Enjoying a delicious, garlic-rich dinner at Lotus Cafe in Hackensack

South Pacific Prawns at Lotus Cafe in Hackensack are jumbo shrimp in the shell that are butterflied and pan fried.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

What wasn't there was almost as big of a draw as all of the wonderful garlic used to prepare the dishes we ordered late Saturday afternoon at Lotus Cafe in Hackensack.

Chinese dishes often are made with a ubiquitous "brown sauce" that is based on soy and filled with sodium.

But we ordered two dishes without sauce:

South Pacific Prawns ($17.95), which are pan-fried with shallot, garlic, ginger, scallion and peppercorn, according to the menu.

The preparation also is known as pepper and salty, and we ate the jumbo shrimp shell and all. I dipped mine in Chinese mustard.

You also can get the shrimp cooked without the shell.

Our second dish was Chinese Broccoli stir-fried with fresh garlic ($10.95). 

We asked for the broccoli "well done" to soften the stems.

We were finishing dinner in our favorite Chinese restaurant, and noticed the waiters putting tablecloths and cloth napkins on empty tables.

That's when I knew it was 5 o'clock.

Leafy Chinese Broccoli stir-fried with fresh garlic.

We began with Seafood Soup for Two ($7.95), above and below. 

Our soup contained shrimp, squid, sliced fish cake and vegetables, but I didn't find any of the bay scallops I enjoyed on previous visits.

Lotus Cafe doesn't charge extra for brown rice.

Details

Lotus Cafe, 450 Hackensack Ave., Hackensack, in the Home Depot Shopping Center; 201-488-7070.

Open 7 days, BYO, big parking lot, special fixed-price multi-course dinners for four or more, free delivery within 3 miles ($12 minimum).

After years of pleasing diners, Lotus Cafe's congenial host retires

Leafy, crunchy and bright green, Chinese Broccoli with Fresh Garlic at Lotus Cafe in Hackensack may be the perfect vegetable dish.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Philip Su, who greeted us, seated us and satisfied us with wonderful Chinese dishes at Lotus Cafe in Hackensack for more than 15 years, has retired.

Mr. Su, who was born in Taiwan, and wife Tracy opened Lotus Cafe in a Hackensack Avenue shopping center in 1993.

On Saturday night, we had dinner at the restaurant, and I expected to see the congenial, well-dressed host in his usual place, standing at the front counter to welcome us. 

We had a nice meal of soup, noodles, shrimp and a vegetable, and on the way out, I asked about him, only to learn he had retired on Aug. 31.

Prawns in Chili Sauce is marked on the menu as spicy ($16.95), but don't expect the fire of Korean or Thai dishes.

Instead of white or brown rice, we ordered Chow Fun with Vegetables ($8.95), a dish made with broad rice noodles.

Make it 'light'

Chinese food can be very salty, because of the heavy reliance on soy sauce.

We return repeatedly to Lotus Cafe, where we know the owners and most of the waiters, who suggest dishes new to us and customize our order.

I ordered Chinese Broccoli with "fresh garlic" to avoid the sodium in oyster sauce, and our waiter agreed to ask the kitchen to make us a "light" version of Prawns in Chili Sauce.

We had plenty to eat, and took home leftover shrimp, broccoli and noodles.

Price-fixed and banquet menu

In addition to an extensive a la carte menu, Lotus Cafe serves price-fixed dinner for four to eight people, and banquets for 10 to 12 diners -- all excellent values.

On Saturday night, I saw four Japanese couples with two six-packs of beer ordering Dinner for Eight, a 10-course meal for $160, plus tax and tip.

The meal includes soup; beef, pork, chicken and seafood entrees; a vegetable, noodles and dessert.

Seafood Soup for Two has tender squid, scallop, shrimp, fish cake and crisp vegetables swimming in a tasty broth ($7.50), above and below.

The tastefully furnished dining room of the BYO, above and below.

Lotus Cafe, 450 Hackensack Ave., Home Depot Shopping Center, Hackensack; 201-488-7070. Open 7 days, BYO, large parking lot.

Port of Call's all-you-can-eat buffet is just OK

One of the three dinner plates filled with seafood, salad and steamed or sauteed vegetables I had for lunch on Tuesday at Port of Call, an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant in Hackensack. The best item I sampled was a fish salad with fruit and sun-dried tomatoes, front center.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Only the world's fussiest eaters would demand a selection of more than 100 items at lunch.

But that's what I found at Port of Call, the all-you-can eat buffet restaurant that opened in January in Hackensack's Home Depot Shopping Center.

