Enjoying a leisurely dinner and our wine at Bocconi in Hackensack

We started a leisurely dinner at Bocconi Restaurant in Hackensack with Asparagus Gratinato ($9.95), above, and Caesar Salad ($6.50), below. The cooked asparagus, under a blanket of melted cheese, came with pitted olives in a crisp raddichio leaf.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

We love the food, service and moderate prices at our favorite restaurants, but we also love that they're close to home.

On Saturday, hunger pangs hit early, in late afternoon, so we grabbed a bottle of red wine and drove less than 2 miles to Boconni Restaurant in Hackensack.

Bocconi, which is across the street from a huge hospital complex, does a brisk lunch trade.

In late afternoon and in the evening, you don't need a reservation.

On Saturday, Frank, one of the owners, recognized us from previous visits and showed us to our favorite table, brought us menus and then a plate of extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar so I could dip bread crusts into it. 

Portions at Bocconi are generous and prices are moderate.

So, we ordered two salads, and split an order of fresh pasta and an entree of fillet of sole with vegetables and potatoes.

We took our time, sipped a half bottle of wine and enjoyed our nicely prepared food, chatting with Frank between courses.

When we finished, we accepted Frank's offer of sambuca, an anise-flavored liqueur, a nice way to end the meal.

After our salads, we split a full order of Fettuccini Putanesca, made with fresh noodles and listed under Home Made Pasta on the regular menu ($12.95). This is a half-portion.

Bocconi also split our entree, Grey Sole Oreganata, which came with shrimp, vegetables and potatoes ($18.95), and is a fixture on the specials menu.

Bocconi is  a 50-seat BYO with a simple but appealing red-and-white dining room, above and below.

 Details

Bocconi Restaurant, 363 Essex St., near Prospect Avenue, Hackensack; 201-342-3888. Open for lunch and dinner Mondays to Saturdays. Closed Sundays. 

Web site: Delicious Italian-American food in Hackensack

The BYO shares eight parking spaces with another restaurant, so you might want to take your chances in the large parking lot across the street, where you'll also find a Starbucks.

At Bocconi in Hackensack, a tasty dinner of vegetables, fish and wine

Grey Sole Oreganata with Shrimp and White Wine, one of two wild-caught fish entrees at Bocconi Restaurant in Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The list of specials at Bocconi Restaurant in Hackensack would please anyone who doesn't eat meat or poultry.

Vegetables, salads and shellfish appetizers are the prelude to nearly a dozen pasta and seafood entrees on the one-page listing.

On Saturday, we visited the moderately priced Italian-American restaurant for the third time, and though we had a nice dinner, saw some limitations.

A half-dozen fish entrees are offered, but only two are wild caught, grey sole and tuna.

I'm watching my cholesterol intake, and found Bocconi was less accommodating than on earlier visits when I asked the kitchen to hold the butter.

And the specials menu didn't list a small block of tangy goat cheese that came with a wonderful appetizer of beets and arugula.

Salmon Grilled Over Arugula & Cherry Tomato.

Vegetables, fish and salad

We started with appetizers of Asparagus Gratinato ($9.95) for my wife and Red Beet Carpaccio for me ($12.50).

My wife wanted wild-caught Grey Sole Oreganata ($18.95) for her entree, the dish I had on our first visit, and I chose the second wild fish, tuna, on our last visit.

So, looking for something else, I was left to pick one of the farmed fish, and I chose Salmon Grilled Over Arugula & Cherry Tomato ($20.95).

I asked for the fish to be prepared medium to medium rare, but it was delivered cooked through, though still moist.

When compared to its wild cousin, artificially colored farmed salmon isn't a very exciting fish -- raw or cooked.

At least it was a nice portion, and came with a great salad of peppery arugula, my favorite green.

The other farmed seafood offered are branzino, tilapia and shrimp. 

Details

Bocconi Restaurant, 363 Essex St., Hackensack (near Prospect Avenue); 201-342-3888. Web site: bocconifood.com

BYO. On weekends, reservations aren't necessary.

