Top seafood on both sides of the Hudson: Esca and Hiura

Two of the first-course lunch selections at Esca in Manhattan on Friday were crudo or raw white tuna, with black pepper and extra-virgin olive oil, above, and crispy calamari with parsley and radish sticks, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A short and problem-plagued New York City Restaurant Week is over, but I'm already looking forward to summer discounts on lunches and dinners at some of the city's best spots.

I finally managed to get to Esca Restaurant on Friday -- the last day of the annual winter promotion -- for a three-course seafood lunch that cost only $25, plus tax and tip, the price of an entree at other times.

The natural follow-up on Saturday night was a dinner of high quality raw and cooked seafood at Hiura, a family run Japanese restaurant in Fort Lee.

Winter Restaurant Week usually falls in January, but it was postponed this year until after the Super Bowl game in North Jersey on Feb. 2, and shortened to three weeks from four.

I had to cancel two other Esca reservations because of bad weather.

Esca transformed an entree of inexpensive whiting by pan frying and crisping the fillets and serving them with cauliflower, which, unfortunately, was overcooked and mushy. All the hot, flaky fish needed was a spritz of fresh lemon juice.

Esca's $25 Restaurant Week menu allows no substitutes. I broke my diet and indulged in a sinful panna cotta with citrus, including blood orange, and fresh and candied lemon.

White-bean crostini, above, and olives, below, were complimentary. The crust of the sliced Italian bread served at Esca shattered and tasted as if it was baked in a coal oven. Esca, Italian for "bait," describes itself as a southern Italian trattoria "devoted to celebrating the fruits of the sea." 

Tables off of Esca's main room and a small bar.

All set for dinner

At Hiura in Fort Lee, I was delighted to see the father-and-son team of Noboru and Shoji Hiura working side by side behind the sushi bar, where I sat down for dinner. 

I have been fed well by the Hiuras for nearly three decades, and Saturday night was no exception.

I ordered the Dinner Set, a beautifully composed box of raw and cooked seafood, and tempura with soup, rice, pickles, hot green tea and dessert.

Hiura's Dinner Set includes fat slices of raw bluefin and medium-fatty tuna, left front; juicy Chilean sea bass marinated in sake and sweet miso paste, right front, and perfectly fried shrimp and vegetable tempura, right rear ($32).

Raw seafood in the sushi bar's refrigerated compartment at Hiura.

Miso soup, above; radish pickles, below, and a bowl of white rice are part of the Dinner Set.

I chose a slice of sweet melon instead of ice cream for dessert.

Details

Esca, 402 W. 43rd St., New York, N.Y.; 1-212-564-7272. Web site: A trattoria dedicated to seafood

Hiura Restaurant, 400B Main St., Fort Lee; 201-346-0110. BYO, closed Wednesdays. Valet parking at dinner.

At Seafood Gourmet: With great fish, I make poor choices

Almost all of the fresh seafood you see on ice in the market, above, is served in the adjoining dining room at Seafood Gourmet in Maywood.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

With only about 35 seats, getting a weekend table at Seafood Gourmet in Maywood is a challenge.

The popular fish market-restaurant reminds me of DiSalvo's on Main Street in Hackensack, where I enjoyed many great lunches of fried calamari topped with a spicy red sauce in the years I worked nearby.

But Seafood Gourmet offers a wider variety of seafood and more sophisticated preparations than DiSalvo's, which closed and was eventually replaced by a Cuban restaurant.

I called Seafood Gourmet on Saturday afternoon and was told we could dine at 5 p.m. or 8 p.m. The week before, there wasn't a free table until 8:30 p.m.

Sole Francaise with roasted potatoes and mixed vegetables.

Lots of choice

At lunch, Seafood Gourmet offers 13 different fish fillets or shrimp, scallops, lobster tails and other seafood, either simply broiled or grilled, and at dinner there is a choice of 18.

Fourteen are available fried, and the menu also lists appetizers, salads, sandwiches, a raw bar and even chicken dishes.

A tank in the market held live Canadian lobsters for $12.99 a pound.

Oscar who?

What did I do? I fell for one of the specials, Halibut Oscar ($25.99), prepared with a sherry glaze, topped with crab meat and served with risotto and fresh asparagus.

When I ordered, our waiter said the halibut had run out (at 5 p.m.?), and Chilean sea bass was being substituted.

That sea bass is actually the brutish Patagonian toothfish, which is over-fished and high in mercury, so I asked for something else and was offered wild salmon.

The king salmon, which I also saw displayed on ice in the adjacent market, was nicely prepared and moist throughout.

