Fairway Market's wild salmon costs $7 more a pound than Costco's

At Fairway Market in Paramus, fresh wild Copper River salmon fillet was $21.99 a pound on Tuesday, compared to $14.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack for fresh sockeye from the same Alaskan river, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I stopped at Fairway Market in Paramus on Tuesday to check out two promotions on the purchase of groceries -- the store is offering a $10 off coupon and American Express will give you $15 statement credit on your registered card.

In both cases, you have to spend $75 in a single visit.

I haven't visited Fairway since last October, and I noticed a number of changes:

More fixtures in the produce department and a new wine department make it harder to maneuver your cart through the store.

"Big Sale" signs are everywhere, but as with Fairway's fresh wild Alaskan salmon for $21.99 a pound, you'll find few bargains or even good buys.

After looking around the store on Tuesday, I decided I couldn't spend $75 on groceries to meet the American Express threshhold.

Instead, I purchased three pounds of coffee beans and had them ground Turkish style: 

French Roast ($7.99 a pound); Brazilian Arabica, a dark roast (on sale for $6.99 a pound); and Fairway Supreme Blend (also $7.99 a pound).

I brewed two small pots with the Fairway Blend, a light-to-medium roast, and no one in the family liked the weak brew that resulted.

Today, I returned the Fairway Supreme Blend for a full refund.

I grilled Costco Wholesae's sockeye salmon fillets on a grill pan placed over two burners on my stove, skin side down, then turned them. I added mint and oregano from the garden, Aleppo pepper and fresh lime juice.

Tonight, I had a leftover portion of wild salmon over salad, including green- and red-leaf lettuces from the garden. It was delicious right out of the refrigerator.

A long wait for fresh wild salmon

The fresh wild salmon we enjoyed on Tuesday night was the first we've had from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack since the season ended last October.

The 1.57-pound fillet yielded six serving portions, and they grilled on the stove top in under 10 minutes.

Although I cooked them through, they remained juicy.

There's no shortage of hype in Fairway Market's produce department.

A liter of pricey Fairway Extra Virgin Olive Oil is labeled "imported from Italy," but if you look carefully, you'll discover it is a blend that might include oil from Spain and Greece.

At Fairway, you won't find any bottles of red wine for $5 or under, as you will at Whole Foods Market, also in Paramus.

The $7.99 Fairway Supreme Blend, front, contains beans that are noticeably lighter than darker roasts in barrels next to it. The resulting brew is pretty weak.

No Fairway would be no loss

I could care less if Fairway's store in Paramus remains open.

The small chain, based in Manhattan, delayed the opening of a New Jersey store for many years, fearing it couldn't compete with low-price leader ShopRite.

Then, Fairway chose the least popular shopping center in Paramus, the so-called Fashion Center, for its first store.

Now, Fairway's competition is Costco Wholesale, Whole Foods Market and H Mart, the Korean supermarket chain, and compared to them, it falls short in so many ways.

Screw you, Fairway. Whole Foods will devein my wild shrimp

Wild-caught shrimp are sometimes available at H Mart in Englewood for about the same price Costco Wholesale in Hackensack charges for previously frozen farmed shrimp from Vietnam.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

We've stopped buying the previously frozen farmed shrimp from Costco Wholesale, but we're having trouble finding a steady source of affordable wild shrimp.

On a rare visit to New York-based Fairway Market in Paramus recently, I saw large, wild-caught shrimp for $17.99 a pound, but the fishmonger shook his head "no" when I asked if would devein them for me.

Removing the central vein is a tricky job and, even though I have a special serrated knife, I've often cut myself.

It's not as if the Fairway fishmonger was busy; I was the only customer at the seafood counter.

This is just another way Fairway's New York attitude sucks.

I deveined and shelled these farmed Black Tiger shrimp from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack at home -- using a special, serrated knife and sometimes cutting myself in the process. I poached them in Mexican green salsa and fresh lime juice.

The mall entrance to Whole Foods Market at Bergen Town Center in Paramus,where you will find the best seafood department in North Jersey.

