A great Chinese-style seafood meal with no fish-by-the-pound penalty

A whole Striped Bass, steamed with ginger and scallion, was the centerpiece of a wonderful seafood meal last weekend at Lotus Cafe, the Chinese BYO in Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Unlike newer and pricier Chinese competitors, Lotus Cafe doesn't have "seafood" in its name.

But the Hackensack BYO's menu offers plenty of heart-healthy fish and other seafood.

And lovers of fresh whole fish won't be charged by the pound, as they will at Aquarius Seafood Restaurant in Fort Lee and Lan Garden in Ridgefield.

As usual at Lotus Cafe, me and my wife ordered too much food at a late afternoon dinner last weekend, including seafood soup, seafood dumplings and a whole striped bass, one of the tastiest fish around.

Our fish, steamed with ginger and scallion, was arranged artistically on an oval platter, and looked like it weighed 1.5 pounds ($28.95).

Whole flounder also was available, and the kitchen will fry your choice, but we prefer steamed fish with its light sauce.

Brown rice also is available at no extra charge. We took home leftover soup, dumplings and fish.

Seafood Soup for 2 is packed with squid, shrimp, scallop and fish cake, plus a few vegetables, and the broth isn't overly salted ($7.95)

You can order eight shrimp-filled Seafood Dumplings boiled or fried ($7.95).

We also ordered Sauteed Chinese Star Squash, a delicious side dish ($10.95).

At exactly 5 p.m. the servers at Lotus Cafe bring out the tablecloths.

Details

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

Reservations recommended on weekends.

Ask for a separate menu listing multi-course, price-fixed dinners for 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 people (6 to 12 courses for $79 to $358, plus tax and tip).

Fort Lee welcomes more Asian restaurants and the return of dim sum

The only thing missing during dim-sum service at Aquarius Seafood Restaurant in Fort Lee are servers calling out the Cantonese names of the dumplings and other delights they are hawking.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I enjoyed dim sum lunches at Silver Pond for close to 15 years before the Chinese seafood restaurant ended a 25-year run on Main Street in Fort Lee.

Now, the owners of Aquarius Seafood Restaurant have completely renovated the space and brought back a dim sum menu with nearly 50 items priced from $2.95 (Small) to $9.25 (XX Large).

The servers at Aquarius roll carts around the dining room, trying to entice customers to take as many steamer baskets or plates as possible, and it's easy to order too much.

Each basket or plate usually holds three or four items.

At lunch this week, I loved the pan-fried chive cakes, shrimp rice roll, and a trio of green dumplings stuffed with spinach and a little shrimp.

When the dining room is full, the noise level is annoying high.

Aquarius also has a large Cantonese-style menu, including live fish, which Silver Pond also offered.

After Silver Pond closed, the dim sum void was filled in 2015 with the opening of Lan Garden, another Chinese seafood restaurant, at 88 Route 4 west in Ridgefield.

Lan Garden serves dim sum all day and into the night. At Aquarius, dim sum can be ordered until 3 p.m.

Spinach and Shrimp Dumplings ($4.25).

Shrimp Rice Rolls ($4.25).

Pan-fried Chive Cakes ($3.50).

Aquarius Seafood Restaurant offered a lunch special of Emperor Abalone for $55 on Monday.

Details

Aquarius Seafood Restaurant, 230-34 Main St., Fort Lee; 201-592-8338. Open 7 days. Serves liquor. Metered parking on street or in large municipal lot.

Website: Dim Sum and Live Fish

Other new restaurants on Main Street in Fort Lee include T-Swirl Crepe, above and below.

Picnic is a Korean-owned sushi restaurant.

Yea Jip, which offers traditional Korean cuisine, is next door to Picnic, but isn't open for business yet.

Still missing at Costco Wholesale; comforting dim sum on a rainy day

MORE SMOKED WILD FISH: Now you can get Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon two ways at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro. I found this 1.5-pound package of fully cooked salmon fillet among the cans of tuna, pink salmon and sardines.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Kirkland Signature 100% Egg Whites still are missing in action at Costco Wholesale, and shoppers hoping to cut down on cholesterol have to settle for less product at a higher price.

We haven't seen the house brand of liquid Egg Whites since July, when we were first forced to settle for Egg Beaters 100% Egg Whites.

