12).

There were four wonderful sardine fillets served with blood orange and wilted greens, and the salad included fruit, greens and roasted fall vegetables, all served at room temperature.

We skipped a pasta course, because I'm watching my weight, but I did have small pieces of bread crust dipped in peppery olive oil.

For entrees, we chose wild-caught fluke with lentils and bitter greens ($19); the Market Fish, striped bass ($22); and a naturally raised half chicken that was roasted alla Diavola or Devil's Style ($19).

My two, thin fluke fillets were disappointingly small, and they were served over a bed of tiny lentils and wilted greens, with little else on the plate. I made quick work of them, then speared morsels from my wife's dinner.

Her delicious striped bass fillet was cut thickly and the skin had been crisped, but I think the waitress was mistaken describing it as wild, not farmed. I tried both a piece of the fish and fatty skin, as well as shaved fennel.

The best value was the moist half chicken, which was served with a crostini spread with chicken liver.

We drank tap water and didn't have wine or dessert, though a cheese plate served to a couple at the next table looked terrific. We spent $108.63, including a $15 tip.

Lupa Osteria Romana, 170 Thompson St., Manhattan; 212-982-5089.
Web site: Antipasti, primi, secondi

Canned sardine news

Those 99-cents little wonders -- Al Shark-brand sardines from Morocco -- disappeared from the shelves in Paterson markets for a while, but I found them again on Monday morning at Brothers Produce, 327 E. Railway Ave.

The price went up 1 cent, to $1.00. Skinless-and-boneless sardines are higher.

I bought 20 cans, half of sardines in tomato sauce and half with hot peppers.

I also was looking for yogurt drink, but Brothers only had half-gallons from Merve Ayran at $4.79 each.

At Fattal's Bakery, 975-977 Main St., the half-gallons were $4.49 and the gallon container I bought was $7.79.

I also picked by the wonderful store-made spinach-and-cheese pies at six for $8.99.

A modest Feast of the Three Fishes

2011-12-25T11:38:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia
Jamaican ackee and saltfish served with cole slaw.

Surrounded by meat and meat eaters, I wan't able to assemble an Italian-American Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve, but managed a more modest three seafood dishes at two meals.

For breakfast on Saturday, my wife prepared ackee and saltfish, a Jamaican dish that combines a soft, bland fruit with meaty codfish and sweet and hot peppers, and a side of boiled green bananas.

Our Christmas Eve meal included six entrees, half of them brought by our guests; organic brown rice cooked with red beans and coconut milk (called rice and peas); two big bowls of salad, based on romaine lettuce and fresh spinach; steamed French green beans, and potato salad.

I'm not eating meat and I'm cutting down on carbs, so I concentrated on large Tiger shrimp, which I marinated in fresh lemon juice and seasonings for a couple of hours before cooking them quickly on the stove; fresh croaker, salad and green beans, eating only a couple of tablespoons of rice and potatoes.

The others had curry goat, chicken in barbecue sauce, jerk pork and a spiral-cut ham in a brown-sugar glaze.

My wife went to H Mart in Little Ferry, then H Mart in Englewood on Saturday before she could find enough whole fresh fish -- a half-dozen small croakers -- but the fishmonger misunderstood her instructions on how she wanted them cleaned, and cut off their heads.

At home, my mother-in-law fried the fish whole, arranged them on a large platter and covered them in onion, green pepper, whole black peppercorns and hot pepper prepared in vinegar.

This preparation is called "escoveitch fish."

We drank sweetened sorrel with ginger and rum, and sparkling apple cider.

After dinner, I only had room for almonds, chestnuts and dried dates, though our guests had black rum cake with tea or coffee or took some home.

Laying in food for the holiday

2011-12-22T13:14:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia
At Costco Wholesale, you can find the same Parmigiano Reggiano displayed at this festival in Modena, Italy. The cheese has been made since before the Renaissance.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss last-minute food shopping at Costco Wholesale, fresh fish at Whole Foods Market and Australian beef at ShopRite.

I was in and out of Costco Wholesale in about 20 minutes this morning, buying ingredients for a big salad we plan to serve to guests on Saturday.

I picked up a naturally raised, fully cooked Niman Ranch ham and large Tiger shrimp on previous visits to the Hackensack warehouse store, so I only had to nibble around the edges of our holiday menu.

I bought a second package of Andy Boy jumbo romaine hearts (six for $3.99), because that wonderful Earthbound Farms Organic Spring Mix sold at Costco doesn't always stand up well until its expiration date.

