Hackensack cries out for a second Starbucks

The 10-year-old Starbucks on Essex Street in Hackensack has received a makeover, providing more seating and a less-cluttered feel. Two overstuffed chairs were replaced with a counter and four stools, above right.

New tables and chairs, plus photos and track lighting, are among the changes in Hackensack. The Starbucks is near Hackensack University Medical Center.

The Starbucks on Palisade Avenue in Englewood is bigger than the lone Hackensack outlet, even though Englewood is a smaller city. Art was added recently to one corner of the store.

Given all the litigious lawyers in Hackensack and how they draw out their arguments to pump up legal bills, you'd think one of them would have long ago made a motion to get Starbucks to open a second store in the county seat.

Starbucks already has served the medical profession for 10 years at its store across town, near Hackensack University Medical Center. 

The store was just renovated, getting new tables and chairs, track lighting and photos.

Mesh shades also were installed to prevent occupants of one table at the front of the store from roasting in the setting sun. 

Main event 

Hackensack, at 4 square miles, certainly could use another Starbucks to perk up its sleepy Main Street shopping district, which is near the Bergen County Courthouse and law offices.

Starbucks could find a second home in one of two empty storefronts -- the former John's Coffee Shop on Sussex Street and the shuttered Limon Marketplace on Main Street.

The building where John's Coffee Shop served many lawyers and judges is owned by the Breslin and Breslin law firm at Main and Sussex streets.

Judges, lawyers, jurors and administrative staffers at the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack are potential Starbucks customers.

Starbucks, 360 Essex St.,  Hackensack; 201-457-3323. 

Web site: Perk up Main Street

I'll always remember Sandy

For breakfast on the last of five days without power in Hurricane Sandy's wake, I warmed up grilled sweet potatoes and an omelet with pesto, even though I had made them the day before and, without refrigeration, left them out in a covered pan all night.

Using a battery powered lantern, we grilled sweet potatoes, above, and used liquid egg whites to make omelets on our gas stove, below. We could light the stove with a match.

The hurricane hit on Oct. 29 and we got power back on  Nov. 3, but Internet, TV and our land-line telephone weren't restored for another two days.

A tree fell in Brooklyn (President Street).

A restorative meal of sushi at Baumgart's in Englewood.

Fried oysters, above, and mussels, below, at Legal Sea Foods in Paramus.

North Woodland Street in Englewood.

The one gas line I waited on in Teaneck was only a half-block long.

There's nothing like a great salad to give you a nutritional lift.

I celebrated the return of electricity and my birthday on Nov. 4 with a lavish, four-course seafood meal at Marea on Central Park South in Manhattan, which showed few outward signs of the hurricane that flooded parts of the island.

The Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Subway riders got updates on the restoration of service.

Dinner for one on Central Park South.

In Hackensack, a tree landed on the hood of a car.

On two sides of the food tracks in Englewood

Englewood's Palisade Avenue has been in flux. One of the changes was Blue Moon Restaurant moving next door to a bigger space in the shuttered Ann Taylor store.

The Kitchen restaurant also moved, to the old Blue Moon space next to Starbucks.

Recent additions include Simply Seafood and Teita, a Dominican restaurant, below.

El Paso is an inexpensive Mexican place.

Las Maravillas de Tulcingo is the third restaurant from Jesus Pita; the others are in Passaic. The food is more authentic and cheaper than at Blue Moon, but on Memorial Day, the staff left a mess on an outdoor table, a sure way to turn off potential customers.

Palm BBQ Grill, above and below, is the second place to open in the space occupied for many years by the popular Vietnamese restaurant, Saigon, which moved to Tenafly.

The Palm BBQ menu offers pita and po' boy sandwiches, plus falafel and hummus.

A popular Panera Bread was replaced by a bank, above. On the same block, Victoria's Secret closed after more than a decade at the entrance to the ShopRite shopping center.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Englewood is a classic two-sides-of-the-tracks community, even when it comes to dining out.

