The North Jersey 'ethnic-food run' is alive and well

The takeout counter at Pollos El Chevere, where the menu of Peruvian specialties goes far beyond its signature rotisserie chicken.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss some of the great ethnic food available in North Jersey, and shop with a coupon booklet from H Mart, a Korean supermarket chain. The H Mart in Englewood was closed in 2018.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

North Jersey's increasing diversity pays big dividends: Great ethnic food at nearly every turn.

I often did my "ethnic-food runs" on Saturdays, starting in the city of Passaic with a snack of tacos, stopping in Paterson for a takeout soul-food dinner, and ending with food shopping and a meal in South Paterson's Middle Eastern bazaar.

The soul-food restaurant closed, and three and a half years ago, I stopped eating meat. But I can still do a food run.

Last Saturday, my wife wanted to shop some of Passaic's cheap clothing stores.

That set up a visit to Pollos El Chevere, an inexpensive Japanese-Peruvian-owned restaurant that is one of the nicest and cleanest in that poor city.

We ordered takeout for the meat eaters in the family:

Pollo Entero Solo, a whole rotisserie chicken with a side of white rice, french fries, green or sweet plantains or yuca ($10); an order of Tostones or fried green plantains ($2.75); and two Empanadas with ground meat and boiled egg ($2.50 each).

We also ordered an extra container of a pale green, spicy chili-cheese sauce ($3) that can be poured over the chicken, green plantains or just about anything else.

Plenty of seafood

I fondly recall meals at Pollos El Chevere, especially enjoying my favorite dish, Ceviche de Pescado ($12), a Japanese-Peruvian twist on sashimi, served with  sweet potato and popped corn kernels.

Another great dish is called Tallerin Verde, a green or pesto-like pasta dish available with shrimp, fish or steak ($12.50 to $14).

The menu also offers many seafood dishes, including stews, fried fillets and steamed fish.

Pollos El Chevere, 228 Washington Place, Passaic; 1-973-249-6330. 

Web site: www.cheverechicken.com

Al-Shark Moroccan Sardines in tomato sauce or spicy oil are still only 99 cents a can in the grocery section of Fattal's Bakery in Paterson. We use them in pasta sauce and salads.

Corrado's

Our next stop was Corrado's Family Affair, a big, ethnic supermarket on the Clifton-Paterson border where I used to go for salted cod from Canada in 1-pound plastic bags.

After two earlier visits to Corrado's, only to find they were out of those bags of salted cod, I called ahead and was told by a fish counter worker the cod had finally come in.

But what the employee called cod turned out to be salted Alaskan pollock, a cheaper substitute I buy at Costco Wholesale, and I left empty handed.

We drove less than a mile to Fattal's Bakery on Main Street in Paterson, where I picked up 21 cans of Al-Shark Moroccan Sardines in tomato sauce or spicy oil (99 cents each).

Aleppo Restaurant offers a great Syrian meal in a pleasant setting, above and below, free of the annoying hookah smoke so prevalent in other restaurants in South Paterson or over the border in Clifton.

If you like spicy food, Aleppo Restaurant's Muhammara is a must.

Aleppo Restaurant

We finished our "ethnic-food run" with another great meal of soup, salad, fish and kebabs at Aleppo Restaurant in Paterson.

See a previous post: 

My heart goes out to the city of Aleppo, Syria 

Details

Aleppo Restaurant, 939 Main St., Paterson; 1-973-977-2244.

Fattal's Bakery, 975-77 Main St., Paterson; 1-973-742-7125.

Corrado's Family Affair, 1578 Main Ave., Clifton; 1-973-340-0628.

One of the coupons in a book sent to some H Mart shoppers offers 20% off on big seedless watermelons, but that's just $2 off the price of $9.99.

The best coupon for me gave a $1 discount on 2 pounds of wild mussels harvested in Massachusetts just a week before I bought them. The discounted price was $1.99.

Whole whiting, here swimming in a sake-organic diced tomato sauce, were $3.99 a pound. There is no coupon for fresh fish.

H Mart 'savings'

H Mart has sent a "summer savings" coupon booklet to holders of the Korean supermarket chain's Smart Card, which gives a 1% rebate on purchases of $1,000.

On Wednesday, at the Englewood H Mart, I used coupons to get 20% off the price of green peppers ($1.59 a pound), and to buy 2 pounds of wild mussels for only $1.99.

I steamed opened the mussels in a little inexpensive sake, and they were deliciously tender and grit-free.

Non-coupon items I bought included a box of 20 intensely sweet Champagne or Ataulfo Mangoes for $8.99, a dollar less than before.