I liked the dish, but being on a diet, I could have done without all that risotto. With a simply prepared fish fillet, I could have asked for steamed vegetables.

And I wanted a salad, but our server apparently didn't hear me.

He didn't charge me for the cup of delicious Red Snapper Chowder I also picked from the specials menu, and the choice with my entree was either soup or salad.

He did the same for the cups of tasty Lobster Bisque my wife and mother-in-law ordered.

And I heard him offering specials to others, but not to me, including the rarely seen arctic char and grey sole.

King Salmon Oscar topped with crab meat. I asked that the dish be prepared without butter.

Perfect shrimp

My wife had linguine with jumbo shrimp in vodka sauce ($21.99), substituting that pasta for penne and asking the kitchen to hold the scallops that also come with the dish.

She said the crunchy shrimp were cooked perfectly.

And my mother-in-law ordered Sole Francaise in a lemon-butter sauce with roasted potatoes and mixed vegetable (also $21.99).

Neither could finish their meals, and took home leftovers. 

I counted 34 seats in the narrow, somewhat cramped dining room.

We did a lot of waiting for the food, and a takeout order of steamed clams ($9.99) I asked for when the busboy picked up the unfinished entrees to pack them.

It's likely the kitchen couldn't keep up with the orders, because there were three servers and the busboy, and not all the tables were full.


The Restaurant at Seafood Gourmet, 103 W. Pleasant Ave., Maywood; 201-843-8558. BYO, free street parking, open for lunch and dinner, closed Sundays.

Web site: Seafood-Gourmet.com

Red Parrot Bistro is no imitator

Pan Roasted Chicken at Red Parrot Bistro in Englewood.

"We use organic, antibiotic-free chicken and turkey. All our meats are grass-fed. We source our produce locally."

When is the last time you saw that pledge or anything close to it on the menu of a fine-dining restaurant in North Jersey?

Red Parrot Bistro on Englewood's Palisade Avenue is the closest thing you'll find to the Green Door Cafe, which served organic and naturally raised or grown food in Tenafly before it was closed by a fire in July 2010.

We had a fine dinner at Red Parrot on Saturday night in a dining room where only two or three other tables were occupied.

From our perch in the window, we saw a half-dozen couples or family groups wander by, stop to stare at the awning and look over the menu posted outside, and move on.

Red Parrot opened in July among a bunch of pricy restaurants on the east side of the tracks that divide Englewood, whose business district has a surprising number of vacant or shuttered storefronts.

In contrast, the cheaper, ethnic restaurants on West Palisade Avenue were bustling.

Flat bread, extra-virgin olive oil and a black za'atar thyme mixture.

When we walked in to keep our 6 p.m. reservation, we were greeted by Gary, the burly, good-natured chef-owner, who took my bottle of red wine and asked a waiter to seat us.

After we placed our order, the meal began with a bang.

Red Parrot has reinvented bread-and-butter service with a terrific trio: flat bread, extra-virgin olive oil and a pungent za'atar thyme mixture, some of the best I've ever had.

My mother-in-law started with a Mixed Greens Salad and Champagne Vinagrette ($8), and I ordered Caesar Salad ($10), which was large enough to share with my wife.

For entrees, we had Pan Roasted Chicken with mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes and Ratatouille ($23), Cilantro Shrimp Salad ($19) and grilled Ahi Tuna over Vegetable Lo Mein ($28).

Organic baby greens are used in the Mixed Greens Salad.

The large Caesar Salad was tasty, but could have used more dressing.

Rough-cut Ahi Tuna floats on sweet Vegetable Lo Mein broth.

A house-made Cilantro Lime Dressing accents the Cilantro Shrimp Salad.

We were pleased with our food, but I wanted more dressing in my Caesar Salad and a less soupy preparation of the Vegetable Lo Mein under my grilled Ahi Tuna.

Service from the two waiters was well-meaning, though the one who took our order didn't know the soup of the day (white bean and sausage) or ask me how I wanted my Ahi Tuna cooked (rare).

The menu offers good variety, including French Onion Soup, a grass-fed burger with truffled ground brisket, short rib and foie gras on a toasted brioche; and lamb shank.

But the choice of fish is limited to the endangered Chilean Sea Bass and bigeye or Ahi Tuna, both of which are high in mercury. 

I was hoping for a great piece of fish, such as hake, or even a whole grilled sea bass.

We were told one or two other seafood dishes weren't available Saturday night. Nor does the restaurant serve gluten-free or whole-wheat pasta.

The open kitchen at Red Parrot Bistro.

