Dashing out to Paterson for $1 bag of falafel, sardines and much more

A bag of five freshly fried falafel is $1 at Salah Edin Middle Eastern Restaurant, 995 Main St., Paterson. Fattal's is on the next block.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

An ideal visit to Paterson would combine sightseeing at the Great Falls, lunch in Aleppo Restaurant and shopping for Syrian bread, spices, yogurt drink and other food in the city's bustling Middle Eastern bazaar.

On Saturday, I wanted to replenish my supply of canned Moroccan sardines, bread and spices, but didn't want to fight the crowds at The Falls, now a national historical park.

So, I headed for Fattal's, where you can get Syrian bread, groceries, meat and poultry, and sit down and enjoy a freshly made falafel sandwich (975-977 Main St.).

In addition to one-stop shopping, Fattal's offers a large parking lot. 

Fattal's parking attendant allowed me to run over to Salah Edin on the next block to order two $1 bags of falafel, but said next time I should try Fattal's superior version.

A refrigerated case in Fattal's offers many kinds of cheese, including Middle Eastern-style string cheese, bottom shelf.

Fattal's offers three types of Al Shark-brand Moroccan sardines, but the ones in tomato sauce contain the lowest amount of sodium (99 cents a can). I use them to prepare organic whole-wheat pasta with sardines and anchovies in a red sauce.

Other shelves hold kits for making falafel, tabbouleh salad and other Middle Eastern specialties; fig preserves, extra-virgin olive oil, bulgur wheat and many other items.

A za'atar spice mixture has four ingredients: Dried thyme, sumac, sesame seeds and salt. I don't buy mixtures that include wheat as a filler.

Yogurt drink, meat pies, sardines

At Fattal's, I filled my shopping cart with a gallon of Merve Ayran Yogurt Drink ($10.29), 18 cans of Al-Shark Sardines in Tomato Sauce ($17.82); and a bag with a dozen medium-size Syrian pocket breads, which are preservative free ($1.50).

Six Fattal's Meat Pies and six Fattal's Spinach Pies were $9.49 each.

A bag of Toros Brown Bulgur Wheat was $1.49, and a box of Sadaf Tabouli Mix was $3.19.

A large bag of Salloum Bros. Za'atar from Lebanon that weighed nearly a pound was $5.59.

You can add za'atar to fried eggs, omelets and hummus; rub it into poultry or meat before cooking, or add olive oil to the thyme mixture and spread it on bread.

On returning home from Paterson, I stuffed two halves of a fresh Syrian bread with falafel, organic spring mix and hummus, and enjoyed them as a light lunch.

I added fresh lime juice, minced fresh garlic and Lebanese extra-virgin olive oil to the contents of a can I had in the cupboard, above and below, and garnished the dip with chopped fresh mint from the garden.

Libano Verde-brand Chickpea Dip from Lebanon is sold at Fattal's. Ingredients are chickpeas, sesame paste, salt and citric acid.

In defense of Kirkland Natural Peanut Butter, Egg Whites

The only ingredients in Kirkland Signature Natural Peanut Butter are 100% Valencia Peanuts and sea salt. The national brands can't match the taste. To avoid separation, the Costco Wholesale peanut butter has to refrigerated right after you bring it home.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss Kirkland Signature Natural Peanut Butter and Egg Whites, two products that divide Costco Wholesale shoppers; Korean takeout in downtown Englewood; a combination electric kettle and glass tea pot; and shopping at Trader Joe's in Paramus and Fattal's in Paterson.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

You won't find sugar, hydrogenated oils or stabilizers in Kirkland Signature Natural Peanut Butter from Costco Wholesale.

Valencia Peanuts grown in the United States and sea salt are the only ingredients, and the taste is unmatched.

I often open the refrigerator for a spoonful of the thick peanut butter followed by another of fig marmalade.

Refrigerating the peanut butter as soon as you get home is the key to avoiding separation of peanut butter and oil, and keeping the peanut butter spreadable.

The first time I purchased the product, I didn't open it until a two or three weeks later, because we wanted to finish a large jar of Skippy we had purchased at Costco.

But by that time, the Kirkland Signature peanut butter had already separated, and was too dense to remix.

Thin slices of cucumber give creamy peanut butter and jelly  sandwiches a welcome crunch.

Our favorite jelly is Kirkland Signature Organic Strawberry Spread, also available at Costco.