Wealthy, mostly white residents live on one side of the tracks all the way up the East Hill, and send their children to large private schools.

On the other side, a long-established Jamaican community and Hispanic residents occupy modest homes, sending their kids to elementary and middle schools that have few white students.

Food lovers will find the better restaurants on the east side of the tracks, while most of the cheaper ethnic restaurants and bakeries are on the other side.

Food city

Baumgart's, It's Greek To Me, Starbucks, El Prado and others have had staying power. 

In other parts of the city, Jerry's Gourmet & More and Balthazar Bakery draw customers from far and wide.

The city also boasts two good Thai restaurants, popular Colombian restaurants and bakeries; excellent Jamaican takeout; H Mart, a large Korean supermarket; and Korean dumpling and kimchi factories.

But the food scene is always in flux, and I would be hard pressed to name all of the restaurants that have opened, operated for several years or more, and disappeared.

Sushi to tacos to pizza

Wild Ginger, an expensive sushi restaurant, closed in 2011 after a 16-year run, and was replaced first by a Mexican restaurant and then by an upscale pizzeria.

The businesses on the first floor of the Town Centre at Englewood luxury rental building on Palisade Avenue change constantly, and at least two food markets have failed there.

What factor ever-escalating rents play in the closing of popular businesses is unclear. 

Bittan Group

Little is known about Michel Bittan, owner of the Bittan Group of Englewood, whose signs are on several vacant commercial spaces.

Bittan is the owner of Solaia, a fine-dining restaurant on North Van Brunt Street, between the performing arts center and City Hall. 

He also owns a casual restaurant next door called Caprizza, and the 201 Club, a party space.

Guess who's coming for dinner?

Image via Wikipedia

No. I didn't invite Jerry's to dinner at my house tonight, but most of the food we'll be eating comes from his Italian specialty store, which is even more alluring during the recession.

Oh, it's not just the free cheese, bread, olive oil and other samples I enjoy when shopping in the South Dean Street store in Englewood.

It's the good value you get there, like the homemade potato focaccia with onion and tomato ($3.99 for a hefty 24 ounces) that I'll be serving as an appetizer tonight, possibly adding sliced provolone (photo) at a friendly $2.49 a pound.

For our entrees, three of us we'll share two restaurant-quality "Meals To Go" -- grouper and tilapia with such side dishes as spinach lasagna, artichokes and orecchiette pasta with broccoli rabe and sausage (which we'll discard to keep our meatless pledge). They are only $6.99 and $4.99 after 4 p.m.. if there are any left.

Red wine and salad will complete our meal.

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

Shopping notes

In one trip to Englewood today, I shopped at three of my favorite places for food -- H Mart, Balthazar Bakery and Jerry's Gourmet, where I sampled cheese and wine.

H Mart was almost empty, because the street was blocked by police for Veterans Day. I looked over the blue crabs, large Chilean sea bass fillets and fresh fish, then bought a Korean roll made with rice, vegetables and crab (not sure if it is artificial) and wrapped in seaweed ($4.99). I've sometimes heard this called finger maki. I also picked up plum tomatoes, a head of escarole and fresh collard greens. (25 Lafayette Ave., 201-871-8822.)

At Balthazar Bakery, I bought a quarter of the signature pain de siegle (sliced), a large, round, sourdough rye bread with a "B" stamped in the crust ($3.75 for a quarter). I looked longingly at the wonderful fruit tarts and other pastries, but bought none. (214 S. Dean St., 201-503-9717.)

At Jerry's, an employee was pouring Portuguese and Italian wines to go with the free cheese samples, and I tried them. I had hoped to find three complete dinners with wild fish, such as the Chilean sea bass I had recently, but had to settle for farmed salmon and farmed tilapia. The restaurant-quality dinners are only $6.99.