Three of us spent about $108, including tax and tip. 



Red Parrot Bistro, 51 E. Palisade Ave., Englewood; 201-568-2110. Open for lunch and dinner Mondays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

BYO. Metered street parking until 6 p.m., except Sundays, when the restaurant is open for private events.
 

Boycott bluefin-tuna cutting

Image via Wikipedia

Last year, the giant bluefin tuna I saw cut up originally weighed about 1,000 pounds.

In the past two years, I joined hundreds of others jostling for space at the Japanese supermarket in Edgewater to watch workers reduce a giant bluefin tuna to sushi and small blocks of sashimi. 

I bought a half-pound of the well-marbled belly meat, called oh-toro, for $62.99 a pound in 2009 -- up from $60 a pound in 2008.

However, since last year's "cutting performance" at Mitsuwa Marketplace, the news about bluefin tuna has been all bad, and I'm planning to boycott the performance and sale on Nov. 20 and 21. 

I'm urging you to do the same. Click on the link below to read how these magnificent creatures are being driven toward extinction. The Japanese eat most of the world catch.

Although bluefin tuna contains beneficial Omega-7 fatty acids and literally melts in your mouth when raw, it also has a great deal of harmful mercury.

Dark side of bluefin tuna harvest

Greenpeace and Costco

Greenpeace has launched a campaign against Costo for selling what it calls "red-listed fish," such as orange roughy and Chilean sea bass. 


I buy a lot of seafood at the Costco store in Hackensack, and have never seen either of them -- fresh or frozen. 

My repeat buys include wild sockeye salmon, fresh, frozen or smoked; wild-caught haddock and flounder; frozen, wild-caught  mahi-mahi; and farmed shrimp and prawns from Vietnam.

I e-mailed Costco last week to ask about the Greenpeace campaign, but haven't received a response. Click on the link below for more information:

Greenpeace goes after Costco 

A culinary surprise in the Ironbound

Image by wallyg via Flickr

I have a few favorites among the Spanish, Portuguese and Brazilian restaurants in Newark's Ironbound section that I've tried since the early 1970s, when I lived in neighboring Elizabeth. But I didn't expect to find one of North Jersey's best Italian restaurants there.


The nice, white-haired gentleman who had shown us to our seats late Friday afternoon said he opened Assaggini Di Roma about 13 years ago after a career in construction, but he lamented how it consumes all of his time. Having just finished a great meal, I praised the food and said he was tremendously successful as a first-time restaurateur.

Assaggini means "a little taste" as in A Little Taste of Rome.

Our meatless meal started with antipasto for two (hold the sausage) and two pasta dishes -- both  with wide, thick pappardelle noodles, made in-house. The antipasto platter ($13.75) held fresh mozzarella drizzled with a little pesto and a cubed hard cheese, sweet and hot peppers, sliced plumb tomato and perfectly dressed lettuce and greens -- all terrific with a basket of fresh, chewy bread.


One pasta dish was dressed with pesto and broccoli rabe, and the other with garlic, oil, small white beans and asparagus, plus a couple of tablespoons of red-pepper flakes and grated cheese we added at the table. The noodles filled our mouths and had us smacking our lips ($12.95 and $16.95). I drank a glass of thick, homemade red wine.

To finish, me, my wife and our son shared an entree of Chilean sea bass and a vegetable ($24.95). The fillet was about six or seven inches long and two inches thick, giving each of us a nice hunk of this gloriously fatty fish topped with breadcrumbs. The vegetable was fresh spinach -- cooked down into a soft, deep-green delight.


I only had room for an espresso.

When you walk in off the street, you enter a bar (as in many Ironbound restaurants), with the dining room behind it. A door at the rear leads to a sister restaurant, Mario's Pizzeria, on Delancey Street. The restaurant looks untouched since it opened, with mirrors framed in gold, tiles on the floor and part way up the walls, and one of those drop ceilings. There also is a small stage. Two bottles of wine and a bottle of sparking water are on each table.

Go for the food and bring an appetite.

Assaggini Di Roma, 134 Clifford St., Newark; 
973-466-3344; also 3253 Chelsea Place
(Route 35 north), Hazlet; 732-335-5900. 
Reservations recommended on weekends.
A Little Taste of Rome

Jerry's 'Meals To Go' went fast

Image via Wikipedia

If you've ever had one of the complete dinners called "Meals To Go" from Jerry's Gourmet in Englewood, you know what a delicious bargain they are. What I didn't know is that the Italian specialty store drops the price to $4.99 from $6.99 at 4 p.m.