Whole Foods to the rescue

People complain about the prices at Whole Foods Market in Paramus, but I usually go there to shop for sale items and I've always found the employees helpful.

At the seafood counter last week, I saw wild-caught Gulf Shrimp on ice for a little under $20 a pound.

I said to the fishmonger, I wasn't ready to buy any, but when I'm ready, would he devein them.

Sure, he said without hesitation.

So, Fairway, screw you. Go back to New York. You're not wanted or needed in North Jersey.

Click on the links below for previous posts about Fairway, and comments from readers of this blog that back me up:

No answer from Fairway's corporate office

Please be a good neighbor, Fairway

Sticker shock is everywhere on rare visit
to Fairway Market in Paramus

Reading the signs at Fairway and Whole Foods

Who knew we are supposed to rinse olives, which are cured with a lot of salt, according to this sign at Fairway Market in Paramus, and then dress them? I guess Fairway saved money by using a sign that says "New Yorkers" instead of "New Jerseyans."

Is there any need for a sign like this? Were customers throwing up all over the floor? It's in the bathroom of the Blimpie next door to Fairway Market. Fairway coffee is served there and there is a door between them, making Blimpie an annex of the supermarket. 

Signs are one of the things that shape the food-shopping experience in North Jersey.

At Corrado's Family Affair in Clifton and the cavernous Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, you won't find any signs telling you what is in the aisles, making shopping at the two stores a treasure hunt.

At Fairway Market in Paramus, you're constantly lectured about how good the food is and how great the prices are -- and both are an exaggeration.

In the years since the New York chain opened its Paramus store at the out-of-the-way Fashion Center, I have simply been unable to warm up to it.

I'm from Brooklyn, but I'm sick of Fairway's New York attitude.

Good coffee beans

I go there every couple of months to buy whole-bean coffee, but on Tuesday, I was suckered by a coupon for $10 off of a $75 purchase that I got in the mail.

We once bought 1-pound packages of salted cod from Fairway for $8.99, but then switched to Corrado's, which charged $6.99 and now charges $7.99 a package.

On Tuesday, I found out Fairway has raised the price for a 1-pound package of salted cod to $9.99. 

So, I bought 7 packages (the cod freezes beautifully), a pound of custom-ground coffee beans for $6.99 and sweet potatoes for 69 cents a pound. 

With $10 off, I paid $68.66. 

Does the cod smell?

I loved the young, female cashier, who picked up each sealed plastic package of cod by a corner to scan them and place  them in my reusable bag as if they were so many dead rats. 

She said she didn't want to get the smell of the salted fish on her hands, but when I sniffed a package and my hand, I couldn't smell anything.
 

Whole Foods Market in Paramus charges $3 for a Balthazar Bakery baguette that costs $2 at the bakery's retail shop in Englewood.



Breaking bread

Later on Tuesday, I stopped at Whole Foods Market in Paramus for a container of orzo and vegetable soup, and medium-roast coffee, which I drank black to enjoy its complex flavor.

Walking around the store, the familiar bag for the baguette from Balthazar Bakery in Englewood caught my eye.

The sign said "LOCAL" and "From New York," but on the back of the bag were the words "Englewood, N.J.," where Balthazar's wholesale bakery and small retail shop have been operating since late 2002.

So, I guess Whole Foods doesn't know this terrific baguette is even more local than it thinks.

But what really surprised me is that Whole Foods charges $3 for a baguette that costs $2 at the source.

Quality of Costco produce raises concerns

A display of bulk produce at Stop & Shop in Teaneck, where prices are competitive with Costco Wholesale in Hackensack and lower in one or two cases.

Do I have to pay a fortune for good produce?

I can't think of a store where the fruit and vegetables have always been perfect, including Costco Wholesale, which sells premium produce at a lower price than most other retailers.

From ShopRite, I've brought home fruit that either never ripens or rots when left out overnight.

At H Mart, I returned mangoes that were brown and rotting inside.

At Costco, I got a refund for mealy pears, and when we cut open "Washington Extra Fancy" Fuji apples, they were brown inside.

I asked for a refund when Trader Joe's organic pears never ripened on the kitchen counter.