If a price-fixed, three-course lunch of appetizer, entree and dessert is a focused meal, this no-holds-barred format is totally unfocused, confusing and, ultimately, frustrating.

For $13.69 at lunch, plus tax and tip, you get the run of the restaurant's sushi, seafood, salad, meats-and-roasts, pasta, fried-food and dessert stations.

Tea and coffee are available, but they aren't included in the price, though our server neglected to mention that when we asked for them.

I filled a second dinner plate with large green-lip mussels, fish salad, fish-egg and mackerel sushi, and part of a Dungeness crab.

More mussels and sushi, and cooked shrimp that I didn't bother to peel.

Cold meat, coffee

I met two friends for lunch at Port of Call on Tuesday. Both tried meat items, including short ribs, and one sampled three of the desserts.

One friend found only two short ribs available, and the other said his meat was cold. He liked a cookie, but didn't care for his other desserts.

The all-you-can-eat dinner at Port of Call costs almost twice as much as lunch, and the number of items can balloon to 250 on the weekends, a manager said.

When I asked for sashimi -- raw fish without rice -- I was told it is available only at dinner. Broiled eel? Ditto. And I didn't see any raw oysters on the half shell.

For me, the best sushi selections were mackerel and small fish eggs wrapped in seaweed, but I didn't want to fill up on rice.

I didn't try any of the meat, fried food, pasta or desserts.

Salad and sushi stations, above and below.

A sushi chef, cook or other employee is at work behind all of the buffet counters.

Part of the dessert station.

Dungeness crabs are difficult to eat.

Cooked shrimp are on the small side.

Friendly, but slow

Servers and other staff are friendly, but there is no table service or menus. A woman named Amber brought us ice water, and cleared away dishes and uneaten food.

When we asked for tea and coffee, Amber didn't tell us they cost extra. 

She said I could have coffee, an espresso or a latte and I chose the last. She brought over a box of premium tea bags for my friend, and he asked for Egyptian Mint ($2.50).

The coffee took longer than I expected, and it was lukewarm when I got it. I asked for another, and saw Amber go over to a man at the front counter.

She said she would replace the latte and take it off of the bill, but I received a credit of only $2.49. The latte was $4.25.

Even hot, this latte wasn't even close to Starbucks or the ones I make at home.

Skip this port

I don't see any reason to return to Port of Call. 

I felt I got good value, with three plates of salad and seafood for $13.69, but the food is just OK.

And in the absence of table service, why put a tip table at the bottom of the receipt ranging from 15% to 20%?

One of my friends paid for my lunch, and left a tip of 10%.

The receipt says "food is an art" at Port of Call, and "you are the priority." Both are a stretch.

Port of Call is Hackensack's biggest restaurant, with 475 seats, including two private rooms that weren't in use Tuesday afternoon, according to the man at the front counter.

But the all-you-can-eat format is a slippery slope I have never really enjoyed, especially after losing more than 40 pounds over the last few years and keeping it off.

Details

Port of Call American Fusion & Sushi, 450 Hackensack Ave., Hackensack, in the Home Depot Shopping Center; 201-488-0888. BYO (wine or beer only). Large parking lot.

Open Mondays to Fridays for lunch, $13.69; Saturdays and Sundays for brunch, $17.69; Mondays to Thursdays for dinner, $24.99; and Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for dinner, $27.99.

2018 prices

Now, lunch is $15.69, weekend brunch is $20.69, and dinner ranges from $27.99 to $30.99, depending on the day of the week.

Our second choice for seafood is no slouch

Shrimp Soong at Lotus Cafe in Hackensack.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

We planned to have dinner at Seafood Gourmet, the popular fish market-restaurant in Maywood, but couldn't get a reservation before 8:30 on Saturday night.

So, we jumped into the car and drove a couple of miles to Lotus Cafe in Hackensack, our favorite restaurant for Chinese-style seafood.

Three of use ordered seafood soup, a shrimp dish, a fish dish and a vegetable stir fried with fresh garlic, plus small bowls of complimentary white and brown rice. We took home leftovers.

My portion of Seafood Soup for 3 ($11.25) contained a stray piece of meat, which I gave to my wife in return for the tender squid she put in my bowl.

Our waiter divided and served the soup, as well as the Shrimp Soong.

From the menu's list of Chef's Specialties, we chose Shrimp Soong ($16.95), a delicious combination of minced shrimp with celery, pine nuts, black mushrooms, water chestnuts, sweet pepper and peas, which we ate wrapped in a lettuce leaf.


  

Ask for chili paste to spice up your food.

Our second seafood dish was one of our favorites, Filet of Sole with Scallion & Ginger ($16.95), and our vegetable was Chinese Broccoli stir fried with fresh garlic, a vegetable that is both leafy and crunchy ($9.95).