A tiny lot off Prospect means you're better off parking across Essex Street at the medical building with a Starbucks Coffee on the ground level.

An appetizer of Asparagus Gratinato with Grated Cheese and White Wine Sauce. We liked the small dish of pitted olives served with it. The waiter said the asparagus were made with only a "little" butter.

A block of tangy goat cheese crowning Red Beet Carpaccio, another appetizer, wasn't listed on the specials menu, and the price shown also was incorrect ($9.95 on the menu, $12.50 on the receipt)

Bocconi Restaurant is a BYO with about 50 seats. I brought a bottle of Italian red wine.

Crusty Italian bread comes with butter and for dipping, extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and grated cheese.

Bocconi in Hackensack is offering big flavors in a small setting

A special of Grey Sole Oreganata at Bocconi Pasta Pronto & More in Hackensack included shrimp, vegetables and potatoes -- a well-balanced one-dish meal. I asked the kitchen to make it without butter.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

It's nice to find a restaurant with good food, good service and moderate prices where you usually can get a table for dinner without a reservation.

Bocconi, which means "bites" in Italian, is a 50-seat BYO that shares only eight off-street parking spaces with another restaurant near one of Hackensack's busiest intersections. 

Bocconi opened more than five years ago, and has survived thanks to a brisk lunch business from a big medical center across the street.

Ravioli with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe is served in marinara sauce.

We asked to share an Arugula Salad. The kitchen split the salad and served the portions in broad soup bowls.

'Sit anywhere'

When we arrived at the Italian-American restaurant a little after 4:30 on Saturday afternoon, we were told we could sit anywhere.

Two other tables were occupied. 

We chose a table for two, but when our salad and appetizer arrived, the waiter pulled over another table to make room for all of the dishes.

We chose from the regular menu and a sheet of daily specials with prices.

We ordered an Arugula Salad to share ($7.95), an appetizer of fried Crab Cakes to share ($9.95), Ravioli with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe for my wife ($12.95) and a special of Grey Sole Oreganata for me ($18.95).

We enjoyed all of our food, but my wife doubted the the crab cakes, though tasty, contained much crab meat and none of it was lump.

My sole fillets were accompanied by three or four shrimp, vegetables and potatoes -- a beautifully balanced entree. 

An appetizer of four Crab Cakes came with salad and a homemade tartar sauce.

Bocconi is a BYO.

Crusty bread was served with butter and a plate of extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt, which is unnecessary and can mask the peppery taste of the oil. 

The dining room was filled with a soundtrack of the legendary Luciano Pavarotti, and some specials were listed on one of the two TVs.

'Restaurant Row'

Bocconi is one of three eating places on busy Essex Street, near Prospect Avenue, that form a modest restaurant row.

The Italian-American restaurant shares its L-shaped parking lot with Fire Pit Barbecue (357 Essex St.), which serves Portuguese-style ribs, steak, pork and even grilled codfish with potato, pepper and onions.

On the other side of Bocconi is Mazza Falafel (365 Essex St.), a Middle Eastern restaurant offering falafel, salads, stuffed grape leaves, shawarma and kufta kabob.

Mazza Falafel has no parking lot, and the eight spaces shared by Bocconi and Fire Pit Barbecue include two reserved for the handicapped.

There is plenty of parking in a big lot across the street at 360 Essex, a medical arts building with Starbucks Coffee and Cosi on the ground level.

And Bocconi, Fire Pit Barbecue and Mazza Falafel have delivery available.

Review of Bocconi

I came across only one newspaper review of Bocconi, which opened in 2009.

The Eating Out on $50 review appeared in The Record of Woodland Park on May 28, 2010, when Jeffrey Page praised "this dandy Italian restaurant that served terrific food in generous portions and at moderate prices."

Unfortunately, Page got the location of the restaurant wrong, saying it was at Essex Street and Summit Avenue, when it is almost a block away, near Prospect Avenue.

Bocconi Pasta Pronto & More, 363 Essex St., Hackensack; 201-342-3888. BYO. Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays.

Entrance to parking lot is on Prospect Avenue.

Web site: Take a bite out of Hackensack