I also found pesticide-free Euro Farm Fresh seedless cucumbers (three for $3.99), and in view of tomato prices going through the roof, I picked up another 5 pounds of Sunset beefsteak tomatoes for $6.99 or about $1.20 a pound.

The romaine, tomatoes and cucumbers are going into the salad, along with fresh spinach, organic carrot, sweet peppers and other ingredients I have on hand.

We're having a Jamaican-American meal on Christmas Eve this year, in contrast to last year's Cuban-style dinner of roast pork, rice cooked with black beans, and yuca with garlic sauce we picked up at La Pola in West New York.

On Friday, we're planning to visit La Pola, at Palisade Avenue and 54th Street, to bring holiday greetings to owner Belarmino Rico, who named his Cuban sandwich shop after the small Spanish town where he was born.

On Saturday, our guests will be bringing curry goat, rice and peas, roast chicken and Jamaican potato salad to supplement the ham, shrimp, fish stuffed with okra and salad we plan to serve.

We've prepared a Jamaican drink from a herb called sorrel, with ginger and rum; and there are four bottles of non-alcoholic sparkling apple cider in the wine cooler.

For dessert, we'll serve fruit and cheese, including Kirkland Signature Parmigiano Reggiano from Italy I picked up at Costco ($12.69 a pound). The part-skimmed cow's milk cheese, aged for 24 months, has been made in Italy since before the Renaissance, according to the package.

When I got home, I cut off the thick rind, then cut the wedge into three portions, wrapping them tightly.

I also bought organic carrot juice, organic 1% milk, Tropicana orange juice in 64-ounce cartons, crab and corn chowder, 3 pounds of raw almonds, reduced-fat sliced Swiss cheese and fresh Pacific cod fillet.

Go fish in Paramus

You'll find some of the freshest fish around displayed on ice at Whole Food Market in Paramus, and when the store puts seafood on sale, prices are competitive.

On Tuesday, I saw fillets of wild-caught sockeye salmon from Canada on sale for $9.99 a pound -- not much higher than Costco's frozen sockeye salmon fillets from Alaska. The Canadian fillets had been previously frozen.

I also saw whole sea bass landed at Barnegat Light (on the Jersey Shore), which is 63 miles from the store, according to a sign. The price was $9.99 a pound.

Grass-fed beef price cut

Through Saturday, ShopRite supermarkets have dropped the price of free-range, grass-fed Nature's Reserve Boneless Rib Eye Roast from Australia by $2, to $4.99 a pound with a store card. There is a limit of one.

Fruit flies invite themselves to dinner

2011-12-19T13:36:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia
My favorite cereal from Bob's Red Mill in Oregon is made with 10 grains.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss dinner at a Brazilian restaurant in Newark's Ironbound section; a documentary that questions our over-reliance on animal protein, and a hot cereal that is far better than oatmeal.

The first thing we noticed late Sunday afternoon at the Casa Nova Grill in Newark was how crowded it was on a day when the temperature hovered around freezing.

But we only had to wait inside the door for about 5 minutes before we were shown to a table in one of the first-floor dining rooms of this Brazilian restaurant in the Ironbound section.

The second thing we noticed were two or three of those tiny fruit flies over our table, the ones that seem impossible to kill -- and I tried. They stayed for dinner.

When we asked our waiter, Oswaldo, about the flies, he said the management was aware of them and that after closing the night before, the restaurant was fumigated. A second fumigation was scheduled for that night.

Our last visit to Casa Nova was on an overcast April day, when few of the cherry trees in Branch Brook Park had blossomed. We ordered too much and our bill for three soared over $100.

On Sunday, after a concert at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, my wife and I ordered two entrees to share, which came with a visit to the salad bar.

Our main dishes were Giant Tiger Shrimp from Mozambique ($20.95) and Cod Fish, Portuguese style ($15.95). My wife drank fruit juice ($4) and I had a generous glass of California merlot ($5).

Brazilians love meat, as we saw from waiters walking around the dining room with skewers of skirt steak, sausage and other items, and stopping at tables to serve customers who had ordered unlimited barbecue.

But they also love carbohydrates and starch: We found a platter of tasty potato sticks on the salad bar, and we got two small servings of delicious cheese bread, a couple of Portuguese rolls, sliced bread and freshly made potato chips with the shrimp, and boiled potato and a side dish of white rice with the cod stew.