In the back of the store, there were a couple of cases of imported Pomi marinara sauce, from fresh tomatoes, in aseptic packages that don't need to be refrigerated. At two 26.45-ounce packages for $3.99, they were a good deal. Each would be more than enough for a half-pound of pasta. (410 S. Dean St., 201- 871-7108.)

The bagel that ate North Jersey

I had an errand in Clifton on Wednesday and needed change for a $20 bill. I drove up and down Van Houten Avenue, in what I believe was the Athenia section, looking for a Polish bakery I last patronized seven or so years ago. It was closed and so were two other small bakeries nearby.

Finally, I stumbled on Hot Bagels Abroad in a strip mall on Clifton Avenue (http://hotbagelsabroad.com/). What does that name mean? Baffling. It was around noon and the place was jumping, so I got on line and eventually ordered a baker's dozen ($9.25). Bagels are 80 cents each, and they're so big, my order was packed in a large paper grocery sack.

I used to toast a bagel every morning for my open-face sandwiches of smoked salmon, canned red salmon and so forth, but it was just too much dough (my spreads were homemade, low-fat yogurt cheese or pesto). I switched to smaller, sliced whole-grain bread several years ago. I liked the bagels from Ronnie's in Hillsdale or the bagel places in Englewood, Leonia and Fort Lee. I especially liked the pumpernickle-rye bagel.

Years ago, I saw a coupon for H&H Bagels in Manhattan and stopped for a dozen at the plant on the West Side. They have the nerve to charge a dollar or more for a puny bagel that didn't taste any better than the ones in North Jersey. What a waste of time.

I bought the Clifton bagels to offer to out-of-town guests. But I tried to toast one and had to cram it into my so-called wide-mouth toaster, which soon burnt the garlic bits on the bagel's exterior.

Hunger pangs lead me to free food

Hunger pangs hit me on the way to completing an errand in Englewood around midday yesterday, but I didn't quiet them with a Jamaican patty, a Colombian empanada or a Greek gyro. Instead, I headed over to Jerry's Gourmet & More on South Dean Street to graze on free samples.

The big draws here are full-fat cheeses and spreads, as many as a dozen, the kind I don't buy and bring home because of their high calorie content and impact on my cholesterol. The brie was oozing, there was a big hunk of blue cheese, firm mozzarella (scamorza), several crackers and Jerry's had even put out cornichons (French for gherkins).

Then I headed to the back of the store for a few samples of bread and extra-virgin olive oils. I had hoped there would be a wine-tasting, but an employee was waiting on a customer who was buying by the case. Satisfied, I headed downtown to finish my errand.

Greek restaurant executes fish

A Greek restaurant in Ramsey appears to be lopping off the heads of fresh fish with a guillotine or maybe lining them up in front of a firing squad.

That's what I understood from The Record's report today on Varka Estiatorio, where, the reviewer writes in the data box, the food is "exceptionally executed." I think she meant to say "well-executed," but her copy editor was probably out to lunch.

It's unclear why The Record's Elisa Ung reviewed this restaurant, which has undergone no major changes since the initial, three-star review in 2005, or why it got a three-and-a-half-star rating, despite some poorly prepared dishes, farmed fish for up to $29 a pound, and one of the waiter's dropping a fresh pompano on the floor and then returning it to the display.

Could it be that the restaurant is a regular advertiser and asked for another review after Ung gave three-and-a-half stars in April to a new, competing, Greek fish house in Englewood, Nisi Estiatorio?

The Englewood restaurant charges up to $38 a pound for whole fish (which I thought was outrageous), but the Ramsey fish house has the chutzpah to ask for up to $50 a pound. You should know fish is a cheap commodity -- routinely flown halfway around the world and retailed for well under $10 a pound at Korean fish markets.

But Ung doesn't question the prices, just says they are "high, though justified given the quality of the food." Farmed seafood isn't quality; wild is. Even the sea scallops are farmed, according to her report. There's no explanation why the Ramsey restaurant doesn't serve wild scallops from the fleet at Barnegat Light, which is famous for that shellfish.

