At Costco, should you go for fresh or frozen from the deep sea?

I poached fresh, wild-caught Icelandic haddock fillets from Costco Wholesale in Roasted Poblano Salsa from Whole Foods Market in under 10 minutes. 

Editor's note: With only a couple of exceptions, I prefer fresh, wild-caught fish fillets from Costco Wholesale.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

When I felt like fresh fish for dinner on Monday, I drove a couple of miles to Costco Wholesale in Hackensack at a little after 3 in the afternoon.

The warehouse store offers a large variety of seafood from all over the world -- fresh, frozen, wild and farmed.

As usual, I found fresh, wild-caught fillets of cod, haddock and flounder for as little as $7.99 a pound, and chose a 1.6-pound of package of flaky haddock from Iceland ($8.99 a pound).

I knew I had a 16-ounce bottle of 365 Everyday Value Roasted Poblano Salsa from Whole Foods Market and fresh limes at home, all I would need to poach the haddock, which I cut into serving pieces and sprinkled with Aleppo pepper.

Less than 10 minutes after the salsa and fresh lime juice came to a boil in a covered pan, I was spooning two portions of fish over leftover organic brown rice.

I actually cooked my haddock for only 5 minutes, and it continued cooking after I turned off the fire.

A glass of red wine and a triple-washed Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix Salad ($4.89 a pound) completed the meal.

Previously frozen lobster tails at Costco Wholesale are $21 a pound. The label describes them as "warm water" lobster, but the use of a preservative is a real turn-off, and I've never purchased them. Where are they from? The label doesn't say. See a comment at the end of the post for information on the origin of these lobster tails.

Boxes holding 10 pounds of frozen Red King Crab.

The label doesn't say where these cooked legs and claws come from, though we bought loose king crab legs from Costco's Seafood Road Show for our Christmas dinner, and I assumed they were from Alaska.

At the Hackensack warehouse store, previously frozen whole wild octopus from the Philippines, left, and frozen calamari tubes.

Frozen or previously frozen?

Costco's Seafood Road Show ended a long holiday run in Hackensack today, and we liked the loose frozen King Crab legs we bought for our Christmas dinner ($17.99 a pound).

We steamed the fully cooked legs for Christmas, and made a salad with the leftovers with diced celery, onion and sweet pepper, dressed with Dijon mustard and fresh lime juice.

We also like previously frozen Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon, which shot up to $18.89 a pound last May.

Recently, the price of 1 pound of the sliced salmon went down to $15.99, compared to $15.59 in May 2013.

We've also enjoyed frozen hake and wild sockeye salmon fillets.

But we avoid most of the frozen shellfish Costco sells, as well as the previously frozen farmed Black Tiger Shrimp from Vietnam.

We also are no fans of fresh farmed fish -- from the huge fillets of artificially colored salmon and steel-head trout to the tilapia.

Thanksgiving 2013: Why did I eat the whole thing?

An Alaskan King Crab claw from Costco Wholesale was one of 10 items on our Thanksgiving menu. Juggling the preparation of that many dishes on Thursday proved difficult, and there was just way too much food.

We didn't have turkey for the first time in many years. One of the substitutes, lamb chops from Australia, were rubbed with Kirkland Signature Sweet Mesquite Seasoning, both from Costco.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

We pulled up the anchor of the traditional Thanksgiving meal -- turkey -- and found ourselves adrift on uncharted seas.

With 10 dishes, our dinner certainly was bountiful, but it lacked the focus of a whole bird or even such dark-meat parts as the drumsticks, thighs and wings we prefer.

For the meat eaters, we roasted lamb chops and heated up a fully cooked, naturally raised Niman Ranch ham.

We also served an array of seafood dishes: 

Lobster bisque, steamed Alaskan King Crab legs and claws; Littleneck clams prepared with sake, garlic and organic diced tomatoes; and leftover organic whole wheat linguine in Victoria Marinara Sauce with shrimp, sardines and salted cod.

In the process, we fell one fish short of the traditional Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes.

A fully cooked, applewood-smoked petite ham from Whole Foods Market only needed to be reheated in the oven.

Flexible menu

On Thursday morning, my wife decided she wanted poultry, even if it was only the three pieces of antibiotic-free Readington Farms chicken in the freezer, and she also prepared a big pot of rice and small red beans.

The night before, I had roasted more than a half-dozen sweet potatoes, but we had so much food to eat on Thanksgiving, they never left the refrigerator.

Our vegetable dishes were about 12 ounces of baby spinach from the salad bar at the hospital where I volunteer on Wednesdays, and broccoli florets from Costco Wholesale we had in the refrigerator.

