You'll have to decide if a new Whole Foods in Closter is worth the detour

A meatless Korean BBQ Veggie Bowl ($8 or $12 with a wedge of tofu) is among the prepared-food options at the new Whole Foods Market in Closter, a wealthy Bergen County community about 10 miles northeast of Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A visit to the new Whole Foods Market in Closter immediately makes clear why shoppers are willing to pay more for groceries and prepared food.

The supermarket in the Closter Plaza shopping center offers the best from local farms and fisheries, but nothing from the factory farms that raise mystery meat and poultry, putting profits above the welfare of both animals and humans.

Products that line the shelves are organic or grown naturally without genetically modified seeds and pesticides.

Whole Foods also is the only supermarket chain in northern New Jersey to give you a credit (10 cents) for using a reusable bag.

I've been shopping at the bigger Whole Foods Market in Paramus since it opened in 2009, but visit a Korean-owned barber shop, manicurist or restaurants in Closter about once a month.

After a haircut on Tuesday, I met a friend for lunch at the new Whole Foods, had a cup of coffee and looked around.

It's different enough from the Paramus store that I'll probably drop in whenever I'm in town.

See: No one has to spend a whole paycheck

The organic supermarket, which opened last week, isn't as big as the Whole Foods in Paramus, a couple of miles from my home, and doesn't sell wine or have a sushi stand. But the new market has a few exclusive features, including a sheltered outdoor seating area for customers with a big ceiling fan and a fire pit, below.

Once you leave the store, there is no re-entry, above and below.

The exit gate is next to the fire pit.

More outdoor seating and near the entrance, firewood for sale.

The seafood counter is about half the size of the one in Paramus, but Whole Foods assures customers that even the farmed seafood it sells is raised without antibiotics and preservatives.

The whole wild-caught Porgies nestled in ice, right, are a great deal at $4.99 a pound.

Wild and farmed oysters were $1.75 each.

Dry-aged beef is raised naturally without antibiotics and growth hormones, as is all the poultry and meat sold at Whole Foods.

In Paramus, you get a break if you buy two antibiotic-free rotisserie chickens, but I didn't see any such deal in Closter.

I counted three islands of help-yourself hot or cold prepared food at $8.99 a pound. You could easily spend $20 to fill the box in the foreground.

Food stands offer wood-fired pizza from a special oven, made-to-order sandwiches and Veggie Bowls (misspelled "Vegie" on signs), which are available with extra-cost protein, including salmon and chicken. My spicy lunch bowl included Korean BBQ cauliflower, kimchi and carrots, plus sriracha sunflower seeds, cilantro and Korean BBQ aioli over kelp noodles and kale, all topped with a wedge of tofu.

A slice of pizza with Brussle sprouts and Bacon was $3.50. A Classic Deli sandwich with natural, preservative-free pastrami and corned beef on marble rye, served with a Guss' pickle, set my friend back $10.

The Closter store offers freshly milled Tahini ($12 a jar), and Halva, a Middle Eastern confection usually made with sesame flour and honey. I tried a sample of the Rose Oil Halva, which was delicious and not too sweet.

Whole Foods' 365 Everyday Value line includes a variety of Mexican-style salsas -- all of which are non-GMO and free of added sugar -- including Roasted Verde (16 ounces for $2.69). That night, I used most of a bottle I had at home to poach Icelandic cod fillets from Costco Wholesale in Teterboro ($7.99 a pound), below.

The 365 Everyday Value line includes non-GMO Garbanzo Beans, Black-Eyed Peas and others for 79 cents a can, and Organic Whole Wheat Pasta imported from Italy for $1.49 a pound.

You pay for sandwiches and other prepared food at the checkout counter amid inspirational signs that remind you why you shop there, such as, "We sell the highest quality natural and organic products available."

Tables and chairs for eating your food purchases have stations for utensils and napkins at either end, but none in the middle. A couple of couches also are available near the restrooms, and I saw a woman relaxing on one as she appeared to be nursing a baby, though the child was covered by a cloth.

Details

Whole Foods Market, 33 Vervalen St., Closter (in Closter Plaza shopping center); 1-201-367-9099. Open 7 days from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Website: Healthy Food

You can salsa with wild shrimp at Whole Foods Market, Rosa Mexicano

Wild-caught shrimp from Whole Foods Market in Paramus cook in minutes in Whole Foods' 365 Everyday Value Thick & Chunky Salsa, below.