In April 2011, I said produce prices were rising and quality was slipping at Costco in Hackensack.

A few days ago, a reader commented on that item:

"I have come to your site after an online 'review'
of Costco produce. Everybody I know is saying that Costco has gone to hell as far as produce goes. Their quality is gone. I'm totally bummed. I used to buy all my produce there.

"Now I go to Hy-Vee grocery stores. Only a little more, price-wise, but 10 times the quality."

I don't know about "Costco has gone to hell," but we spend thousands of dollars on food there every year, and would like to see an improvement, especially when it comes to fruit.

We'd also like to see customers who don't handle every piece of fruit or sample it before buying a package, like the man who popped a few grape tomatoes in his mouth.

 

Playing chicken

On Friday, my wife went to the Hackensack warehouse store for more fresh wild sockeye salmon from the Copper River in Alaska ($10.99 a pound).

She also picked up a package of Empire kosher leg quarters, which are from free-roaming chickens raised on a vegetarian diet and without antibiotics, according to the package.

When she got them home and opened the shrink-wrapped package, the chicken stank and she saw that it was rancid.

She returned it for a refund and Costco offered her a 50% discount on another package, but she said her time, the need to fight traffic and a ruined reusable bag were worth more than that.

She wanted another package for free.

She had to talk to a few employees, but the general manager granted her wish.

 

Part of the produce section at Fairway Market in Paramus. Fairway charges 79 cents for a pound of bananas, compared to about 47 cents a pound at Costco.

"Violators will be embarrassed," a Fairway sign warns. Maybe the store should be embarrassed selling olives for $6.99 a pound. Italian olives are $3.99 a pound at Jerry's Gourmet & More on South Dean Street in Englewood.

I went to Fairway Market in Paramus for coffee, selecting the only beans on sale -- French Roast for $6.99 a pound -- and asking an employee for the Turkish grind.

No other North Jersey store has the selection of whole beans available at Fairway, and most are roasted in the store.

There is a huge selection of coffee beans, but only one was on sale this week.

An employee at the coffee-bean roaster in Paramus.

At Fairway, I also bought 2 pints of Jersey blueberries for $5 or what I paid last week at ShopRite in Paramus, and two heads of green-leaf lettuce for $1.49.

A wedge of Spanish Fig Cake with Mixed Nuts was $6.19 ($9.99 a pound), and the only other store with this item is Whole Foods in Paramus.

The fig cake is wonderful with cheese, such as Grana Padano.

Two sauces, same ingredients

Two bottles of Fairway Market pasta sauce.

When Fairway Market's own pasta sauce was $2.99 or less for a 32-ounce bottle, it was the only brand in my cupboard.

But the price has risen to $4 or more, and I'm likely to buy 32-ounce bottles of Kirkland Signature Marinara sauce at Costco Wholesale.

I prefer a 32-ounce bottle when preparing a full pound of pasta. Most other pasta sauces come in smaller bottles at higher prices.

Two bottles of sauce I bought on sale at the Fairway in Paramus are shown in the photo. 

The ingredients listed are identical. But one is labeled "Marinara" and the other label says "Spaghetti." Go figure.

All bottled pasta sauces can be improved by adding a can of anchovies with their oil, red-pepper flakes, dried Italian herbs and a few ounces of extra-virgin olive oil.

This organic black tea is available for about 4 cents a bag.

I bought Newman's Own Royal Tea, an organic black tea, at ShopRite, but the supermarket chain stopped carrying the item several years ago.

Now, I get it from Amazon.com under the Subscribe & Save program, which ships me 6 100-bag boxes every 6 months.

Last month, I got 6 boxes for $23.15, including shipping, or about 4 cents a cup.

If you like strong tea, as I do, you can leave the bag in the cup until you're finished and the brew will never turn bitter.

A box of this tea also makes a great food gift.

Whole Foods: Great fish at a good price

Hake with Hazelnut Sauce (Photo credit: Joanna Petrova)

Editor's note: Today's bill of fare includes a wonderful fish called hake and two easy ways to prepare it, a brief discussion of the phrase "all natural" and a comparison of prices at Whole Foods, Fairway, Costco and ShopRite.