With Egg Beaters, you get four 16-ounce cartons for $8.99, compared to six 16-ounce cartons of Kirkland Signature 100% Egg Whites for $9.99.

In response to a previous post on the absence of Kirkland Signature 2% Lactose-Free Milk, Costco said on Facebook the product still is available at "select locations," including the Clifton warehouse store.

If I were to drive out to Clifton, I would be saving 33 cents per half-gallon on lactose-free milk, compared to ShopRite.

But the Costco in Clifton is indistinguishable from the new Teterboro warehouse, so that would be a waste of time.

Smoked salmon

I'm a big fan of Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon, a refrigerated product that is great stuffed in omelets or eaten out of hand rolled with cheese and greens and dipped in Dijon mustard.

On Thursday, I found the 1-pound package at a lower price, $14.89. Try to beat that at another store.

Now, Costco has a new smoked wild salmon product, a thicker fillet that is fully cooked, but doesn't need refrigeration until it is opened.

The 1.5 pound package was $15.97. 

Besides salmon, ingredients include salt, brown sugar and natural wood smoke, and the best-by date on my package is June 23, 2021.

The refrigerated smoked salmon lists the same ingredients, but a 2-ounce serving of the new product contains less sodium.

All of the other smoked salmon at Costco is farmed, artificially colored fish.

Wild Atlantic cod

Costco is a reliable source for wild-caught skinless-and-boneless fish fillets, but I'm partial to thick, meaty Atlantic Cod, which was only $7.99 a pound.

On Friday night, I heated up a jar of Roasted Salsa Verde from Whole Foods Market, added the juice of two limes, and when it started to boil, placed serving pieces of seasoned cod into the large pan and covered it.

The fish was ready in about 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large pot, I heated up 2 cups of Kirkland Signature Organic Chicken Stock, filled the pot with triple-washed Kale, adding sea salt and other seasonings, and covered the pot.

Following a simple recipe on the bag, I stirred the chopped kale once or twice until it cooked down and turned a bright green.

After 5 minutes, the tough stems were tender, and I turned off the fire, leaving it covered until the fish was ready.

A 2-pound bag from Nature's Greens was only $3.79 at Costco.

Compared to the old Hackensack warehouse, Teterboro has a much larger refrigerated room for bags of kale, organic spring mix, berries, sweet corn, mushrooms and  other produce.

But fresh herbs are conspicuously absent.

This week, I chopped up a bunch of fresh coriander from ShopRite, and used it to garnish omelets and the salsa-simmered cod I made on Friday night.

FAR FROM A GRIND: Kirkland Signature Himalayan Pink Salt, called "the purest salt in the world," reappeared at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro. The 13-ounce container with a grinder was $3.99.

CAN'T BEAT BREAKFAST: A simple Egg Beaters omelet, stuffed with grated cheese and organic Mexican-style salsa, is part of a hearty breakfast that substitutes organic brown rice and mashed organic sweet potatoes for bread. The side dish is sauteed baby spinach.

FISH AND KALE: Fresh wild Atlantic cod cooks quickly in Roasted Salsa Verde from Whole Foods Market in Paramus, and fresh chopped kale is a great side dish.

SKIMPING ON FISH EGGS: Super Har Gow Jumbo Shrimp Dumplings are one of the many dim sum available at Lan Garden on Route 46 in Ridgefield. The centerpiece of fish eggs is much smaller than in the past.

Dim sum on 46

Thursday was one of those miserable days when heavy rain made driving anywhere a chore, especially on hated Route 46 in northern New Jersey.

Before going to Costco, which is just off the highway in Teterboro, I decided to stop for some comforting dim sum at Lan Garden, a Chinese restaurant at 88 Route 46 west in Ridgefield.

With the closing of Silver Pond Seafood Restaurant in Fort Lee, Lan Garden is the only reliable place near my home for Hong Kong-style dim sum.

The last time I had dim sum at Silver Pond, in July 2012, we were charged 95 cents a person for tea.

At Lan Garden, dim sum is available all day and into the night, not just at lunch, and tea is free.

Prices have stayed the same since my last dim-sum meal in April, but one of my favorites, four Super Har Gow Jumbo Shrimp Dumplings, came with a much smaller serving of fish eggs ($6.95).

The dim-sum menu offers about 50 items, including congee, listed as Small ($3.50), Medium ($4.95), Large ($5.95), X-Large ($6.95) and Super ($8.95).