Editor's note: Amid a flood of low-quality farmed shrimp from Vietnam and other countries, two reliable sources for wild-caught shrimp are Whole Foods Market in Paramus and Rosa Mexicano, a fine-dining restaurant in Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

When you feel like treating yourself to jumbo wild shrimp for Sunday dinner, they may not always be on sale.

We buy wild-caught Gulf Shrimp (16 to 20 per pound) from Whole Foods Market in Paramus, only a few miles from our home.

When on sale, they usually are $14.99, but on Sunday, I had to pay full price, $19.99 a pound.

They were worth it, though. For one thing, the fish counter workers will devein the shrimp for you.

About 1.5 pounds of shelled and deveined shrimp -- turned once -- cooked in minutes in Whole Foods' Thick & Chunky Salsa ($2.69 for a 16-ounce jar).

There were enough crunchy shrimp to feed three with leftovers (for about $10 a person). 

The medium-spicy salsa also served as a sauce for our side dish, yellow rice prepared with organic mixed vegetables.

Behind the biggest fresh seafood counter in North Jersey, a Whole Foods employee deveined my wild-caught shrimp.

Another worker said she adds fresh ice to the display every 30 minutes to replace melted ice. Whole Foods Market is in Bergen Town Center off of Forest Avenue in Paramus (201-226-1244).

At Rosa Mexicano in Hackensack, Veracruz-style Alambre de Camarones are grilled wild jumbo shrimp, marinated in garlic vinaigrette, with grilled onions and serrano chiles served with achiote rice and salsa verde picante ($22).

Wild shrimp at Rosa Mexicano

I immediately said yes when a friend invited me to lunch at Rosa Mexicano, the Hackensack restaurant where authentic dishes are made from scratch.

The kitchen turns out its own salsas and mole sauces, and wonderful, thick corn tortillas are made in one of the nicest dining rooms in Bergen County, decorated with Mexican pottery, textiles, sconces and other items.

The first Rosa Mexicano opened in Manhattan in 1984, and today, the menu in Hackensack offers a $23 lunch to celebrate the restaurant's 30-plus years at that location.

The fixed-price lunch includes sharing one of three starters, including Rosa Mexicano's signature guacamole, prepared at your table; a choice of any entree (normally $16 to $23), and a shared dessert, Churros or a cake called Tres Leches.

Neither of us had room for dessert.

Warm corn tortillas are perfect for wrapping guacamole, refried beans and other food. Extras are available for the asking.

Guacamole en Molcajete (avocado, jalapeno, tomato, onion and cilantro) is served with warm tortilla chips and salsa ($14.50).

I had the Alambre de Camarones, and my friend ordered Chicken Enchiladas smothered in a rich Mole Poblano ($17).

Side dishes included achiote rice, above, and refried black beans, below.

Rosa Mexicano is in the Shops at Riverside, 390 Hackensack Ave., Hackensack (201-489-0151).

Fresh herbs from the garden are easiest way to give your meals a lift

Every spring, fresh mint plants fill a box on the deck of my home in northern New Jersey, giving a lift to meals and allowing me to prepare mojitos with Cuban rum. We also grow a little rosemary, oregano and basil.

Chopped fresh mint, basil, oregano and rosemary accent flounder fillets poached in green salsa. I served the fish and spooned the salsa over leftover organic brown rice with organic black beans and organic diced tomatoes.

The flounder was $7.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale, and the thin fillets took less than 5 minutes to cook in a covered pan. The 365 Everyday Value Roasted Salsa Verde (16 ounces) was from Whole Foods Market. I added fresh lime juice.

Chopped fresh herbs are the finishing touch for a simple egg-white omelet stuffed with Kirkland Signature Organic Salsa from Costco and grated cheese.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

Exploring organic food: Pasta and eggs, wild-caught fish and quinoa

Accents of pesto take this breakfast of organic eggs and organic pasta over the top.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Poaching fish fillets or eggs in a covered pan allows you to serve breakfast or dinner in minutes.

For one thing, bottled pasta sauce or Mexican-style salsa serve as both a cooking medium and a dressing for your side dish of organic whole-wheat pasta, quinoa or brown rice.

If you make several servings of the side dish ahead, as I often do, that saves you even more time. 

At dinner, a salad of pre-washed greens, such as Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, and a glass of wine completes your meal.

Pesto eggs and pasta

I started with about 6 ounces of leftover bottled vodka sauce, one made without heavy cream; emptied it into a pan, added a little olive oil and covered it to heat it up.

When it was simmering, I cracked two organic eggs into the pan, turned the heat to medium and put on the cover again (a glass cover works best).