I spend most of my food dollars at Costco Wholesale and ShopRite, but stop regularly at Whole Foods, H Mart and Fairway to take advantage of their sales.

On Monday, Whole Foods Market in Paramus had fresh, wild-caught hake on sale for $7.99 a pound -- about what I pay for haddock, cod and flounder fillets at Costco in Hackensack.


Not too many years ago, hake was a popular fish in Europe that would show up occasionally on Manhattan restaurant menus. In Spain, it is called "merluza."


Last year, I bought hake fillets at Whole Foods for as low as $5.99 a pound -- a bargain considering what a great eating fish this is.


Even at $9.99 a pound, the regular price, this North Atlantic fish would be a good buy because Whole Foods is the only supermarket I know that gets fresh fish 7 days a week from its own processing facility, Pigeon Cove in Gloucester, Mass.

Red hake (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Preparing hake couldn't be simpler. I had my 2.04-pound fillet cut into six pieces, 1 inch to 2 inches thick. Hake is a meaty fish that flakes beautifully.


You can open a can of organic diced tomatoes, add extra-virgin olive oil, dried herbs and red-pepper flakes, plus fresh lime juice and red or white wine. Sprinkle a little salt on the fish, add it to the heated sauce, cover and cook.


Fillets up to 1 inch take about 15 to 20 minutes. Thicker fillets should cook in about 30 minutes. You can serve them with pasta or rice and a salad.


Hake with chili spices


Another way to prepare hake is to coat it in a combination of breadcrumbs and spices from Wick Fowler's 2-Alarm Chili Kit (except the masa flour). I keep a container in the refrigerator and add black sesame seeds and other spices periodically.


If you eat meat, you'll love this chili-spice breading with chicken, beef, pork or lamb.


Again, sprinkle a little salt on the fillets and press them into the spice mixture, coating all sides. On Monday night, I prepared all six pieces this way, roasting them in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.


With either cooking method, when the fillets start coming apart or flaking, they are close to being ready. 


My wife raved, saying the fish tasted really fresh. The next night, we split one leftover fillet.


Pasta with sardines


We served it with whole-wheat pasta in a sauce of chopped sweet pepper, fresh tomato, garlic and sardines in oil -- plus olive oil, red pepper flakes, anchovies in oil, and a small can of tomato sauce.


On Monday, I also found frozen oxtails in Whole Foods' meat department freezer for $6.99 a pound. compared to $6.29 a pound for conventional oxtails at Fairway Market in Paramus. 


Unlike Fairway, Whole Foods only sells beef from cattle raised on vegetarian feed, without antibiotics or growth hormones.


I charged the Whole Foods hake and oxtails to a registered American Express card, earning a $10 statement credit on the $50-plus order.


Oxtails refund


On the same day I brought the oxtails home, I received a refund check for $18.68 from Cargill Meat Solutions for Rumba-brand oxtails from Costco that we cooked and found to have too much fat and bones.


At Fairway Market on Tuesday, I picked up three sales items: four kinds of Fairway pasta sauce at 2 for $6, regularly $4.49 each; Golden Pineapples at 2 for $4, and 1-pound containers of Sunset-brand Campari tomatoes at 2 for $3.


Fairway pasta sauce comes in 32-ounce bottles, compared to 24 to 25 ounces for most other brands. You can pay up to $8.49 for a bottle of Rao's pasta sauce, but why would you throw the money away?


I usually add a can of anchovies to bottled pasta sauce for robustness, but you don't actually taste those salty little fillets. Red pepper flakes, garlic powder, non-salt seasoning -- all of it can improve a $3 bottle of marinara.


Recycled excuses


Just when I think Fairway might be growing on me, an employee does something stupid, like the clerk who literally threw everything I bought, including the glass bottles with the pasta sauce, into a single reusable bag, even though I put two on the counter.


And, of course, let's not forget New York-based Fairway is the only supermarket that doesn't give you credit for a reusable bag. 


Basically, the owners don't care if they trash New Jersey's environment with their plastic bags, nor do they take back those bags for recycling, as does ShopRite.


