Hansang in Pal Park stands out with a generous array of side dishes

After we placed our lunch order at Hansang Korean Restaurant in Palisades Park, the server brought over complimentary side dishes of kimchi, tofu, vegetables and seaweed, arranging them in a circle around a thin seafood pancake, above and below.

The side dish of tofu, upper right, was served warm.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

With up to three dozen restaurants, caterers, coffee shops and other food businesses, Broad Avenue in Palisades Park is the natural starting point for any serious exploration of Korean food.

But you'll find more Korean restaurants on another borough street, Bergen Boulevard, and that's where I met two friends for lunch on Monday.

None of the Bergen Boulevard restaurants I tried several years ago are still there. 

I went inside three of the new or newish Korean places on Monday, and all looked promising.

Hansang, where we had lunch, laid out a total of nine complimentary side dishes, a larger number than most of the Korean restaurants I frequent regularly. 

Our entrees were Bibimbap with Octopus, Kimchi Stew, and Soft-Tofu Stew with Seafood, the last two made spicy ($11.99 to $13.99).

There was so much tasty food we couldn't finish our side dishes or panchan.

I had a few minor complaints:

We were seated next to what turned out to be a noisy service counter.

The complimentary seafood pancake wasn't cut into wedges, making it hard to share.

And the stone-plate bimbimbap -- rice and shredded vegetables topped with octopus -- came without an egg or gochujang, a spicy red-pepper paste that is supposed to be served on the side.

Hansang served a white or water kimchi, lower left, instead of the traditional cabbage kimchi with red pepper.

Bibimbap with Octopus was served on a hot stone plate.

A Soft-Tofu Stew with Seafood included an unusually large clam and head-on shrimp.

Kimchi Stew.

Details

Hansang Korean Restaurant, 520 Bergen Blvd., No. 8, Palisades Park; 1-201-592-1770. Open 7 days for lunch and dinner. 

Nibbling around the edges in Asian Fort Lee

Ramen Setagaya, one of the newerJapanese restaurants in Fort Lee, has expanded its menu and begun offering discounts and free food to lure customers during the week, below.

I've been enjoying the wide array of Asian food in Fort Lee for more than a decade -- at both new and well-established restaurants.

The restaurant scene is constantly changing, reflecting the large infux of Korean immigrants, but new Japanese restaurants have opened to serve the borough's original Asian community.

The Cheap Beer Depot on Route 4 in Fort Lee is closed, above, but the no-luggage Courtesy Motel remains open to some of the worst reviews ever, below. One tourist compared his room to a jail cell. I enjoyed many great meals in the motel's Japanese restaurant, where the female servers wore traditional outfits, but it closed several years ago.

The Japanese restaurant was on the first floor. I got a kick out of  motel guests walking in, looking over the menu of sushi and other items, and asking if the restaurant served steak and a baked potato.

Ramen Setagaya opened on Main Street in Fort Lee, around the corner from the well-established Batten Ramen on Center Avenue.

Prices for ramen, the noodle soup that has achieved cult status in Japan, are similar at both restaurants, but Batten Ramen is cash only.

We had an early dinner on Saturday at Ramen Setagaya, which is a branch of a small restaurant chain in Manhattan and Japan. 

Spicy Miso Ramen at Ramen Setagaya, above, and Deep Fried Oyster, below.

My wife ordered the delicious Spicy Miso Ramen ($11), which also is available on the vegetarian menu with tofu instead of pork.

The spicy ramen is the closest thing to her favorite Korean soft-tofu stew, which she always order "more spicy."

I ordered Deep Fried Oyster ($5.50), and got 4 plump orbs with molten interiors and non-greasy exteriors.

We shared Seafood Goyza ($5) and Shumai ($5), steamed shrimp dumplings.

Gyoza are available with several fillings.

Shumai with a dipping sauce.

Tofu Salad with sesame dressing.

The one disappointment was the Tofu Salad ($4.50), which is made mostly with forgettable iceberg lettuce.

Pepper oil and hot pepper flakes at Ramen Setagaya.

Free parking for Batten Ramen is available in the claustrophobic basement parking garage around the corner from its Center Avenue entrance.

Ramen Setagaya, 243 Main St., Fort Lee; 201-585-0739. BYO, metered street parking, closed Sundays. American Express cards not accepted.

Batten Ramen, 2024 Center Ave., in the Oak Tree Center, Fort Lee; 201-461-5465. BYO, open 7 days, cash only.

A generous slice of South Korea on Lincoln Highway in Edison

The attractive interior of SKD Tofu House in Edison, where a complete meal of tofu, rice and side dishes costs $10.

Soft-tofu stew includes five side dishes and a fresh egg to cook in the hot broth.

Japchae is a non-spicy dish pairing vegetables with translucent, yam-flour noodles.