The store was having an even better special -- 2 boxes or 40 mangoes for $14.99. The regular price is $15.99 a box.

Jinga's Cheese Kimbap -- a seaweed, rice and vegetable roll -- were half price after 4 p.m. or just $2.49.

Fresh collard greens were 99 cents a pound.

H Mart has other stores in Fort Lee, Ridgefield and Little Ferry.  Coupons are good through July 14, 2013.

See its Web site: 

http://www.hmart.com/

Costco Wholesale supersizes Korean roasted seaweed

Kirkland Signature Roasted Seasoned Seaweed is made in Korea and sold at Costco Wholesale. Ten packages are wrapped in clear plastic, each weighing  .6 ounce. I paid $7.49 at my Hackensack Costco.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss a popular Korean snack now being sold under Costco Wholesale's Kirkland Signature label, and food-shopping frustration at the International Food Warehouse in Lodi and Corrado's in Clifton.

Those addictive sheets of roasted and  salted seaweed from Korea are now being sold under the Kirkland Signature label at Costco Wholesale.

Each package weighs .6 oz, and appears to contain many more sheets than the smaller packages I've purchased at Korean supermarkets and Trader Joe's.

On the Web site of H Mart, a chain of Korean supermarkets, packages of seaweed, also called laver, weigh only .15 oz and .17 oz -- less than a third of  Costco's version.

Costco sold a brand of Korean roasted seaweed in the traditionally sized package, but the Kirkland Signature version comes in a bigger package that can be shared by two.

This afternoon, I snacked on seaweed sheets wrapped around canned-fish salad with chickpeas.

The Costco package shows the sheets wrapped around rice, shredded over raw fish and as an ingredient in canapes.

Ingredients are seaweed, corn oil, grape seed oil, sesame oil and sea salt. The package is marked "Winter Harvest."

An expensive Bentley automobile was parked on Sunday in the lot of the International Food Warehouse in Lodi, which sells many ethnic foods at a discount.

A liter package of this 100% juice from Turkey was 88 cents.

Out of oil

I drove over to the International Food Warehouse in Lodi to pick up another 3-liter tin or two of Isle of Cyprus Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which a sales flier offered for $13.99 or a dollar less than before.

But the store had sold out. 

I use this thick, fruity olive oil for frying eggs, omelets and frittatas, and to dress salads. 

So, I took three 1-liter bottles of the same Greek extra-virgin olive oil to the register, but the manager wouldn't honor the $13.99 price. Each bottle was marked $6.99.

Consolation prizes

I picked up four 1-liter cartons of Aroma-brand 100% Pomegranate-Apple Juice from Turkey at 88 cents each; four 1-liter bottles of Vintage Lemon-Lime Seltzer at 59 cents each, and yams at 99 cents for 3 pounds.

The store also sells wine and beer, but nothing appeared to be a bargain.

Two organic brown eggs fried in Isle of Cyprus Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil with Kirkland Signature refrigerated pesto from Costco Wholesale. Instead of bread, I warmed up leftover organic brown rice for a delicious breakfast.

Out of salt fish

Stores like the International Food Warehouse can drive you crazy when you make a special trip for an item, only to find it was sold out or never came in.

On the way back from an errand in Morristown last week, I stopped at Corrado's Family Affair in Clifton to buy 1-pound bags of salted cod from Canada.

The previous time I drove to the store, there was a  sign at the fish counter listing the price for large pieces of dried cod fish, with and without bones, and for dried fish in plastic bags, but I couldn't find a single bag.

Ackee and salted cod fish with Valentina Mexican Hot Sauce.

On Thursday, the same sign was there, but still no bags of cod fish.

I went over to the customer service counter, only to find a line of shoppers checking out their purchases.

In frustration, I shouted out for help, and an employee said the store had ordered the bagged cod fish, but that it "never came in."

Stolen fish?

Imagine: A truckload of dried codfish hijacked somewhere between Canada and New Jersey. 

Next time, I'll call the store before going there.

On the way back to Route 80, I stopped at Food Basics on Getty Avenue in Paterson, and picked up three 1-pound bags of dried Alaskan pollock at $3.98 a bag.

Pollock is a wild-caught fish that tastes similar to cod, but my wife prefers the latter.

Another problem I encountered at Corrado's is missing price signs.

In the produce section, 16-ounce plastic tubs of Uncle Vinny's spring mix and other salads had no price stickers or price signs on the shelf, but a sheet of paper hanging from a shelf gave prices for smaller packages.