Wine-tastings at Jerry's Gourmet

In a previous post about free food samples at Jerry's Gourmet & More in Englewood, I forgot to mention that the store often has wine-tastings from the extensive selection it has added in recent years (see post, "Slap in the face for Jerry's Gourmet & More").

So you can wash down your samples of cheese, bread, cold cuts and olive oil with a nice red or white wine from Italy or elsewhere. All the more reason Jerry's should have been included by The Record of Hackensack in an article Saturday about free food samples.


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

Comparing supermarkets

If you want to shop right at ShopRite, you'll have to pick the right store. With three ShopRites within 6 miles of my home, that hasn't always been easy.

The ShopRite in Englewood, where I lived for more than 25 years, is the smallest of the three, but carries more of the products I look for when food shopping. The ShopRite in Rochelle Park, though larger, often disappoints when I'm looking for Readington Farms drug-free chicken and doesn't carry the Certified Angus Beef Natural line. The ShopRite in Hackensack, which is closest to me, doesn't seem well-run and doesn't run a sale as often as the Englewood store. Rather than go there, I'd keep driving to the H-Mart, the Korean supermarket at the Little Ferry Circle.

The Englewood store is the only one of the three to carry the Applegate Farms line of preservative-free cold cuts and Certified Angus Beef Natural, which is antibiotic- and hormone-free. On Saturday, I saw London broil and ground beef. It also has the largest selection of Readington Farms vegetarian-fed chicken.

Rochelle Park's strong suit is produce -- large bunches of arugula for 98 cents each and Jersey peaches for 99 cents a pound. But it had a 1-pound container of Campari tomatoes for $4.99, twice the price as elsewhere, and a pound of Olivia's organic spring mix for $6.99 v. Costco's price, $4.49 for Earthbound Farm. On Sunday, a sign said two bunches of arugula or watercress were $4, which seemed high, but the two arugula bunches rang up for $1.99. Basil was $1.49 a bunch, but a few days before, it was $1.69. Go figure.

Still, all the ShopRite stores have sold me more produce that never ripened or rotted overnight, because of poor storage, than I care to remember.

All three stores often fail me when I'm in search of Australian free-range lamb, especially the moderately priced shoulder chops. And the availability of Nature's Reserve free-range steaks from Australia is spotty. I stopped buying fish at ShopRite after an employee in Rochelle Park told me he sprayed it with a preservative. I do buy live lobsters there. (Revised Tuesday, Aug. 4.)

I promise I'm not shilling for Jerry's

Here's another enthusiastic report on Jerry's Meals To Go, the complete, restaurant-quality dinners sold for only $6.99 at the Italian specialty store in Englewood. I promise that I pay for these dinners and Jerry doesn't know me from Adam.

The portions are sensible (12 ounces total), the food is delicious and healthy and the price is right for our uncertain economic times. When you finish one of these meals, you're left with a sense of well-being. The selections Saturday afternoon included fish, chicken and pork.

I plated my food, then heated it in a microwave: cod Livornese, topped with tomato sauce and black and green olives; roasted potatoes, crisp-tender carrots, broccoli and brussels sprouts, and a zucchini half stuffed with spinach and ricotta. I drizzled the food with a Colavita oil-lemon blend ($3.99 for a quart) that was available for tasting at Jerry's.

I split and toasted a Balthazar Bakery roll, poured some red wine and sparkling peach juice from Spain (in separate glasses) and dug in. What a great dinner.

Preparation tip: Don't heat this food or any other in plastic takeout or storage containers, which might transfer chemicals during the heating process; plate the food before heating and cover with a paper towel, not plastic wrap.

What I missed on our 3,750-mile road trip

Great bread.

Image via Wikipedia

In 15 days on the road and in hotels, I missed the great bread I enjoy in North Jersey. Just two examples are the $2 baguette with a crackling crust from Balthazar Bakery in Englewood (this is a living crust that softens in humid weather) and the fresh pita from Fattal's in Paterson that allows you to turn every meal into a pocket-bread sandwich.