Kirkland Signature Egg Whites work well in a frittata with whole eggs; fresh and sun-dried tomatoes; grated and shredded cheeses; and pesto, above and below.

Kirkland Egg Whites


Kirkland Signature Egg Whites are 100% pure egg whites, but some Costco Wholesale shoppers still aren't over the loss of Real Egg Product, the old version that contained coloring and was thickened with food gums.

It's true that the watery Egg Whites don't look very appetizing when you pour them out of the carton, but they contain naturally occurring sodium and cook quickly.

You can make a plain omelet for sandwiches or just eating on its own, but a little cheese or Aleppo pepper really dresses it up.

Kirkland Signature Egg Whites with foam, the last couple of ounces in the carton.

I cooked the Egg Whites in extra-virgin olive oil, and folded and flipped the omelet, above. It tasted fine on its own.

But a little Aleppo pepper or paprika lends it color and taste.

Best Dumplings

When we lived in Englewood, we were regular purchasers of handmade Korean mandoo or dumplings at Best Dumplings, which originally was located in an industrial area and called Mandoo Inc.

Now, Best Dumplings has expanded its takeout menu to include soft tofu stew, bibimbap, bulgogi and other traditional dishes.

On Monday night, my wife stopped at Best Dumplings for three soft tofu stews with beef ($7.50 each) and spicy spare ribs ($9).

She also purchased two bags of frozen, fully cooked dumplings (50 for $16). Seven types are available.

The soft tofu came with rice and four side dishes, and the spare ribs included two side dishes and a small green salad.

The menu lists soft tofu with seafood, but it wasn't available.

Spicy spare ribs from Best Dumplings in downtown Englewood.

Kimchi and other side dishes with the the soft tofu stew were tasty, but the serving is smaller than what you'd get in a Korean restaurant, where seconds and thirds are available.

We are fussy when it comes to soft tofu stew. 

Best Dumplings version is just OK, my wife said, but doesn't match the stews served at So Gong Dong in Palisades Park ($9.99, including rice, four side dishes and a fresh egg to cook in the bubbling broth).


Best Dumplings, 16 Humphrey St., Englewood; 201-568-9337. Opened 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays.

Web site: Korean Comfort Food To Go

Electric Kettle with Keep Warm Tea Tray from Russell Hobbs.

More than a kettle

We replaced an electric kettle we had used to boil water for tea with an electric kettle and glass tea pot on the same base.

The glass tea pot has a filter basket for loose tea or tea bags.

Now, we can prepare a pot of tea and keep it hot instead of preparing three or four separate cups.

I purchased the kettle and tea pot from Amazon.com for $39.99.

Trader Joe's

I wanted to buy sweet potatoes on Monday from Trader Joe's in Paramus, but neither the organic or the conventionally grown looked very good.

Insects got to the smaller, conventionally grown sweet potatoes before I did or at least that's what I thought from the tiny holes I saw in some of them.

Trader Joe's is a reliable source for antibiotic-, hormone- and preservative-free bacon ($4.99) and hot dogs ($4.49), but was out of its own brand of sliced bacon on Monday.

I bought two 64-ounce bottles of juice, Green Plant ($3.99) and low-sodium Garden Patch ($3.49). 

An 8-ounce glass of regular Garden Patch contains 29% of the daily recommended amount of sodium; the low-sodium version has only 6%.

Trader Joe's, 404 Route 17 north, Paramus; 1-201-265-9624. Open daily.

Low-sodium sardines

At Fattal's in Paterson, I picked up 24 cans of Al Shark Moroccan Sardines in Tomato Sauce for 99 cents a can.

I've been buying sardines with tomato sauce, because a serving (1 can) has less sodium (9%) than the same sardines in soya oil (12%) or vegetable oil with hot peppers (25%).

Fattal's also bakes 100% whole-wheat pocket bread. Six medium loaves are 99 cents and 12 minis are $1.39.

Six spinach pies were $8.99.

Fattal's, 975-77 Main St., Paterson; 1-973-742-7125. Open daily. Free off-street parking.

A fresh look at Corrado's Family Affair

Part of the produce section at Corrado's Family Affair in Clifton.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Are there any other food stores with a more intriguing name than Corrado's Family Affair?

The big, ethnic supermarket on Main Avenue in Clifton -- just a couple of blocks over the Paterson line -- has been packing them in for more than 50 years.

The lure is a lot of food for just a little money, though there are fewer bargains here than in the past.