Now, Fairway plans to open a second store in Woodland Park, meaning there will be thousands of additional plastic bags on the loose.


'All-Natural' brown eggs


At ShopRite in Englewood, I found a dozen Land O' Lakes All-Natural Extra Large Brown Eggs on sale for $2.50, but cut that to $1.5o with a 50-cent coupon that was doubled at the register. 


These eggs demonstrate the meaninglessness of the phrase "all natural," which has no set of standards, unlike "organic."


The Land O' Lakes carton mentions the chickens' vegetarian feed contains no growth hormones or animal byproducts, but is silent on whether they receive antibiotics in their water. 


Costco v. ShopRite
          
My wife bought a 5-pound bag of carrots at ShopRite for $3.49 -- 50 cents less than usual -- but at Costco, a 10-pound bag of Earthbound Farms organic carrots is $6.99.


She also bought Readington Farms antibiotic-free chicken -- drumsticks, thighs and a whole fryer -- but none of it was on sale. ShopRite routinely discounts Perdue, Tyson and other inferior, drug-filled chicken.


At Costco today, Kirkland Signature frozen, wild-caught Alaskan Sockeye Salmon was $27.99 or about $9.30 a pound. A 10-pound box of sweet potatoes was $6.99. Three pounds of bananas were $1.39 or about 46 cents a pound, lower than any other store.


Two 96-ounce bottles of Apple & Eve Organic Lemonade were $7.69. An attractive, BPA-free set of 16 plastic glasses and tumblers in four colors was $19.99. 


Using and hand-washing plastic glasses and plates (for cold food) helps us cut down on use of the dishwasher.

Fairway prices aren't the real shock

Image via Wikipedia
Fairway Market's California roll is made with an artificial sweetener and a preservative.

I drove over to Fairway Market in Paramus today to pick up a few items during its "shock price" promotion, but the real surprise was the ingredients list for one of the sale items.


I picked up the 9-piece California roll for $3.99 -- which is made in the store --  and tried to read the long list of ingredients in very small type. 


I did a double take when I saw "aspartame," an artificial sweetener, and "potassium sorbate," a preservative. They also were listed on rolls with raw fish.


I mentioned the ingredients to a woman ahead of me in the checkout line when I saw she had picked up a salmon roll. She said couldn't read the list, because she didn't have her glasses with her.


Whole Foods Market in Paramus, ShopRite supermarkets and H Mart also make sushi and rolls in their stores, but I haven't tried any recently and haven't paid attention to the ingredients.


At Fairway, I bought three Fuji apples at 99 cents a pound, three 1-pound packages of Campari tomatoes at $1.66 each and Fairway Organic Fair Trade Coffee Beans (Turkish grind) at $7.99 a pound.


The "shock price" promotion runs through Feb. 9.

Ingredients label has a sweet spot

Image via Wikipedia

"Agave tequilana," or blue agave plant, in Jalisco, Mexico.

I started using Organic Blue Agave Sweetener a few years ago after seeing it on the shelf at Trader Joe's in Paramus. 


But the ingredients label on the Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Blue Agave I found at Costco Wholesale recently contains a lot of information I seemed to have missed.


The natural nectar, extracted from the heart of the agave plant, "is a low-glycemic index sweetener, so it is slowly absorbed into the body, preventing spikes in blood sugar," according to the label.


"It is 25% sweeter than sugar, so you need less, and it has been consumed by ancient civilizations for over 5,000 years."


There's no mention of whether the nectar comes from the same part of the blue agave plant used to distill some of the best tequilas.


The label recommends using the sweetener whenever you use table sugar, such as for sweetening beverages and in baking. I use it in espresso and pour it over yogurt and hot, 10-grain cereal. 


The single ingredient listed is "organic light agave nectar." It's also gluten free.


The label identifies the sweetener as a product of Mexico, distributed by a company in Sugar Land, Texas.


Staying close to home


We've been wanting to try the Organic Tofu House in Ridgewood -- as we search for the best Korean soft-tofu stew in North Jersey -- but I just didn't feel up to getting on Route 17 and driving there.


So, on Saturday evening, we had dinner at one of our favorite places, Wondee's in Hackesnack, which is about a mile from our home.