You can't argue with the freshness of live fish at H Mart.

The food court at the Korean supermarket in Edison.

Pigs' feet also are available sliced.

The buffet at Picnic Garden, an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ restaurant.

Carnivores will delight at the abundance of raw meat on the buffet.

Raw shrimp, right, are displayed on plenty of ice. Each table has a big grill.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A friend who lives in Edison invited me to have dinner at a soft-tofu restaurant, which turned out to be part of a large Korean shopping center on Lincoln Highway.

SKD Tofu House and Picnic Garden BBQ Restaurant flank a big Korean supermarket, H Mart. 

Other businesses include Korean and Chinese-American banks and a Korean bakery.

Another wing of the shopping center, which opened about 18 months ago, is vacant.

For a soft-tofu restaurant, SKD has a stylish interior, and the food and service are as good as any of the tofu houses I've tried in Bergen County.

My friend ordered a soft-tofu stew, which came with excellent cabbage and cucumber kimchis, three other free side dishes, a fresh egg and a small rice for $10, including tax. 

I had a large serving of japchae, translucent yam-flour noodles that are stir-fried with shredded vegetables, and asked the kitchen to hold the beef ($12).

We got a second set of the delicious side dishes, including bean sprouts and pressed tofu, as well as  hot tea.

SKD in the restaurant's name stands for So Kong Dong, a neighborhood in Seoul, Korea, known for its soft-tofu houses.

H Mart shopping

After dinner, we shopped at H Mart and looked over the all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ buffet at Picnic Garden.

At H Mart, I bought a box of 10 Champagne mangoes for $4.44 and a box of 20 Shin Ramyun Gourmet Spicy dried-noodle soups for $14.99 or 75 cents each (usually $17.99).

These superior mangoes also are known as Ataulfo, a variety with yellow skin, a thin seed, fiber-less flesh and buttery texture.

The Edison H Mart is one of six in New Jersey, including the Englewood, Little Ferry, Ridgefield and Fort Lee stores I usually shop in for fish, Asian greens and prepared Korean food.

In fact, for dinner tonight, we're having fresh, whole, wild-caught sea bass my wife bought on Saturday at the Englewood H Mart for $5.99 a pound. 

I came across the history of the supermarket chain on its Web site:

"We are H Mart, short for 'Han Ah Reum,'
which just happens to mean
'One Arm Full of Groceries.'
We're an Asian-inspired supermarket
started in 1982 in Queens, New York.
Despite our small beginnings,
we have grown because of
our continuous commitment to
the freshest ingredients in all our offerings --
while never forgetting that
value is just as important.
We hope our culture brings you new inspiration and
we look forward to seeing you soon." 

Edison, which has nearly 100,000 residents, is a center of Asian-American culture and food. It is about 40 miles south of Hackensack.

Details

SKD Tofu House, 1755 Lincoln Highway, Edison; 1-732-777-2110. Web site: Korean Comfort Food

H Mart, 1761 Lincoln Highway, Edison; 1-732-339-1530. Web site: Better Food, Better Life

Picnic Garden, 1763 Lincoln Highway; 1-732-650-1000. 

Korean restaurants battle for our loyalty

Image via Wikipedia

Stone-bowl bibimbap can be ordered with a cooked egg on top and without meat.

At the end of next month, it will be a full year since my family gave up eating meat and poultry, and ramped up our consumption of fish and seafood. In that time, we've only eaten at Korean restaurants that offer such non-meat dishes as soft-tofu stew and a rice-and-vegetable combination called bibimbap.

Korean restaurants in North Jersey come and go, but new ones seem to appear all the time, especially on Broad Avenue and other streets in Palisades Park, which has a high concentration of Korean-Americans. 

I visited the ShopRite there the other day and saw two restaurants and a 24-hour spa west of Grand Avenue that I never knew existed.

I'll have to try them, I said to myself. 

If you avoid the mystery meat served in Korean barbecue restaurants, you're in for a healthy and inexpensive meal -- tofu, seafood, rice and uncooked vegetable side dishes, including kimchi and bean sprouts. And there are some dishes that aren't spicy or which can be adjusted to be as hot or as mild as you want. 

Book Chang Dong

This full-service Korean restaurant replaced a Korean-owned Vietnamese restaurant. Before that, it was a soft-tofu restaurant I visited a number of times for lunch. The interior, including the worn wooden floor, has seen better days.

But Book Chang Dong is the only place I know in Palisades Park that says it uses organic tofu and rice from seed that hasn't been genetically modified.

As at So Gong Dong -- the second-floor soft-tofu restaurant on Broad Avenue we favor most -- a meal of soft-tofu stew, fresh egg to cook in the boiling broth, rice and side dishes is $9.99, but here tax is not included. The stew is offered in more variations, though. My son is eating meat again and chose ox tail, I went for seafood.