Jersey Fresh peaches were $1.39 a pound, the same price I paid for peaches at the Paramus ShopRite, but I ate only two of the latter and threw two away.

Two packages of Campari tomatoes were only $1, but they were less than a full pound.

Lousy peaches

After I wrote about buying South Carolina and New Jersey peaches for $1.39 a pound at the Paramus ShopRite -- they turned out to be lousy -- a reader said the new Corrado's supermarket in Wayne had Jersey Fresh fruit for only 99 cents a pound, and they were good.

Today, I went to the original Corrado's in Clifton, where New Jersey peaches were $1.39 a pound, so I bought four and will let them ripen on the counter.

I went for peaches and bought so much more.

Fresh bi-color corn, cold to the touch, were six for $1.99, and after I steamed them, they turned out to be sweet and needed nothing.

One-pound packages of strawberries were $2 each, sweet red peppers were 99 cents a pound and sweet orange peppers were $1.39 a pound.

But green-red peppers appeared wrinkled and old, and I passed, despite the low price.

Two 25-ounce bottles of Don Bruno Vodka Sauce, made with Italian tomatoes but no sugar, were $2.50 each.

Salted codfish

My biggest purchase was six 1-pound packages of Atlantic Pearl Salted Codfish Fillets from Canada at $6.99 each -- far lower than at ShopRite or Fairway Market in Paramus.

The high price of salted cod has prompted us to buy salted Alaskan pollock from Costco Wholesale, but my wife says the taste and texture aren't quite the same.

Corrado's is one of the few stores that carries squid-ink pasta, but an 8.8-ounce package was $5.99, and I decided against buying one.

The original Corrado's opened in 1960, and has expanded across Getty Avenue to a Corrado's shopping center -- with a store for amateur wine makers, garden center, pet store and so much more.

Gasoline, too

There is even a Corrado's gas station on Getty, where regular was $3.56.9 cents a gallon today.

I'd shop at Corrado's Family Affair almost every time I visited Fattal's Syrian Bakery and the Middle Eastern restaurants in nearby South Paterson.

But I stopped going there a few years ago after produce quality slipped, and I saw price stickers placed over expiration dates on organic salad mixes.

Today, Corrado's has liquor, flower and houseware stores inside the main building, as well as one corner devoted to brick oven pizza.

As good as Corrado's prices are on many items, I still had to go to Fattal's today for Al Shark spicy Moroccan sardines, still only 99 cents a can, and a gallon of Merve Aryan Yogurt Drink for $7.79.

I also noticed Corrado's is charging $12.99 a pound for Manchego sheep's milk cheese from Spain -- more than at Whole Foods Market in Paramus or the Hackensack Costco. 

I also couldn't find any antibiotic-free chicken for family members who eat poultry.

Corrado's Family Affair, 1578 Main Ave., Clifton; 973-340-0628.

Web site: www.corradosmarket.com

Fattal's Bakery, 975-77 Main St., Paterson; 973-742-7125.

Stopping at Stop & Shop

Image via Wikipedia

I had an errand today near the Super Stop & Shop in north Hackensack, and stopped in to see what was on sale.


I found a special on Wallaby-brand organic yogurt in 6-ounce cups at four for $3 or 75 cents each -- 4 cents less than at BJ's Wholesale Club in Paramus. I bought eight cups of the flavored yogurt. My wife prefers Wallaby to Stonyfield Farm organic yogurt, and I agree with her.


What looked like a half gallon of Tropicana orange juice (two for $6) was actually only 59 ounces, instead of 64 ounces.

In produce, I had trouble trying to figure out the signs. The only sign for romaine lettuce I saw said $1.99 each and had "Organic" written above it, but when I got to the register, the big head I chose rang up at $1.50 or two for $3, and likely is conventional, not organic. It weighed about two pounds.

On the way home, I stopped at Sahara Fine Foods for 11 cans of Al Shark-brand Moroccan sardines in spicy oil, at 99 cents each (not skinless and boneless). A 16-ounce jar of Beirut-brand tahini sauce was $3.99.

It's a good thing I picked up the romaine lettuce, because when I wanted to make a salad with Earthbound Farm organic spring mix for dinner tonight, I found it had started to rot, and it has a use-by date of Oct. 25. I plan to take it back to Costco in Hackensack for a full refund.

Stop and Shop, 380 W. Pleasantview Ave., Hackensack; 201-342-6030.


Sahara Fine Foods, 242 S. Summit Ave., Hackensack; 201-487-7222.