Take the next exit for Starbucks in the slow lane

Compare the Protein Bistro Box at Starbucks Coffee in Ramsey, above, to the Hummus & Pita Veggie Tray at the Starbucks Coffee franchise in the Clara Barton Service Area on the New Jersey Turnpike, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

The coffee at Starbucks company and franchise stores may taste the same, but there are other differences that might not be readily apparent.

Starbucks Coffee stands in service areas on the New Jersey Turnpike don't serve the same food as the Starbucks in towns like Ramsey, Englewood and Hackensack.

At the Clara Barton Service Area, the last in the southbound lanes of the turnpike, I bought a Hummus & Pita Veggie Tray a week ago Sunday.

The grainy hummus didn't taste as if it contained any tahini, lemon juice or garlic, and on a second visit five days later, I tried to read the ingredients through the tray cover.

All I could make out was the word "sugar." 

Also, the cut ends of the broccoli florets had turned brown.

What I really wanted that day on the turnpike was a Protein Bistro Box with a great piece of cheese, fruit, a hard-boiled egg and other items, but it isn't available at franchises.

A takeout order of Chinese Fried Buns with Chives & Eggs, above and below, from Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen, a hole in the wall on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan that was written up last week in The New York Times' Hungry City column.

Fighting crowds for a bite

I had a few hours to kill in Manhattan on Sunday night, but had a hard time finding a parking space, this on the one day of the week meters are free.

I parked around the corner from Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen, which The New York Times reports serves bowls of  soup filled with hand-pulled noodles or la mien, which traveled from China to Japan and became ramen.

I groaned when I saw a line at the door of the small restaurant (811 Eighth Ave., near 49th Street) so went in and ordered takeout -- two fried buns filled with chives and eggs for $3.50 plus tax.

They were piping hot when I got them back to the car, beautifully fried with hardly a trace of oil and filled with more chives than egg. Delicious.

And because I wasn't sure my space was legal, I moved on.

Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen, above, was so crowded a server asked me to wait outside with my receipt for takeout. And a sign on the door said "cash only."

Mouthwash, skin lotion and more in Kung Fu Ramen's bathroom.

Starbucks and Chipotle

I found another parking space on West 57th Street, and walked to a Starbucks Coffee.

I asked for my Grande Veranda Blend in a 16-ounce ceramic cup ($2.20), and that got me a discount of 10 cents.

Asking for your coffee in a real cup at Starbucks earns a discount.

The line at Chipotle Mexican Grill, which serves meat and poultry without antibiotics or growth hormones.

Veggie Bowl

I was still hungry, and after leaving Starbucks Coffee, I came across a Chipotle Mexican Grill a few blocks away.

I got on a long line for counter service, and ordered a Veggie Bowl with pinto beans, guacamole, spicy salsa and brown rice ($8.50, including tax).

The employees worked frantically to keep up with the crowd.

Unfortunately, I had to walk past an uncleared table, hardly the most appetizing thing you want to see when you're hungry.

"Chipotle supports family farms," according to a sign on the wall.

An uncleared table I passed on the way to the counter to order a Veggie Bowl, below. 

'Healthy' pork, Starbucks' hummus and more

Putting aside the debate over whether animal fats are inherently unhealthy, you can find ham and pork ribs raised with none of the harmful additives used by factory farms, including a Niman Ranch Applewood Smoked Uncured Petite Ham, above, and Homestyle Meals Pork Baby Back Ribs, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I spent hours on the road Sunday, but the rest of the family enjoyed an Easter dinner of uncured ham and antibiotic-free baby back ribs.

To beat the crowds, my wife drove the few miles to Whole Foods Market in Paramus around 8:30 on Sunday morning, and picked up an assortment of naturally raised meat and poultry.

A fully cooked Niman Ranch Uncured Petite Ham was $7.99 a pound; Homestyle Meals Pork Baby Back Ribs, also fully cooked, were $15.10.

She also bought frozen Pineland Farms Oxtails, $7.99 a pound; and frozen chicken backs and necks for soup, $1.29 to $2.99 a pound.

I missed the ShopRite sale on sweet potatoes (5 pounds for $2.99), and bought a box at the Paramus store this morning for $3.99 or about 80 cents a pound.

