Lan Garden in Ridgefield is taking 30% off during soft opening

Manager Leo Lee deboning a pan-fried whole flounder tonight at Lan Garden, a new Chinese restaurant on Route 46 in Ridgefield that is having a soft opening.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

After many months of renovation and a change of ownership, Lan Garden on Route 46 in Ridgefield is finally having a soft opening.

The widely anticipated Chinese restaurant, which specializes in seafood and dim sum, is taking 30% off the food bill until the official opening, now set for Aug. 26.

Even the big sign designed to catch the eye of drivers racing by on the highway has changed: 

Lan Garden

Fine Chinese Cuisine

Restaurant & Bar

Complete makeover

The restaurant doesn't have a liquor license yet, but there is a bar as well as a wine room.

The owners of Lan Garden completely made over the building, removing any vestige of the former truck-stop diner that once housed China 46 and Phoenix Garden Too before that.

They will be tough acts to follow.

I stopped in for dinner this evening, ordering a spicy pan-fried whole flounder with sauteed snow peas, broccoli and water chestnuts in XO chili sauce, designated W56 on the limited temporary menu.

But after a long wait, I got a large platter holding only the fish, which weighed about 1.5 pounds, over a sweetish soy-based sauce ($22.95 before the discount).

I asked Manager Leo Lee, who deboned my fish, for the vegetables mentioned on the menu, and he suggested an order of snow pea leaves instead.

They were wonderful sauteed with fresh garlic ($13.95 before the discount).

An order of snow pea leaves with fresh garlic was delicious.

I will return

The kitchen and staff are still getting their sea legs, but I liked the food I tried enough to return and again take advantage of the soft-opening discount.

Lee, the manager, said food was free during the first days of the soft opening, and customers were asked to pay what they wanted.

Tonight, the restaurant didn't have the soft-shell crabs listed under appetizers or brown rice. 

The bowls of free white rice are smaller than at other Chinese restaurants. The plastic chopsticks are pink.

Next time I order a whole fish, I'll ask for it steamed; no matter how good the kitchen is at pan frying, the skin, and crunchy fins and tail can taste oily, as they did tonight.

My waiter said dim sum will be served all day, but must be ordered off the menu; carts won't circulate in the dining room.

The booths are gone, but the dining room of Lan Garden has large, round tables for the multi-generational Chinese families I saw there tonight, below.

There is plenty of parking at Lan Garden, but the gritty truck-repair business next door is a reminder of when the building served as a truck-stop diner.

Lan Garden Restaurant & Bar, 88 Route 46 west, Ridgefield; 201-840-8688. Call for hours during the soft opening.

The Web site, Lan Garden Restaurant & Bar, is under construction.

The Costco Wholesale experience starts in the parking lot

One of my favorite summer dishes is fresh, wild sockeye salmon from Costco Wholesale grilled on the stove top and smothered in a reduction of organic diced tomatoes, chopped garlic, red wine and fresh herb. Here, I served it with mashed Korean sweet potatoes.

Today, I discuss the bad manners some Costco Wholesale shoppers exhibit in the parking lot, some of my favorite items from the warehouse store, elusive Jersey Fruit and more.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You can separate Costco Wholesale shoppers by those who want to park as close to the front door as possible -- and will slam on their brakes and block the entrance to the lot -- and those who don't mind walking from spaces in the back.

The lazy shopper also thinks nothing of leaving the big Costco shopping cart between cars or up against a fender.

Other Costco shoppers I have spoken to complain most about the lot, which one woman described as "a zoo."

In Hackensack, the entrance to the lot leads almost directly to the front doors. But in Wayne, the entrance to the lot is far from the doors, meaning less congestion.

At the Costco Wholesale in Hackensack this afternoon, a lazy shopper left this shopping cart between two cars.

I enjoyed leftover wild salmon and a baked sweet potato for dinner tonight, followed by a salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix.

Wild salmon, nuts and spring mix

Fresh, wild sockeye salmon continues to top my list of Costco favorites, now selling for $9.99 a pound.

I have been grilling the fillets skin side down on top of the stove and smothering them in a reduction of Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes, garlic, red wine and fresh herbs cooked separately.

A 1.57-pound fillet I bought on Monday yielded six serving pieces.

I also bought a 3-pound bag of sodium-free Kirkland Signature Almonds ($14.99), roasted them at home for 1 hour and 20 minutes at 275 degrees and dusted some of them with Ground Saigon Cinnamon from Costco.

Today, I picked up another 1-pound tub of triple-washed Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix ($4.99) with an expiration date of Aug. 13, 2014.

At the ShopRite in Paramus on Monday, I couldn't find any Jersey peaches and settled for fruit from South Carolina, on sale for 99 cents a pound. But they were listed on my receipt as "PEACH JERSEY." At Costco Wholesale in Hackensack later in the day, the 2-pound container of blueberries ($4.79) was from Michigan, not New Jersey.

Both of these bottles from the Italian Wine Club (Giordano) contained 750 milliliters of wine.

As seen from the car

On Wednesday, I drove by Pine Hill, a Korean restaurant in Paramus, and saw a huge dumpster near the door and scaffolding against the building's glass front on Paramus Road.

Pine Hill, where I have enjoyed lunches and dinners in recent years, looked as if it has been closed for months.

Driving east on Route 46, I looked across the highway and a new Chinese restaurant called Lan Garden appears to be open after many months of renovation to the building, a former truck-stop diner that once housed China 46.

The cyclone fence blocking the parking lot was gone and I saw three or four cars parked head on in front of the building at 88 Route 46 west in Ridgefield.

The large red sign that said the restaurant specializes in seafood and dim sum has been changed.

China 46, which had a liquor license, closed in 2007. Before that another Chinese restaurant, Phoenix Garden Too, operated there.

Third Chinese restaurant set for former Route 46 diner

A Days Inn and a golf driving range are behind the soon-to-be restaurant.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

The former Route 46 truck stop diner where two Chinese restaurants operated for many years is getting a makeover for the opening of Lan Garden.

The restaurant will specialize in Chinese-style seafood and dim sum, and serve beer and wine.

I had many terrific meals at Phoenix Garden Too and China 46, previous tenants of the building at 88 Route 46 west in Ridgefield.

China 46 closed six years ago.

I recall hosting a multi-course birthday dinner for 10 at Phoenix Garden, followed by a visit to a cabaret club in Manhattan.

Among the memorable dishes at China 46 were a braised pork shoulder and soup dumplings. 

The facade of the old diner is being completely transformed. But next door, the truck repair depot and large, dusty lot remain.

The Lan Garden sign doesn't say when the restaurant will open.