The two head-on shrimp are the biggest I've seen served in a restaurant, and they came in the shell with a dipping sauce of garlicky oil.

Skin-on salted cod fillets were served in a milky broth with a boiled egg, boiled potato and whole garlic cloves, which melted in the mouth, and they were covered with shredded collard green.

The selection on the salad bar didn't seem as varied as on our first visit, but we did find beets, crunchy steamed broccoli, small tomatoes with cheese and those potato sticks.

The restaurant also serves salted cod or bacalhau, Brazilian style, with marinara sauce; and a Brazilian fish stew with coconut milk, as well as whole red snapper, each at around $16.

Casa Nova Grill, 264 Ferry St., Newark; 973-817-7272.

'Forks Over Knives'

"Forks Over Knives," a new documentary I got from Netflix, argues animal proteins -- from meat, dairy and eggs -- are slowing killing us.

The doctors and scientists who appear in the film claim they can reverse and cure heart disease, cancer and other major health problems with a whole-food, plant-based diet.

Several people are shown throwing away their medications, and turning to such a diet, as well as to exercise. All lose weight and improve their health tremendously.

Bob's Red Mill Cereal

After my exercise session at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center this morning, I stopped at the ShopRite for more of Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Hot Cereal.

A 25-ounce package of the whole-grain cereal cost $2.79.

Preparation takes about 15 minutes on the stove top. I usually add dried blueberries, and cut-up dried apricots, plums and dates to it, as well as slivered almonds or pine nuts, and blue agave syrup as a sweetener.

The cereal comes from Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods Inc., an employee-owned company in Oregon. Here's a link to its Web site:

Bob says, "To Your Good Health"

I also picked up 5 pounds of clementines from California for $4.99 with a store card, and a half-gallon of ShopRite 2% Lactose-Free Milk for $3.29, 20 cents less than usual.

Petite Soo Chow closed for third time

2011-12-16T14:34:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia
Shanghai-style soup dumplings.

Editor's note: Today, I report on health inspectors closing a popular Chinese restaurant for the third time in less than three years, a sale on grass-fed beef from Australia and Costco Wholesale produce prices.

Cliffside Park has closed a Chinese restaurant called Petite Soo Chow for the third time, citing "insect infestation."

The restaurant, known for its soup dumplings, apparently continues to struggle with keeping its kitchen clean.

No details were available from the Cliffside Park Health Department, where my call was answered by a recorded message this afternoon.

We ate there in 2007 and 2008, but stopped going after we saw the lone male waiter picking his nose in the dining room one too many times.

The first closure occurred in May 2009 and the second was in August of this year. No restaurant -- including Petite Soo Chow -- deserves customer loyalty after being closed three times by sanitary inspectors.

Grass-fed roast on sale

ShopRite supermarkets are selling Nature's Reserve Boneless Rib Eye Roast from Australia for $4.99 a pound with a PricePlus card (limit one).

The sale on this free-range, grass-fed beef starts Saturday and runs through Dec. 24.

This morning, I picked up 6-ounce cups of ShopRite Fruit on the Bottom low-fat yogurt for 45 cents each. They are made with sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup.

Costco produce

At Costco Wholesale in Hackensack today, my wife purchased six Andy Boy jumbo romaine hearts from California for $3.99 or about 66 cents each. I couldn't find the weight on the package.

Two pounds of French green beans were $4.99, and 1 pound of organic spinach was $4.29.

A 5-pound bag of organic mixed vegetables cost $6.49.

A tale of two filet mignons

2011-12-15T14:13:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia
Beef tenderloin.

Editor's note: Today, I compare free-range, grass-fed Australian beef to domestic beef; describe another visit to Costco Wholesale, and recommend a meatless rice-and-beans breakfast.

At the Englewood ShopRite on Wednesday, I picked up a Nature's Reserve whole trimmed beef tenderloin for filet mignon from free-range, grass-fed cattle raised in Australia.

The price was $8.99 a pound or $6.99 a pound with my store card, and my tenderloin weighs 4.32 pounds.

On a shelf in the same refrigerated case, I saw a USDA Select trimmed whole beef tenderloin from cattle raised conventionally for $11.99 a pound. It was being sold under the Excel name, a brand from a conglomerate called Cargill.

I plan to slice my tenderloin thinly and put it into freezer bags with Korean barbecue marinade. The beef will cook quickly on a stove-top grill for wrapping in red-leaf lettuce leaves with rice, kimchi and sliced garlic.