A meal of four dim-sum selections runs about $30 for two, including tip and tax. 

I ate the shrimp dumplings in the dining room, watching speeding cars splash past the restaurant, and ordered three other items to go to share with my wife at home.

The manager blamed the rain for why he had only a few customers at midday Thursday.

A Lan Garden menu offers lunch specials for $8.95 to $11.95 with soup, rice and tea on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., except holidays.

Seafood Dumpling with Spinach (three for $5.95) was one of the dim sum I ordered to go.

Pan Fried Chive Cake (three for $4.95).

Pan Fried Shrimp Bean Curd Roll ($5.95).

Details

Web site: 

Lan Garden 88: Seafood and Dim Sum

Bad service at Joyce Chinese Cuisine, Christmas dinner at home

The beautifully decorated dining room of Joyce Chinese Cuisine in River Edge is quite a contrast after you've seen litter, a broken sidewalk and parking rules that are difficult to fathom at the shabby strip mall on Kinderkamack Road the restaurant calls home.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

When I found out a friend had made numerous business trips to Hong Kong, I asked him to meet me for dim sum at Lan Garden on Route 46 in Ridgefield.

But he said he had heard bad things about the Chinese restaurant, and suggested we have dim sum instead at Joyce Chinese Cuisine in River Edge.

When I got there on Tuesday afternoon, he was already seated and announced that, guess what, Joyce doesn't serve dim sum.

But the two Chinese restaurants have one thing in common: Indifferent service from a young staff.

The table at Joyce Chinese Cuisine held a tea pot, but only one cup, and a single glass of water.

After I arrived and sat down, the server brought us menus and went away, but I had to ask another waiter for a tea cup and a glass of water.

I liked the food at the Szechuan restaurant, especially an appetizer of Hot Spicy Cold Noodles ($5.50), with their delayed heat.

But after we finished it, a busboy came over and started to clear all of the dishes and chopsticks off of the table before I told him we were waiting for two other dishes.

Most of the other customers appeared to be Chinese, usually a good sign.

I have long been loyal to Lotus Cafe in Hackensack, where I see the same waiters year after year and have gotten excellent service.

An appetizer of Hot Spicy Cold Noodles is not to be missed.

A lunch entree of Shrimp in Black Bean Sauce with broccoli was $13.50.

Dry Sauteed String Beans can be ordered without meat ($10.25).

Wonderfully spicy carrot and radish, above, and peanuts are complimentary.

Test your chopstick skills by picking up these and putting them in your mouth.

Tea is free, but Joyce Chinese Cuisine does charge for premium brews.

Joyce Chinese Cuisine, 478 Kinderkamack Road, River Edge; 201-261-8858. Open 7 days. Parking in front and rear.

A bountiful seafood feast

We started our Christmas dinner this afternoon with two items from Costco Wholesale, Lobster Bisque and fully cooked Alaskan King Crab Legs, which I steamed for 15 minutes.

We followed that with four live lobsters, which averaged a little more than 1.5 pounds each. I ate mine with the juice of a fresh lime.

We spent $65 on the meaty crab legs and nearly $57 on the lobsters, but I'm planning to make a seafood salad with the leftovers.

After the soup, crab and lobster, I only had room for some yuca with garlic, but the rest of the family tucked into Cuban-style roast pork and dirty rice, along with the yuca.

Left uneaten were five whole fish a family friend prepared for our dinner.

We drank Kirkland Signature Prosecco, a sparkling dry white wine from Italy, and ShopRite's Sparkling Cider, made from 100% apple juice and imported from Spain.

A 24.5-ounce bottle was on sale with a store card for $1.49 on Tuesday, with a limit of four. That's a dollar off the usual price.

30% discount at Lan Garden continues until Sept. 1

Seafood Chow Fun at Lan Garden in Ridgefield contains shrimp, scallops and tender squid with broad rice noodles.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

On my third visit to Lan Garden, a new Chinese restaurant in Ridgefield, I tried a noodle dish and ordered a whole fish steamed, not fried.

The restaurant's soft opening has been extended, and the grand opening is now set for Sept. 1.

Until then, all food is 30% off, and until Lan Garden gets its liquor license, customers can bring their own beer or wine.

That's contrary to what I was told on my previous visit.

The food is good, but service is still a bit slow, and the kitchen is having trouble filling orders, even when the restaurant isn't full.