We loved the stew, but thought the portion was slightly smaller than at So Gong Dong. We also liked the cabbage kimchi, but not the bland cucumber kimchi. And we got one more side dish here (five instead of four.)

The standout was the rice-flour pancake of seafood and scallions served on a round stone plate. It was bigger, thicker and crispier than the one at the rival restaurant, but it cost more ($16.99 v. $9.99) and came to the table unsliced. 

Book Chang Dong, 520 Bergen Boulevard, Palisades Park; 201-585-9515.


Rib-sticking breakfast

After I dropped off my car for service at Toyota of Hackensack this morning, I walked up to Main Street for breakfast at Galapagos Restaurant, which offers typical Ecuadorian food and a beautiful wall painting of the Galapagos Islands.

I chose scrambled eggs with corn (mote pillo solo), actually oversized kernels of hominy also used in a Mexican soup called pozole. I asked the cook to make the eggs with oil, not butter, and to hold the fried meat. Instead of french fries, I got rice and beans on the side.

The scramble was bland, but improved greatly when I added homemade hot sauce with chopped onion and cilantro that was on the table. The bill was $6, including two cups of black coffee.

When I asked what another customer was eating, an employee said it was a large mound of green plantains with cheese and pork called bolon, but that it could be made without pork.

Galapagos Restaurant, 222 Main St., Hackensack; 201-342-2222.

Accepts credit cards, $10 minimum.

Ethnic food at Costco

I picked to three jumbo Korean pears -- a crisp fruit that is a cross between a pear and an apple -- for about $2.15 each at Costco in Hackensack. 

Four vegetarian meals from Kitchens of India were about $1.65 each for 10-ounce pouches: curries of red kidney beans, black gram lentils and chick peas, and spinach with cottage cheese and sauce.

Are signs too small?

Are the price signs at ShopRite too small? At the Hackensack and Palisades Park supermarkets, I thought DeCecco pasta was on sale during the 40th anniversary Can Can Sale for 99 cents, down from $1.50, and in Pal Park, I thought a dozen cans of Adirondack seltzer were $1.60, compared to the normal sale price of $1.99.

But DeCecco pasta was $1.50 -- a savings of 99 cents -- my receipt said. The seltzer was $1.99 -- a savings of $1.60 -- but the store was out of it.  I got a rain check for four packs at $1.60, though. I also returned the pasta for a refund.

Shopping, cooking and tasting notes

Image by pkingDesign via Flickr

The red-pepper color of this soft-tofu stew tells you it is very spicy.

I spent more than an hour at Whole Foods Market in Paramus today and it was filled with customers, in contrast to the usually uncrowded weekdays.


Another difference were the free food samples near the entrance -- a delicious squash soup, crisps with non-meat toppings, cheese cubes and pear slices, and real apple cider (with alcohol).

I bought organic and conventional apples and pears, and pasta -- all on sale. The farfalle made with organic durum wheat in Italy is our favorite ($1.29 for a one-pound box). I also picked up 16 ounces of spinach penne for $1.69.

The store is open until 10 p.m. on Sundays.

Pasta with wild-caught shrimp

For dinner last night, I prepared a full box of the farfalle with about a pound and a half of wild-caught Mexican Pacific brown shrimp I bought at Costco in Hackensack. I deveined the shrimp, shelled them and cut them in half to more or less match the size of the bow-tie pasta. 


The sauce was extra-virgin olive oil with chopped fresh garlic and the marinade -- the juice of one and a half lemons, plus dried garlic, red-pepper flakes, salt and black pepper. I added a can of organic diced tomatoes, drained, to a half-cup of oil with garlic, then when it was hot, threw in the shrimp and marinade. 

I started cooking the shrimp about four or five minutes before the pasta was ready, then added the drained bow ties and combined everything thoroughly. I made sure to add grated cheese at the  table for even more flavor.  

A salad of organic spring mix and a glass of red wine completed the meal.


A simple birthday meal


I invited two good friends to join my family Friday for a birthday meal at So Gong Dong, the soft-tofu restaurant in Palisades Park. 

(For my birthday, my wife and son joined me for dinner at Spanish Pavillion in Harrison, where "Kitchen Nightmares" was being taped. See previous post, Our dinner with Chef Gordon Ramsay.)

So Gong Dong serves filling, nutritious Korean comfort food -- soft-tofu stew, steamed rice and side dishes -- for $10, including tax.

We also ordered pork-filled dumplings, a pancake with scallions and seafood, and thin-sliced prime beef, which my son and guests loved. There were five of us, and we couldn't finish the food.

So Gong Dong, 118 Broad Ave., Second Floor, 
Palisades Park; open seven days for lunch and dinner.