We blanched the spinach and broccoli in boiling water for a few minutes, drained the pots and added extra-virgin olive oil, garlic and other seasoning.

We drank Costco's Kirkland Signature Champagne (Brut) and Martinelli's Sparkling Cider.

Organic whole wheat linguine from Whole Foods Market in Victoria Marinara Sauce with shrimp, sardines and salted cod fish was the last thing I eat on Thanksgiving, except for tea, a couple of clementines and almonds dusted with cinnamon. The meal was a belly buster. 

Leftovers

This morning, I had one of the untouched sweet potatoes for breakfast, along with broccoli, spinach and a simple egg-white omelet with shredded Parmigiano Reggiano, often called the King of Cheeses.

I also prepared a frittata with lots of diced Niman Ranch ham, sweet pepper and onion, adding Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto after I took it out of the oven.

Black Friday

The only Black Friday shopping I was interested in doing was stopping at Whole Foods Market in Paramus for naturally raised turkey drumsticks, which usually are put on sale the day after the holiday.

But the mall's parking lot was packed with shoppers hoping to find bargains at Target, clothing outlets and other stores, and I turned around and went home.

A frittata with whole eggs, egg whites, ham, pesto and fresh Campari Tomato slices.

Alice Waters on PBS

I was disappointed in both anchor Judy Woodruff and restaurateur Alice Waters, who started the organic and local food revolution when she opened Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., in 1971.

Woodruff's interview with Waters on the PBS NewsHour aired on Thanksgiving night, but neither discussed the widespread use of harmful animal antibiotics in poultry, beef  and pork that is making humans immune to the antibiotics prescribed by doctors.

Waters stressed how organic farmers are stewards of the land, and how their methods protect growing fields for future generations.

When asked about the expense of organic food, the pioneering restaurateur noted you can pay up front for naturally raised or grown food or pay for the medical care you'll need to treat obesity or other conditions caused by a steady diet of cheap, crappy fast food.

But she didn't explain that organic food is not only free of pesticides, preservatives, antibiotics and growth hormones, but that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) also are barred.

Party atmosphere, disappointing food

Image by TheRogue via Flickr

At Joe's Crab Shack, the fish and shrimp are a lot more satisfying.

Eat at Joe's for the shore vibe, festive atmosphere and dancing servers, but don't expect much from the signature crab dishes.

If you like noise and loud music, you'll find plenty of both at Joe's Crab Shack in Clifton, where dozens of the young, enthusiastic servers drop everything and dance every 45 minutes as disco lights revolve overhead.

Maybe the dancing and the servers' colorful T-shirts are designed to distract you from the ultimately disappointing crab buckets and steam pots at this chain restaurant. 

We started with cups of lobster bisque ($3.69 each) and I had a side Cesar salad ($3.19) before we shared two entrees, the Caribbean Feast ($19.89) and the Crab Daddy Feast ($29.99). 

The Sea Turtle Sundae was $7.49, and a cup of weak black coffee was $2.49. I declined a free refill.

With iced tea and lemonade, and a $12 tip, I ended up spending nearly $100.

My wife and son liked the lobster bisque and lemonade, but I thought the thick soup tasted more of corn than of crab.

Joe's calls some of its entrees "feasts," but take that with a grain of salt. 

     

I found the Caribbean Feast the most satisfying, with its juicy fillet of mahi-mahi, shrimp prepared two ways, and rice with pineapple and big chunks of carrot and other vegetables.

The Crab Daddy Feast combines Dungeness, Snow and King Crabs in a bucket with an ear of sweet corn and two boiled, skin-on potatoes.

All of the crab legs (not claws, as I wrote earlier) had one thing in common: They were soft and hard to crack, so it was a struggle to get the crab meat out of them. I ended up eating only slightly more crab than shell.

And the crab I did eat wasn't that tasty -- it bordered on being dry --  despite the spicy boil we ordered. 

I had asked the waitress if she knew the weight of the crab in the bucket, and she said each of two crab clusters weighed 18 ounces and there were two King Crab legs. 

Of course, I didn't have a scale at the table, but there seemed to be less crab than that.

We plan to return to Joe's for the twin-lobster steam pot, and to try more of the fish and shrimp. But we'll steer clear of those pesky crabs.

There are other nearby food options as well, including Zinburger and It's Greek to Me.

Joe's Crab Shack, 405 Allwood Road,

in The Promenade Shops at Clifton shopping center, 

Clifton; 973-777-5114. No reservations taken.

Web site: www.joescrabshack.com