Starbucks' hummus

Homemade hummus in Brooklyn is a distant memory, but I still enjoy scooping up the chickpea dip with fresh pocket bread, as long as it's made with a little tahini and plenty of garlic and lemon juice.

In recent years, I have enjoyed a great substitute for my mother's hummus at Aleppo, the Paterson restaurant named after the Syrian city where my Sephardic Jewish parents were born.

On Sunday, on a road trip to Baltimore, I stopped at the Clara Barton Service Area of the New Jersey Turnpike, and saw that the shortest line was at Starbucks and the longest at Burger King.

I ordered a 12-ounce Starbucks Veranda Blend coffee, and looking over the prepared food, selected a refrigerated plastic clamshell with three or four small pieces of pocket bread, cut vegetables and a small container of hummus.

My friend paid just under $20 for my coffee and hummus, and for him, a ham-and-cheese sandwich and Naked-brand smoothie.

When you're driving long distances on a major toll road, you can't be fussy.

The thick, grainy hummus, with the bread and vegetables, was filling, but not very tasty.

In other words, certainly nothing to write home about.

I noticed the cut ends of the broccoli florets were brown, then popped them into my mouth.

The Starbucks on the turnpike are franchised to HMSHost, an American subsidiary of an Italian highway and airport food-service giant, Autogrill S.p.A.

The hummus package was stamped with the day it was prepared (Saturday), and a label stating that it was for sale until 2:45 p.m. Sunday.

I baked the ShopRite sweet potatoes on parchment paper at 400 degrees for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the natural sugar oozed out of them.

Paramus ShopRite

At the ShopRite in Paramus, the 5-pound boxes had "SWEET POTATOES" written on them, but the sign said, "SHOPRITE YAMS."

Elsewhere in the store, potatoes sold loose for 99 cents a pound were labeled "sweet potatoes/yams."

Yams are usually starchier and drier than sweet potatoes.

Half-gallons of ShopRite Lactose Free 1% Milk were $3.49, and I've found this milk sweeter than Costco Wholesale's Organic Low-Fat Milk.

I don't add sugar to coffee or tea. A little sweet milk is welcome.

ShopRite's 6-ounce containers of Fruit on the Bottom Low-Fat Yogurt were 50 cents each, not the cheapest, but the yogurt blend is made with sugar, not fructose.

Fresh Atlantic cod fillets take about 10 minutes to cook in bottled Mexican green salsa with added lime juice and Aleppo pepper, above. The mildly spicy salsa also is terrific for adding a savory flavor to baked skin-on sweet potatoes, below.

The meaty cod cooks quickly in a covered, non-stick pan, and flakes beautifully. 

Cod from Costco Wholesale

I wanted to pick up fresh fish for dinner at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, but I had skipped lunch and my stomach was empty.

Don't food shop when you're hungry, I've read, or you'll buy more than you need.

Of course, I could always try a few free food samples first before I started shopping.

When I walked into Costco around 3:30 this afternoon, I panicked -- no samples, not near the vitamins or the gum and snacks, not near the freezer cases. No cheese, no salsa, no crackers, no nothing.

I still managed to keep my purchases under $100.

A 2.26-pound package of wild Atlantic cod, long-line caught in Iceland, was $7.99 a pound.

Two 1-gallon bottles of Kirkland Signature Fresh Pressed Apple Juice were $7.99; 2 pounds of those incomparable Campari Tomatoes were $4.49; and 1 liter of Kirkland Signature Grade A Dark Amber Maple Syrup from Canada was $11.99.

Two liters of Sambazon Organic Acai Juice from Brazil -- labeled a "super food" -- were $8.99. 

A 28-ounce bag of organic, sun-dried Made in Nature Dates from Tunisia was $8.79, and a 5.5-pound bag of frozen Normandy Vegetables (organic broccoli, cauliflower and carrots) was $7.79.

After a dinner of cod prepared in bottled Mexican green salsa, with lime juice and Aleppo pepper, I had a salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix ($4.99 for 1 pound) with crunchy, skin-on Sunset English Cucumbers (3 cukes weighing a total of 2 pounds for $3.99).

No pits, no preservatives.