An employee I asked just shrugged, and said he didn't know the price of the larger package.

There is Thai -- and then there is Wondee's

Tom Yum Soup at The Green Papaya in River Edge. The medium-size bowl contained mostly spicy broth, in addition to a couple of shrimp, okra and other vegetables.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss The Green Papaya, a Thai restaurant; the use of za'atar thyme mixture in tomato-and-egg dishes and lazy shoppers at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

My friend Stanley invited me to lunch the other day at The Green Papaya, a Thai restaurant in River Edge I had driven past many times before.

I had never eaten there, convinced as I am of the superiority of Wondee's Fine Thai Food and Noodles on Main Street in Hackensack.

My first -- and last -- meal at The Green Papaya started with Tom Yum Soup ($3). I also had Green Papaya Salad ($5). 

Neither compared to Wondee's versions. My friend had Pineapple Fried Rice with chicken ($8).

Pineapple Fried Rice with chicken at The Green Papaya.

A nice touch is a welcoming cup of tea and refills.

I met my friend at the restaurant a little before noon. By the time we left, the place was full, and over customers' conversations I could hear the stir-frying of food in woks from the open kitchen in the back.

My friend, who lives in River Edge, said he didn't know about Wondee's.

Compare the Green Papaya Salad served in River Edge to Wondee's salad, below.

Wondee's salad cost more, but is big enough to share with one or two others.

The Tom Yum Soup served at The Green Papaya contained a surprise -- a couple of pieces of pineapple -- but there was more broth than shrimp and vegetable.

My Green Papaya Salad had a nice crunch, though when I finished it, there was way too much dressing left in the bottom of the dish. 

It also was missing the fresh green beans in Wondee's salad, as well as lettuce leaves you could use for wrapping the green papaya.

When we lived in Englewood, we enjoyed many Thai dinners at Pawana, but after moving to Hackensack in 2007, Wondee's has been our go-to place for Thai food from an extensive menu, including whole fish and vegetarian dishes.

Now, Pawana is closed. 

The Green Papaya, 110 Kinderkamack Road, River Edge; 201-678-1888. BYO. Parking lot.

Wondee's Fine Thai Food and Noodles, 296 Main St., Hackensack; 201-883-1700. BYO. Parking in rear.

Organic eggs with za'atar, sun-dried tomato and cheese shavings.

Exploring za'atar 

The Middle Eastern thyme mixture called za'atar is usually found on chewy, fresh bread, moistened with olive oil.

You could roll it up and eat it, or toast it until the mixture's sesame seeds sizzled.

The mixture, sold in green and brown versions, contains dried thyme, wild sumac, sesame seeds and salt -- it's both sour from the sumac and crunchy from the seeds. 

Another version is to sprinkle lots of za'atar over fresh bread spread with yogurt cheese.

Since I pretty much gave up bread to lose weight, I've sprinkled za'atar over sliced tomato, and in the past, I used it on broiled chicken. 

Now, I'm adding it to egg-and-tomato dishes.

An open-face omelet with cheese, Campari tomatoes and za'atar.

You can buy za'atar at Fattal's Bakery, 975-77 Main St., Paterson; 973-742-7125. 

But don't come home without eating at Aleppo Restaurant (939 Main St.), and visiting Brothers Produce in the Paterson Farmers' Market and Corrado's Family Affair just over the border in Clifton.

At Costco Wholesale, the lines were short, but the parking lot was a zoo.

Lazy shoppers

Costco Wholesale members must be fairly fit to handle all of those very large economy sizes the warehouse store is famous for.

Shopping carts are oversized to accommodate enormous rolls of paper, cases of spring water and 50-pound bags of rice.

If you fill up your cart, it takes quite an effort to push it to the car.

So, I'm floored every time I go to the Hackenack Costco on a busy Saturday at the laziness of many shoppers, who insist on parking in the rows closest to the doors and who clog up the single entrance road.

That was the case on Saturday, when cars were backed up to River Street.

Inside the store, I mentioned the problem to one of the employees, and said Costco should hire someone to direct traffic, but she dismissed my suggestion, saying the store can't do anything about drivers who clog up the entrance road.

Two other employees were just about as helpful when I asked whether Costco had discontinued Della-brand Organic Long Grain Brown Rice, which was missing from its usual spot.

Both told me to go look in the rice aisle, where I had just been. One didn't even break stride or stop eating something.

Another worker checked the computer, and said the Hackensack store no longer carries Della brown rice.

When I got home, I went online and ordered Lundberg Organic Brown Rice from Amazon.com -- six 2-pound packages for about $20.