I made a wonderful, meatless dinner of spicy soup with fresh shrimp, button mushrooms, chili oil and cilantro; crunchy green papaya salad with fish sauce; a whole, fried red-snapper covered in a sweet-and-sour red chili sauce; and a  bowl of brown rice.


My wife and son also had part of the fish, in addition to Thai wonton soup, with sliced pork; and fried pork, shrimp and crab dumplings, which were a bit dry. I mistakenly ordered them instead of the juicy steamed dumplings they prefer.


Wondee's menu also has a page of vegetarian appetizers and entrees, including a terrific mock-duck salad made with fried tofu and fruit.


The chef-owner, Wandee Suwangbutra, held the line on prices for a couple of years, but recently redid the menu. Her new price for a whole, wild-caught fish ($18) is still among the lowest around.


Wondee's Fine Thai Food & Noodles, 296 Main St., Hackensack; 
201-883-1700. Free parking in rear, BYO, no delivery.


The fatted goat


My wife defrosted a 3-pound package of Coleman's organic goat meat we bought at Whole Foods Market in Paramus ($7.99 a pound), only to discover an unusual amount of fat.


It's not the first time we've bought goat meat on the bone from Whole Foods, but it has never had so much fat, which my wife trims for her curry goat dish. We're looking for the receipt to return it.


In the past, we bought our goat meat in New York, at Fairway Market in Harlem, where we'd stop anytime we were on the way home from doing something in the city.


When Fairway opened its store at the Fashion Center in Paramus, I thought I'd have a reliable source for goat meat closer to home, but I was wrong. The store didn't stock any.


The butcher there said I could call and he'd have some sent over from Manhattan, but Fairway's frozen goat meat wasn't organic and there was no package information on how the animals were raised.


Coleman's label specifies the meat is halal and comes from animals raised without antibiotics, growth hormones and animal byproducts.



Related story

• Agave Nectar- A Naturally Healthy Sweetener (findingcoffee.wordpress.com)

It pays to comparison shop for fish, shrimp and rotisserie chickens

Whole Foods Market in Paramus has the best seafood counter in northern New Jersey (2018 photo).



By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

You'll find some of the freshest seafood at Whole Foods Market in Paramus -- and some of the highest prices, too.

I was looking over the wonderful fish display on Tuesday and noticed wild-caught Gulf of Mexico shrimp for $16.99 a pound.

I just happened to be carrying the sales flier from Fairway Market in Paramus and pulled it out to show the Whole Foods fishmonger.

Fairway has wild-caught Gulf of Mexico shrimp on sale for $7.99 a pound through Sept. 5. 

Fairway calls its shrimp "jumbo," while Whole Foods says there are 16 to 20 shrimp in a pound. They could very well be the same shrimp.

Whole Foods does have wild bay scallops from Mexico on sale for $7.99 a pound, a discount of $4 a pound -- as part of a "Madness Sale" that ends today.

Wild-caught, meaty hake fillets from the U.S.A. are $5.99 a pound, a savings of $3 a pound. I've tried these and they are terrific eating.

Whole Foods also has a sale on Jersey Fresh peaches at $1.19 a pound -- about what I paid on Monday at Costco for large peaches that were distributed by a New Jersey company, but appear to be from South Carolina.


Image via Wikipedia
I also noticed Whole Foods' naturally raised rotisserie chickens now are $8.99 each -- up a dollar -- but you can save $3 by buying two for $14.98. I rate this chicken tops in North Jersey.

On the coffee line at Whole Foods, I said to the woman in front of me, "This store should give out more free samples."

She agreed, and said that's why she likes shopping at Costco. I told her she'd find great free samples, especially cheese, at Jerry's Gourmet and More on South Dean Street in Englewood, and not to miss Balthazar Bakery on that same street.

This morning at H Mart in Little Ferry, I picked up two dozen black figs from California for $7.99, and the ripe one I ate after breakfast was like sugar.

I had a cheese omelet filled with pesto, accompanied by the Korean supermarket's stewed tofu in red-pepper sauce, and cabbage and radish kimchis.