Meanwhile, I added 1 cup of 365 Everyday Value Organic Whole Wheat Fusilli from Whole Foods Market to a small pot of boiling water ($1.49 for 1-pound box).

The eggs were ready before the pasta, which took 8 minutes for al dente. (Ignore longer cooking times listed on the box.)

I removed the eggs to a plate, added Aleppo red pepper, drained the pasta, mixed it with the sauce in the pan and plated it next to the eggs.

I added a little refrigerated Basil Pesto from Costco Wholesale, which is also where the brown eggs came from.

What a great breakfast, especially eating the broken yolk over the pasta spirals.

Wild-caught haddock from Iceland, which poaches in minutes in Mexican-style salsa, is paired with an organic red quinoa and kale blend with citrus and black pepper, above and below.

Haddock, quinoa and kale

At Costco Wholesale in Teterboro, fresh, wild-caught fish fillets -- haddock, flounder and cod -- are inexpensive, and easy to cook in bottled Mexican-style salsas from Whole Foods Market.

I started with a 16-ounce jar of 365 Everyday Value Roasted Chipotle Salsa from Whole Foods ($2.69), emptying about two-thirds of it into a pan and adding the juice of a big, plump Meyer Lemon from Costco ($5.99 for a 4-pound bag).

I heated the sauce up under a cover; and cut up and seasoned the thin haddock fillets with a little sea salt ($8.99 a pound).

Meanwhile, in a non-stick pan with cooking spray, I heated up a frozen 10-ounce bag of Organic Quinoa & Kale Blend from Costco I found in the freezer (cooking time is 6 minutes).

When the sauce was simmering, I added the fish, and put the cover back on, setting the heat to medium high.

The fish was translucent in 5 minutes, but you can cook it longer, say 7 minutes.

365 Everyday Value Organic Whole Wheat Fusilli in Organic Italian Herb Pasta Sauce, both from Whole Foods Market, with chopped organic kale and organic arugula.

Fusilli with kale and arugula 

I liked the fusilli with sunny side up eggs so much I decided to cook the rest of the 1-pound box with a 25-ounce jar of 365 Every Day Value Organic Italian Herb Pasta Sauce ($2.99) I bought in January at Whole Foods in Paramus.

I also had 5-ounce packages of Earthbound Farm Organic Arugula and Organic Kale (99 cents each at the International Food Warehouse in Lodi) that had a use-by date of Thursday, when I made the rest of the pasta spirals.

To the herb sauce, I added a drained can of Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes, extra-virgin olive oil and seasonings, including some red-pepper flakes.

After draining the pasta and adding it to the sauce, I placed the chopped greens on top, and folded all of it together with a large cooking spoon.

This morning, I reheated some of the fusilli to enjoy with a freshly made egg-white omelet and sauteed spinach.

Almost everything I used for the three dishes was organic and contained no genetically modified ingredients (GMOs).

Chasing Whole Foods' 99 cents turkey drumsticks

The homely monkfish on a well-iced display at Whole Foods Market in Paramus. The huge mouth is perfect for hunting in deep waters. The store pledges that all the seafood it sells is free of antibiotics and preservatives, and that fresh fish is delivered six days a week.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss a Black Friday food sale I always shop, whole wheat pastas and a spicier stew at my favorite Korean tofu house.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

I had to make two trips to Whole Foods Market in Paramus before I found a parking space in a lot that was packed with Black Friday shoppers besieging other mall stores.

On the second trip, after 7 on Friday evening, I found several empty spaces not far from the entrance, and only a handful of shoppers inside the organic supermarket.

I picked up two packages of naturally raised turkey drumsticks for 99 cents a pound, and another two packages of turkey backs and necks for $1.99 a pound.

I couldn't find any 16-ounce boxes of organic whole wheat pasta shells sold under the store's 365 Everyday Value label for $1.39.

So, I bought two 16-ounce packages or 365 Everyday Value Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti.

Whole Foods sells organic whole wheat pasta made in Italy -- linguine, spaghetti, shells and other shapes -- for $1.39 a pound, but Italian brands of organic whole wheat pasta on the same shelf go for more than $5 or $6 a pound.

A new ingredient in So Gong Dong's "more spicy" soft-tofu stew are chopped, hot green peppers, above. The broth is hot enough to soft boil a fresh egg that comes with the meal. Excellent cabbage kimchi is one of four free side dishes, below. We also ordered a seafood pancake.

Turning up the heat

I found a new ingredient in the Oyster Soft Tofu I ordered on Saturday evening at So Gong Dong in Palisades Park, our favorite Korean tofu house in North Jersey.