Even in New Orleans, what they call French bread is this large, doughy loaf with no crust to speak of, suitable for soaking up the juices from the overstuffed po' boy sandwiches. It reminded me of the water bread used in Cuban sandwiches, but that crust is compressed and heated in a press before serving.

About the closest thing to a great-bread experience is the yeasty southern biscuit, sometimes served soaked in gravy. I loved the biscuits served at Lil' Dizzy's Cafe in New Orleans and in a Cracker Barrel Store in Alabama. Driving back to New Jersey, we found a Panera Bread in Hagerstown, Md., where I had a Mediterranean vegetable sandwich -- a salad between two slices of good wheat bread. And the baguette served with the terrific chicken soup, though doughy, was excellent.

On the take-out trail in Englewood

Englewood is known for its restaurants, but it's also a great place for take-out -- Korean dumplings, French pastry, Jamaican jerk chicken and more.

Yesterday, I started a the farmer's market near the old train station, picking up Jersey tomatoes, bi-color corn and peaches at the Alstede Farms stand. My next stop was Balthazar Bakery on South Dean Street, where I bought a dozen assorted dinner rolls, a baguette and a crispy pissladiere.

About a half a mile south of the bakery is Jerry's Gourmet, where the free lunch lives. I sampled a half-dozen different full-fat cheeses (which I rarely eat), luxurious prosciutto di Parma, bread and toast before I purchased one of Jerry's incredible $6.99 dinners (shrimp, rosemary roast chicken and three vegetable sides), a Neapolitan pizza with vegetables and prosciutto-mozzarella bread (the last two for the freezer). With my wife and son away, there was no need to visit Ashanti's for jerk chicken, Gaboh Inc. for kimchi, Mandoo Inc. for dumplings or the Broadway Coffee Shop for Colombian empanadas.

For dinner, I started with the pissladiere, a pizza with a thin, crackling crust, caramelized sweet onions and four white anchovies radiating out from a black olive in the center. Then I heated the side dishes from the Jerry's dinner: sauteed escarole with beans, green beans with pine nuts and dried cranberries, and a stuffed artichoke, and ate them with some baguette. I also steamed the two small ears of corn (which weren't sweet). I finished with a small sandwich of the rosemary roast chicken.

First day of new food shopping regimen

I had my annual physical in Englewood today and could only have water and black coffee before my blood was drawn. I didn't eat until about 12:30 and went straight home to heat up leftover spinach pie and part of a Greek bagel from Cafe Angelique in Tenafly.

I lived in Englewood for many years and it's a great food town. You should have seen me drive past Ashanti, which has outrageous jerk chicken; and Gaboh Inc., the kimchi factory that is just down the street from there. And with dozens of Korean dumplings in my freezer, I didn't detour to Mandoo Inc. On the way home, there was no stopping at Balthazar Bakery for its crusty $2 baguette or Jerry's Gourmet to sample all the cheese, salami and sweets that are put out every day.

The frugal friend who I all-you-can-eat lunched with yesterday read my last post and commented that anyone who visits nine food stores in 10 days is crazy. I couldn't agree more. This is part of my answer:

It's not entirely my wife's fault but she stopped going to ShopRite on a regular basis, doesn't make a list and often forgets stuff I want like seltzer. That necessitates another trip to ShopRite by me. We had already decided to go to Costco only once a week and I haven't been to Trader Joe's for weeks, meaning I have had to go without Greek-style yogurt and sliced yogurt cheese and St. Louis ribs from the Niman Ranch. Now my wife is going to go to ShopRite during the hour our son is getting his piano lesson in Englewood, where she still prefers to shop. But my pita bread is almost out so I'll have to go to Fattal's soon. I just wish there was one store that had all the stuff I like. I have hated food shopping for years, especially when I did it all.