On Saturday night, me and my wife ordered four dishes and a fifth one to go, hoping to have a lot of leftovers to bring home to other family members.

We did.

I wanted to order the delicious Lobster with Ginger and Scallion I had on my last visit, but the waiter said the lobsters weighed about 3 pounds and were priced at $19.95 a pound.

So, I asked for a whole flounder to be steamed with ginger and scallion ($26.95).

Steamed Whole Flounder with Ginger and Scallion.

Sweet and Sour Chicken.

String beans came out first

Of the four dishes we ordered, Szechuan Style String Beans ($13.95) came out first, followed by Seafood Chow Fun ($16.95), Sweet and Sour Chicken ($14.95) and the large whole flounder ($26.95).

Those are the prices before the 30% discount.

Lan Garden ran a newspaper ad Friday, claiming it serves food from "China's 8 Classic Regions."

But the limited menu we were given on Saturday night was written on two side of one page with even fewer choices than on my previous visits. 

Szechuan Style String Beans.

The servers and kitchen are still trying to get their acts together.

Lan Garden, 88 Route 46 west, Ridgefield; 201-840-8688. Call for hours during the soft opening.

The Costco Wholesale experience starts in the parking lot

One of my favorite summer dishes is fresh, wild sockeye salmon from Costco Wholesale grilled on the stove top and smothered in a reduction of organic diced tomatoes, chopped garlic, red wine and fresh herb. Here, I served it with mashed Korean sweet potatoes.

Today, I discuss the bad manners some Costco Wholesale shoppers exhibit in the parking lot, some of my favorite items from the warehouse store, elusive Jersey Fruit and more.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You can separate Costco Wholesale shoppers by those who want to park as close to the front door as possible -- and will slam on their brakes and block the entrance to the lot -- and those who don't mind walking from spaces in the back.

The lazy shopper also thinks nothing of leaving the big Costco shopping cart between cars or up against a fender.

Other Costco shoppers I have spoken to complain most about the lot, which one woman described as "a zoo."

In Hackensack, the entrance to the lot leads almost directly to the front doors. But in Wayne, the entrance to the lot is far from the doors, meaning less congestion.

At the Costco Wholesale in Hackensack this afternoon, a lazy shopper left this shopping cart between two cars.

I enjoyed leftover wild salmon and a baked sweet potato for dinner tonight, followed by a salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix.

Wild salmon, nuts and spring mix

Fresh, wild sockeye salmon continues to top my list of Costco favorites, now selling for $9.99 a pound.

I have been grilling the fillets skin side down on top of the stove and smothering them in a reduction of Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes, garlic, red wine and fresh herbs cooked separately.

A 1.57-pound fillet I bought on Monday yielded six serving pieces.

I also bought a 3-pound bag of sodium-free Kirkland Signature Almonds ($14.99), roasted them at home for 1 hour and 20 minutes at 275 degrees and dusted some of them with Ground Saigon Cinnamon from Costco.

Today, I picked up another 1-pound tub of triple-washed Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix ($4.99) with an expiration date of Aug. 13, 2014.

At the ShopRite in Paramus on Monday, I couldn't find any Jersey peaches and settled for fruit from South Carolina, on sale for 99 cents a pound. But they were listed on my receipt as "PEACH JERSEY." At Costco Wholesale in Hackensack later in the day, the 2-pound container of blueberries ($4.79) was from Michigan, not New Jersey.

Both of these bottles from the Italian Wine Club (Giordano) contained 750 milliliters of wine.

As seen from the car

On Wednesday, I drove by Pine Hill, a Korean restaurant in Paramus, and saw a huge dumpster near the door and scaffolding against the building's glass front on Paramus Road.

Pine Hill, where I have enjoyed lunches and dinners in recent years, looked as if it has been closed for months.

Driving east on Route 46, I looked across the highway and a new Chinese restaurant called Lan Garden appears to be open after many months of renovation to the building, a former truck-stop diner that once housed China 46.

The cyclone fence blocking the parking lot was gone and I saw three or four cars parked head on in front of the building at 88 Route 46 west in Ridgefield.

The large red sign that said the restaurant specializes in seafood and dim sum has been changed.

China 46, which had a liquor license, closed in 2007. Before that another Chinese restaurant, Phoenix Garden Too, operated there.