We found that all of the dishes but the soup served four.

Filet of Sole with Scallion & Ginger.

Chinese Broccoli.

Lotus Cafe, 450 Hackensack Ave., in the Home Depot Shopping Center, Hackensack; 1-201-488-7070. BYO. Free delivery within 3 miles ($12 minimum).

Lotus Cafe is a BYO.

'Mega' buffet restaurant set for Hackensack mall

Port of Call, a "mega" buffet restaurant, is renovating this building at 450 Hackensack Ave., in Hackensack's Home Depot Shopping Center, where Green Grill operated for more than a decade.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Port of Call, a "mega" buffet restaurant, is renovating the space once occupied by Green Grill in the Home Depot Shopping Center in Hackensack.

Port of Call describes its food as "American fusion and sushi." Its Web site says it will open in "winter 2013."

Green Grill, a Brazilian-style rodizio restaurant known for its gargantuan, all-you-can-eat meals, had 44o seats, and likely was the city's largest restaurant.

In 2005, the restaurant was taken over by new Korean owners.

In recent years, even a $9.95 all-you-can eat lunch couldn't save it.  It closed in late 2012.

Port of Call will be open six days a week from 11 a.m. to midnight, and close on Sundays. I don't know whether POC will have a liquor license.

Other Port of Call buffet restaurants are in Coral Gables and Weston, Fla.

The Coral Gables outpost offers more than 150 items at lunch ($13.19), Saturday and Sunday brunch ($16.19) and dinner ($20.19 to $22.69), according to the Web site.

The new buffet restaurant isn't expected to be a threat to another tenant of the shopping center, Lotus Cafe, a Chinese BYO where the emphasis is on quality, not quantity.

The interior is being renovated.

A small sign announcing the new tenant.

Where $22 buys a tasty six-course meal

Seafood and Tofu Casserole at Lotus Cafe in Hackensack.

Lobster and Cream Corn Soup.

Few celebratory meals are as satisfying as a multi-course Chinese banquet, but you don't have to assemble a large group to enjoy such a feast at Lotus Cafe in Hackensack.

The BYO serves Dinners for Four, Six and Eight -- 6-, 8- and 10-course price-fixed meals for $69 to $160, plus tax and gratuity.

We had a delicious Dinner for Four on Monday night -- 5 courses of seafood, tofu and vegetables, plus dessert -- for about $22 per person, including tax and a 20% tip.

We couldn't finish the food, and I enjoyed the leftovers for dinner at home on Tuesday.

Filet of Sole with Ginger and Scallion.

Crunchy Chinese Broccoli sauteed with fresh garlic.

We've been going to Lotus Cafe for years, so I asked owner Philip Su if he could modify the Dinner for Four menu to eliminate dishes with pork and chicken, and give us only seafood.

We started with Lobster and Cream Corn Soup -- instead of Chicken & Wild Bamboo Soup -- and our  Lotus Mooshu Delight, served wrapped in thin rice pancakes, was made with shrimp instead of shredded pork.

Then we had the Seafood and Tofu Casserole (shrimp, scallop, squid and fish cake), Filet of Sole with Ginger and Scallion, and Chinese Broccoli (see photos).

The restaurant upgraded the usual dessert of Litchi and Pineapple to three big scoops of ice cream and orange sections.

We brought a half bottle of red wine to have with the meal, along with unlimited tea and small bowls of white or brown rice. 

An individual bowl of the egg-drop soup with vinegar.

Lotus Mooshu Delight is crowned with an egg crepe.

Hoisin Sauce for Lotus Mooshu Delight can be added before noodles, tofu, vegetables and shrimp are wrapped in pancakes. At rear, chili paste and Chinese vinegar.

If you can get 10 people together, Lotus Cafe will serve you a 12-course feast --  the Formosa Banquet -- for $268.

Ten to 12 people can order the 12-course Lotus Banquet for $338.

From the Dinner for Four to the Lotus Banquet for 10 to 12, each meal offers contrasting flavors and textures from one of the best Chinese restaurants in North Jersey.

Here are some of the dishes on the Special Prix Fixe Dinner and Banquet Menu:

Emperor's Pork Loin, Crispy Aromatique Duck, X.O. Beef Casserole, Paradise Chicken, Giant Meat Ball Casserole, and Five Delicacy Cold and Hot Appetizer Platter.

Lotus Cafe, 450 Hackensack Ave., in the Home Depot Shopping Center, Hackensack; 201-488-7070.

BYO, open seven days, parking lot, reservations recommended on weekends and holidays. 

Web site: Lotus Cafe