It's a fun family meal, though I won't be taking part. I'll likely prepare shrimp to wrap in lettuce and eat Korean-style.

Holiday frenzy

Costco Wholesale in Hackensack opened at 10 this morning, but the parking lot was already filling up fast. Inside, it was calmer and there was no waiting at checkout.

I picked up two packages of Vita Pure Coconut Water from Brazil -- 12 containers of 11.1 ounces each -- for $15.79.

I have been buying coconut water from Amazon.com, where a 12-pack costs $17.60. Buying it at Costco eliminates the packaging and energy used to ship it to me.

The fish case held fresh fillets of wild-caught haddock, flounder and Pacific cod, each for $7.99 a pound. I bought the wonderful cod, a meaty fish that breaks apart into big flakes when cooked.

I also found a 17.6-ounce package of Galil-brand organic shelled chestnuts for $3.89, a product of China. Preservative-free pitted dates from California were $5.75 for 2.5 pounds.

Meatless breakfast

Today's rib-sticking breakfast relied on leftover organic brown rice with lentils, and black beans with diced tomato and mussels -- all topped by two eggs prepared sunny side up.

There's nothing like breaking the yolks over the rice and beans, and eating them together.

Wild salmon still swimming our way

2011-12-12T16:03:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia
An amazing sockeye salmon.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss the continued availability of wild Alaskan sockeye salmon at Costco Wholesale; brown rice that requires no soaking, and visits to H Mart and ShopRite.

The taste of fresh wild-caught salmon from Costco Wholesale is just a memory, but you can still find frozen fillets and smoked sockeye salmon from Alaska at the warehouse store.

After checking out on Monday at the Hackensack store, I asked one of the managers about a comment I received from another customer, saying Kirkland Signature's preservative-free Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon had been discontinued as of Dec. 1.

I had found a couple dozen packages on the shelf, and the manager punched in the code from the one I purchased ($15.39 for 1 pound).

He said his computer still listed it as an "active" item, not as discontinued, and that he had 600 1-pound packages in the store.

The previously frozen smoked salmon is sliced, so it's easy to use over a salad or rolled up with a slice of cheese, if you're avoiding bread to lose weight, as I am. I also put pieces of the salmon in cheese omelets.

I also picked up a 3-pound bag of Kirkland Signature frozen Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon fillets for $28.99 or about $9.65 a pound. That's more than the fresh sold for this year, and it's a dollar a pound or so more than the frozen fillets cost last year.

I've tried cooking these fillets a couple of ways, but get best results when I put them on a clear-glass plate, add lemon juice, a little soy sauce, white wine or sake, and put the plate inside a covered, 12-inch steamer I found at H Mart, the Korean supermarket.

Whether I make them rare for me or cooked through for the rest of the family, the fillets stay moist, and the sauce is great over white or brown rice.

Talking about brown rice, the Della-brand organic long-grain brown rice I found at Costco last week requires no soaking, a real time saver.

We've made this delicious brown rice twice in our electric cooker, and it was ready and perfectly al dente in about 30 minutes.

The key is the recommended use of two and a half cups of water for each cup of rice, more water than other brown rices call for and more water than the rice cooker calls for. For a softer rice, the package says to use even more water per cup of rice.

Food-o-rama

Monday was a busy food-shopping day for me and my wife as we prepare for the holidays. Separately, we visited five food stores.

After an hour in the cardiac-rehab gym at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, I stopped at the Englewood ShopRite with a Lipitor $4 Co-Pay card.

While there, I picked up 4 pounds of naval oranges for $2.49 with a store card.

I went to the H Mart in Little Ferry later for prepared stewed tofu and stewed pollock, but found none on the refrigerated shelf.

To avoid a total loss, I bought a large jar of beef barbecue marinade for $3.99 or $1.50 off -- to use with the Australian grass-fed beef that's on sale at ShopRite this week.

H Mart gave me 10 cents back for my re-usable bag.

At Costco, besides the frozen and smoked salmon, I bought 5 pounds of tangerines from Florida for $3.99 and 5 pounds of lemons from Chile for $6.99. Three pounds of bananas were $1.39 and 5 pounds of crisp Jona Gold apples were $5.99.

My wife stopped at the Englewood ShopRite, Hackensack Market and Happy Fruit Market, a Korean grocer in Teaneck.

Related posts

Thai favorite needs a makeover

2011-12-11T09:14:00.001-05:00

Image by scaredy_kat via Flickr
Spicy Panang curry is typical of Wondee's fare, though this dish was photographed elsewhere.

