How much do you spend on food?

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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

Simply Vietnamese in Tenafly

Image via Wikipedia

On Saturday night, we got a refresher course in the wonderful pho soup and other dishes from the kitchen of K.T. Tran by visiting her new restaurant, Simply Vietnamese, in Tenafly.

The restaurant, a former pizzeria, opened one week before and has been greeted enthusiastically by residents of Tenafly, said Joe The Waiter, who followed Tran from Saigon R, the Englewood restaurant she closed this summer. 


Simply Vietnamese is a welcome addition to Tenafly, which isn't much of a restaurant town despite all of its wealthy residents. For example, I can't imagine how Mr. Wok, a mediocre Chinese restaurant, has survived all these years.


We shared two appetizers, miniature spring rolls ($5), served with lettuce for wrapping and fish sauce for dipping; and broiled New Zealand mussels (photo) in a wasabi-ginger sauce ($8.50).


Each of us ordered a bowl of pho -- garnishing the anise-flavored broth with herbs, bean sprouts, hoisin sauce and hot peppers. My son chose soup with spicy jerk beef, I had tofu and vegetables and my wife ordered shrimp ($12 and $14 each).


When my bowl was set down before me, I breathed deeply to capture that distinctive anise flavor. There's nothing else like it in the world of Asian soup noodles.


Joe The Waiter said Tran was going to raise prices after holding the line for three years in Englewood, and she has done so in Tenafly. 

Why did she move? She had only six tables in Englewood and the parking was impossible, the chef-owner said. In the window of the Tenafly restaurant, look for the neon "Saigon" from the old place, which she opened in 2001.

Tran also is the chef/owner of Mo' Pho on Main Street in Fort Lee. 

Simply Vietnamese, 1 Highwood Plaza, Tenafly;
201-568-7770. BYO. Free street parking.

Vietnamese restaurant in Englewood closes

Chef K.T. Tran in the kitchen of Simply Vietnamese, Tenafly, in 2012.

Chef K.T. Tran has closed Saigon R on Palisade Avenue in Englewood and will reopen it in mid-September as Simply Vietnamese in Tenafly.


The plate-glass window of Saigon R was covered with newspaper when I stopped there with my son and wife on Thursday night, and a sign on the door said an Asian fusion restaurant would be opening in that space.

It was called Saigon Republic when it first opened in 2001.

Tran also is the chef/owner of Mo' Pho on Main Street in Fort Lee.

Simply Vietnamese, 1 Highwood Plaza., Tenafly; 201-568-7770.