I asked for my soft-tofu stew "more spicy," as usual, and when it came to the table, I noticed chopped green chilies sprinkled on top.

They added a new level of heat to the stew I hadn't encountered before at the second-floor soft tofu parlor, which also serves an array of other traditional Korean dishes, including barbecue and bibimbap.

Soft tofu is comforting and a bargain, and it's not uncommon to see three generations happily enjoying the meal, including infants that have to be fed by their parents.

For $9.99, a complete soft-tofu meal includes the stew, a second stone bowl of steamed white rice and four side dishes, including bean sprouts, two kimchis and a fiery preparation of raw squid.

We asked for and received a second set of side dishes, and a third portion of the wonderful cucumber kimchi.

As a comfort food, soft tofu is especially good in the chilly months of winter. It's also available "no spicy," "little spicy" and "medium spicy." 

I love poaching the fresh egg that is provided, breaking the soft yoke over the rice and eating them together.

We also ordered pajun, a seafood-and-scallion pancake that serves four ($11.99).

On the bill, prices are rounded up a penny and include tax ($10 and $12).


So Gong Dong, 118 Broad Ave., Second Floor, Palisades Park; 201-313-5550. Open 7 days. BYO. Free parking on side streets.

Two organic brown eggs sprinkled with shredded Parmigiano Reggiano cheese from Costco Wholesale and served with Thanksgiving leftovers.

Honesty is always on sale at Whole Foods

Whole Foods Market names the New Jersey fishing port, the day boat and the captain who landed these sea scallops. "Dry" means no preservatives were added.

As someone who prefers fish over fowl, I always look over the seafood counter when I visit Whole Foods Market in Paramus.

Whole Foods doesn't sell live lobster, but remains tops when it comes to fresh seafood -- delivered seven days a week, much of it from its own processing facility.

This past Thursday, I got a kick out of the sign with local day-boat sea scallops -- naming the port, boat and even the captain.

These were big, U-10 scallops -- about 10 to the pound -- and were priced at $24.99 a pound. 

If you eat pork, what more do you need to know?

Opposite the butcher counter, the store advertised its naturally raised bacon with a sign painted on the floor in front of a refrigerated case.

This is the kind of honesty we should find at every food store and restaurant, but sadly Whole Foods is nearly alone in telling consumers where produce, meat and seafood come from and how they were raised, grown or caught.

We have to rely on the store or restaurant for this kind of information, because outside of Consumer  Reports magazine, few newspapers or other publications bother to report on the origin of the food we buy.

The so-called consumer columnist at my local daily newspaper doesn't even acknowledge the existence of organic food.

Pistachio-coated Sea Scallops at Palm Restaurant in Manhattan.

On Thursday, Whole Foods had organic California red grapes on sale for $2.29 a pound -- a discount of more than 30%. I bought 2.65 pounds.

I also picked up naturally raised beef liver for my wife, son and mother-in-law from the butcher counter's frozen meat case, priced at $3.99 a pound.

My daily grind

My first stop on Thursday was Fairway Market, also in Paramus, to replenish my stock of freshly ground coffee.

The Brazil Dark Roast was the only one on sale, for $6.99 a pound, so I asked for 2 pounds Turkish 
grind.

The selection of freshly roasted beans at Fairway Market in Paramus.

I also took advantage of a sale on those wonderful Campari hothouse tomatoes -- three 1-pound packages for $5 (not $3, as I wrote originally).

I love extra-virgin olive oil, but won't pay the $17 or $18 a liter for some of the better ones at Fairway.

Luckily, the store allows shoppers to sample the oils by soaking small pieces of baguette in them.

My guilty pleasure was taking four heels -- the ends of the bread -- and soaking them in expensive bright-  and dark-green olive oils. Delish.

Trader Joe's Organic Whole Wheat Pasta for breakfast.

Whole-wheat pasta

I've been eating whole-wheat pasta for breakfast, lunch and dinner since I gave up virtually all bread and pizza to lose weight.

The pasta, along with brown rice, gives me the same full, satisfied feeling I got from bread, but my body processes it better and I am still able to lose weight gradually.

Now, Consumer Reports magazine has given its "Very Good" rating and recommended organic whole-wheat spaghetti from Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market.

The magazine's October 2012 issue, which I just got in the mail, calls both "sweet, nutty, whole-grain flavor, chewy texture much like regular pasta."

I've been buying Trader Joe's Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti, Fusilli and Penne for more than a year. A 16-ounce package is $1.39.

Whole Foods sells organic whole-wheat spaghetti under the 365 Everyday Value brand, but it cost more than Trader Joe's version.