Editor's note: Today, I report on Wondee's, my favorite Thai restaurant; the inspirational story of a young food blogger who was born without a functioning digestive system; and continued confusion over whether growth hormones are used to raise grass-fed Australian beef.

Wondee's Fine Thai Food and Noodles in Hackensack is one of our fallback restaurants -- the place we go when the four of us can't decide where to eat or don't want to risk disappointment at a new venture.

The food served at our last few meals there has been as good as ever -- crunchy, green-papaya salad; Thai fried rice, and whole, fried fish or jumbo shrimp in a sweet chili sauce -- and prices are reasonable, even after a recent increase.

But when I looked around at the plain decor and worn carpeting, I was let down, even though I'm one of those people who feel you can't eat the wallpaper, so what difference does it make what the place looks like?

I thought, Here's a great, reasonably priced restaurant that is in need of a makeover to showcase the talents of the chef-owner, Wandee Suwangbutra, who was hired to open several Thai restaurants in Manhattan before venturing out on her own.

On Saturday, we used the rear parking lot, across Camden Street from the public library, and sent our 14-year-old son in to get a table, while I parked.

We usually sit near the big plate-glass window on Main Street, but found our son at a table next to the kitchen doors, opposite a serving station. The back of my seat was near an uneven, sloping part of the floor covered in worn carpeting.

When you use the rear entrance, you have to step up, something I don't always remember. To get to the small, plain restrooms, you have to step down. The walls are painted or covered in mirrors, with just the bare minimum of Thai-themed decoration.

It was between 5:30 and 6. We could hear a noisy group in a section of the L-shaped dining room we couldn't see, and tables were arranged for a party of eight, or so it seemed.

The only place for my car coat was the back of my chair and it dragged on the floor. My wife put my wool baseball cap in her lap after it fell to the floor twice.

In view of my son's insistence on ordering won ton soup with pork and complaining that I order whole fish "all the time," we shared salads and a jumbo-shrimp entree, but I could eat only a little of the fried rice with vegetables, avoiding the pork, because I'm not eating meat.

I felt uncomfortable in my seat, but got through the meal and didn't kill myself on the uneven floor surfaces getting up to use the bathroom.

I brought one bottle of beer to the BYO. Service was good, as usual, but for the first time, we had to send back our entree, because the big shrimp were under-cooked.

Wandee herself came out of the kitchen, mopped up a puddle of sauce on the table and placed the replacement dish in front of us, explaining some customers ask for their shrimp just barely cooked.

Not far away on Main Street is Bangkok Garden, a relatively expensive Thai place with a liquor license. I recall from a visit more than five years ago that it is nicely decorated.

Whole fish at Wondee's is $18; at Bangkok Garden, it is listed at $24.95 on the online menu.

Wondee's could do with a renovation.

It's no kitchen nightmare, but wouldn't it be nice if Chef Gordon Ramsay stumbled in, embraced the warm and welcoming Suwangbutra family, and gave it a free makeover?

Wondee's, 296 Main St., Hackensack; 201-883-1700.

Kitchen artist

Her parents named her Matisse, but she was born without a functioning digestive system, according to today's Parade magazine.

Then, in December 2010, the Reid family moved to the United States from New Zealand so Matisse could receive a new small and large intestine. Her first meal? Squid.

Now, the 10-year-old seafood lover is writing a cooking blog, Matisse's Kitchen, which I have added to my Blog List at the right.

Beef confusion

I relied on information from Meat and Livestock Australia Ltd. (MLA) in writing a recent post about Nature's Reserve grass-fed beef, which is sold at ShopRite.

After I published the post, O say can you taste the grass?, I was contacted and told MLA had given me the wrong information: growth hormones are used in raising the cattle in Australia.

Last week, I received an e-mail from MLA, saying the Nature's Reserve Web site has been re-launched. I took a look and it says, "Raised without added hormones."

Well, at least Nature's Reserve beef is 100% grass fed from start to finish, and doesn't contain antibiotics or animal by-products -- kitchen scraps and bits of dead animals fed to cattle raised on feed lots in the U.S.

ShopRite is having a sale through Dec. 17 on Nature's Reserve Whole Beef Tenderloin for Filet Mignon at $8.99 a pound or $6.99 a pound with a store card.

Here is a link to the Nature's Reserve Web site:

Nature's Reserve Beef from Australia