A restaurant-quality meal -- entree, vegetable, pasta and other side dishes -- is already a steal at $6.99. At $4.99, well ... they really fly out of the refrigerated case, as I found out when I showed up a little after 5 p.m. today and they were gone. My consolation prize was free samples of a half-dozen cheeses Jerry's puts out every day.

I remember well the  "Meal To Go" with Chilean sea bass (photo), and others with flounder and other seafood, which we have been eating in place of meat since Sunday.

Tonight, I took a cup of  leftover Mexican green sauce with a little fish in it, added six eggs, tomato, red pepper and onion, and poured the mixture into a large, non-stick frying pan with hot extra-virgin olive oil. I put pieces of sliced yogurt cheese on top, and let it cook on the stove for about 15 minutes. I finished it under the broiler.

We ate the frittata with leftover spaghetti and sardines in tomato sauce and broccoli rabe from our dinner last night.

Jerry's Gourmet & More, 410 S. Dean St., 
Englewood; 201-871-7108.

A delicious lunch at Rosa Mexicano

Image by Rowan Peter via Flickr
A rice field.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

We skipped breakfast this morning to attend a free cooking demonstration at Rosa Mexicano Restaurant in Hackensack, then stayed for a wonderful lunch of freshly made guacamole, fish tacos and jumbo shrimp in a roasted-tomato peanut sauce with green-chili rice.

Coffee and juice were available, but the complimentary breakfast we enjoyed in the past has been eliminated. 

With pottery, textiles, sconces and other decorative touches, Rosa Mexicano remains one of the most beautiful restaurants in North Jersey, and virtually all the food is made from scratch -- paying homage to native, Spanish and French culinary influences.

Two chefs, David Suarez and Dennis Lake, showed their audience of more than 30 how to prepare the labor-intensive roasted-tomato peanut sauce, green chile rice, pork picadillo, homemade marshmallows and other dishes. 

At the end of the "Real Men Cook Mexican" demonstration, we were starving.

Me, my wife and 12-year-old son shared the chunky guacamole ($10) a waiter made at our table, spooning some into thin, warm, homemade corn tortillas, some of the best I have ever tasted, and adding red or green salsa. 

A nice hunk of beautifully roasted Chilean sea bass ($12.75) followed,  served with more tortillas to make tacos, plus salsa and three side dishes -- rice, beans with pumpkin seeds and creamed corn.

We also shared an entree of those jumbo shrimp ($19), stacked in a pool of roasted-tomato peanut sauce and served with a mound of rice, made with mustard greens, scallions, spinach and cilantro. 

Unfortunately, the spicy sauce we tasted during the demo was toned down for the restaurant service.

Rosa Mexicano Restaurant, 390 Hackensack Ave., 
in The Shops at Riverside, Hackensack; 201-489-9100.
www.rosamexicano.com

Shopping at Jerry's: Walk, stop, munch

At one point during two visits to Jerry's Gourmet and More in Englewood yesterday, every customer I passed seemed to be chewing on one of the great food samples the store puts out every day: several cheeses and cheese spreads, fatty mortadella, walnut bread, Neapolitan pizza, extra-virgin olive oil, chocolate, cookies and crackers.


Customers of the Italian specialty store know the routine well, strolling around slowly with a cart or basket, pausing at the sampling stations, tasting and moving on. Virtually all are shopping for the superb take-out food, wines, olive oils, dried pasta and so forth, but I saw at least two customers enter, sample several items and then leave empty-handed. At Jerry's, that's OK. There are even free wine-tastings on Friday and Saturdays.


I met a friend there, then returned 90 minutes later to shop for dinner. I sampled the food on both occasions -- too much, as usual. But I came away with three wonderful Jerry's Meals To Go: Chilean sea bass, grouper and chicken balsamico, complete with small portions of salad, dumplings and vegetables.


I know I have raved about these meals before, but they are restaurant-quality food at such an incredibly low price -- a mere $6.99. My buttery sea bass was a good inch thick and baked just enough to keep it moist. It was covered with a red-pepper sauce and accompanied by a salad of rice, shrimp and broccoli; shrimp and vegetable dumplings, brussels sprouts, cauliflower and stuffed mushrooms.


This is a meal that calls for a glass of wine and a toasted slice or two of great bread to make it complete. I added a small green salad. At that price, it is unlikely you can find a better take-out dinner in North Jersey. Here's a hearty round of applause for Jerry's.


Jerry's Gourmet and More, 410 S. Dean St., Englewood, (201) 871-7108; open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., except Sundays, until 2 p.m.