99 cents sardines are alive and well

Image via Wikipedia

Sardines at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California.

Seafood is a crucial part of my non-meat diet and those plump, little sardines are one of my favorites -- as part of a breakfast sandwich with hummus, cheese, lettuce and tomato, or with spaghetti and red sauce.


For the past two or three years, I have been buying Moroccan sardines at Fattal's Syrian Bakery in Paterson, where the price of 99 cents a can is lower than at Corrado's, Costco, ShopRite or any other North Jersey store I know. Of course, if you insist on skinless and boneless, you'll pay more.


Today, I drove to Paterson to replenish my supply and found that while the price remains at 99 cents, Fattal's now carries both Moroccan and Thai sardines. I bought 15 cans -- 10 from Morocco and five from Thailand. I also picked up Fattal's small spinach pies, canned hummus from Lebanon, canned large fava beans, string cheese and a yogurt drink.


For dinner, I emptied four cans of Thai sardines, including their spicy oil or hot tomato sauce, into a covered pan large enough to hold a pound of spaghetti, and broke up the fish with a wooden spoon. I added about half of a bottle of arrabbiata sauce from Modena, Italy (red like a Ferrari), dried Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, black pepper and dried and powdered garlic, and heated it over a medium flame.


Meanwhile, I heated water for thick spaghetti, and when it started to boil, I blanched two heads of fresh spinach in two batches, transferring it into another pan with hot olive oil. Then the pasta went into the same water, while I seasoned the spinach, covered it and turned off the heat.


When the pasta was cooked, I drained it and dumped it into the pan with the sauce and sardines, mixed it well and served it with grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, Italian red table wine and the spinach. Mangia bene.

Fattal's Bakery, 975-77 Main St., Paterson; 973-742-7125. 
Open seven days, free parking in lot.

Getting more fish in your diet

Image via Wikipedia

Here is something my friend Sue brought to my attention from The New York Times. We've been eating fish and seafood non-stop since taking a meatless pledge weeks ago. 

Tonight, we had excellent lobster ravioli from Costco and the last of the fried fish my wife brought back from Jamaica, and Sunday night, I prepared spinach egg noodles from Corrado's with a homemade tomato sauce filled with anchovies and leftover red snapper and sardines (as in sardines with steamed rice).

Click on the following link for a sardine-and-Swiss chard recipe and other advice: Getting more fish in your diet

A rare visit to Corrado's Family Affair

Image by Kurt Wagner via Flickr

I once shopped regularly at Corrado's Family Affair, the large ethnic supermarket near the Clifton-Paterson border. I loved the aisle with bread from two dozen or more ethnic bakeries and the bottles of imported wine -- three for $10.

The store sold many Italian specialties under its own label, including extra-virgin olive oil and pastas. It always stocked pasta with squid ink, one of my favorites. Corrado's also opened food and non-food stores across Getty Avenue.

But the inexpensive imported wine became scarcer and prices for some items seemed better elsewhere, such as sardines at Fattal's Bakery on Main Street in Paterson. And I didn't like how the store sometimes pasted price labels over the expiration dates for Earthbound Farm salad mixes. So I went back to Corrado's less frequently, and visited the new Wayne supermarket only a couple of times (photo).

On the way back from Morristown yesterday, I stopped at Fattal's for bread, canned hummus, yogurt drink and a few other items, then headed over to Corrado's for the lemons I needed to prepare hummus. It had really big lemons at six for $1.99. I bought four, plus a red pepper at 99 cents a pound and a seedless cucumber for 75 cents. A 1-liter bottle of black currant syrup was $4.89 (to pour over plain yogurt).

The interior was renovated a couple of months ago and painted, an employee said. But you still won't find any signs in the crowded aisles, and shopping there is something of a treasure hunt. Customers are friendly and talkative -- unlike the snobs that frequent Fairway Market in Paramus.

At Corrado's, I noticed that a lot of the produce seem wilted, despite the almost constant stocking of bins. For example, I saw loose romaine lettuce with brown bottoms -- not a good sign. And I didn't even look at the bread aisle.

On the way home, I went to Crooks and East Railway avenues, where the Paterson Farmers' Market has set up shop year-round. Looking over produce at several stores, the prices here seemed even better than at Corrado's, but I was disappointed in not being able to find the dozen containers of organic, Greek-style yogurt that I bought Feb. 6 for only $2. "Probably Friday," the woman said.


 Corrado's Family Affair, 1578 Main Ave., 
Clifton; 973-340-0628. Web site:  Corrado's