From a communist country to a Costco near you

Costco Wholesale's Kirkland Signature Ground Saigon Cinnamon label is superimposed on a map of Vietnam, a communist country. A run-on sentence with a typo describes the cinnamon trees and the "unmatched" sweet-hot flavor of the cinnamon.

 

I've been using Costco Wholesale's Ground Saigon Cinnamon for years, and love the special flavor it gives to homemade lattes, hot cereal and salt-free roasted almonds.

I also buy Costco's farmed Black Tiger Shrimp from Vietnam, a communist country, and I know that schools of farmed, catfish-like basa fillet land on U.S. shores every year.

I don't really have a problem with Costco selling food from a communist country.

But I wish Costco and other U.S. retailers would sell products from another communist government, the one on the island of Cuba.

The trade embargo imposed on Cuba in the Kennedy administration means any U.S. company that tries to sell island products faces big financial penalties.

And customs officials likely would confiscate and destroy any Cuban products brought home by American tourists returning from the Caribbean's biggest island.

Cuba is known for its wonderful rum, but also produces excellent coffee, and it's the only place I know where you can find 100% mango juice in grocery stores.

Americans buy fresh, wild-caught red snapper from South America, but are denied Cuban pargo, lobster and other seafood.   

At Mantra in Paramus, mandatory 18% tip ruins a great meal

The interior of Mantra on Route 4 west in Paramus.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I couldn't resist an e-mail from Groupon offering dinner for 4 at a stylish Asian Indian restaurant in Paramus for $75, including a bottle of wine.

The voucher said the restaurant, Mantra, would serve us 2 appetizers (up to $11 each), 2 orders of bread ($4 each), 4 entrees (up to $28 each) and 1 bottle of house wine ($28).

I bought the deal and printed out my voucher, which said I should tip "on the total bill (Groupon value, plus anything else you order)."

But Groupon didn't do its homework.

Mantra automatically adds an 18% gratuity for "parties of 4 or more," though most restaurants do that only for groups of 6 or more.

Boldly flavored sauces of tamarind and cilantro.

And on Saturday night, if I expected the gratuity to be applied to the discounted price of the food and bottle of wine ($75), I was in for a rude awakening.

Mantra applied the 18% tip to the total value of food and wine ($148) -- $26.64. 

Groupon replied to my e-mail, saying the "Groupon value" is not what I paid for the voucher; it is the total original value of the meal.

My $75 voucher cost me only $52 after a credit of $18 and a special $5 discount. So, my total cost was $52 plus $26.64.

At first, the waiter gave me a bill for $26.64, labeled "an 18% service charge," and only brought me an itemized bill when I asked for it.

That listed all the dishes we had ordered, plus the bottle of wine, and their full value. There was no mention of the $75 Groupon voucher on either bill.

A Crab Chaat appetizer, bound by thinly sliced cucumber, was as delicious as it looked.

Our entrees were Lamb Vindaloo, Goat Curry, Fish Curry and Lobster Masala.

I usually don't order a full bottle of wine, and if I do, I don't tip on it.

I have enjoyed many promotional $24.07 three-course lunches during Restaurant Week in Manhattan, and have never been asked to tip on the full value of the meal ($40 to $45).

Garlic naan.

Some of the meat in the Lobster Masala was sinewy and tough.

When our appetizers of Mango Shrimp ($9) and Crab Chaat ($10) were brought to the table, they tasted as good as they looked, and I began thinking we'd return to Mantra, with or without a discount voucher.

My son wanted to order lamb chops, but they were $30 and the waiter said we couldn't order entrees averaging $28; each one had to be $28 or under.

Our entrees were Lamb Vindaloo ($19), Goat Curry ($20), Lobster Masala ($28) and Kerala Fish Curry ($26). Two bowls of rice were included.

This is the best Indian food I've ever had and the service couldn't be faulted, but getting muscled for an 18% gratuity on the total value of food and wine left a bad taste in my mouth.

I won't be returning to Mantra.

These tables remained empty during our visit to Mantra.

Mantra, 275 Route 4 west, in the Shoppes at IV, Paramus; 201-342-8868.

Web site: Hey, big spender

Rotting mango, seedless melon and lobster

Image via Wikipedia

Try finding a better-tasting tomato than these hothouse-grown beauties.

Brothers Produce in the Paterson Farmers' Market has some of the lowest prices around, but quality isn't always guaranteed.

I bought four, small champagne mangoes at two for $1 last week, and when my wife peeled them, she found many brown spots. She showed me the plate with what was left, and it looked like I brought home only two.

On Tuesday, I found a box of 16 champagne mangoes at H Mart in Little Ferry for $8.99, or about 56 cents each. The green mangoes are ripening on my kitchen counter.

At Brothers on Tuesday, I bought six ounces of blackberries for $1.99 (though I thought the sign said $1.79), but found 18 ounces of the same Mexican blackberries for $3.99 at Costco Wholesale today, a better buy.

Costco prices fall

Some Costco tomato prices are falling.

The Sunset-brand Campari tomato -- small, round and delicious -- were $4.49 for 2 pounds today, $1 less than before.

The gourmet beefsteaks from Sunset still are $5.99 for 5 pounds, but that works out to $1.20 a pound, compared with $2.25 a pound for the smaller tomato.

I watched a man handling the beefsteak tomatoes, examining a few and switching them from box to box before I told him I didn't want him touching the tomatoes.

He was unmoved, showing me one that was split in a few places. At checkout, the Costco cashier counted my beefsteaks in the open box, explaining that people try to get away with a few extra.

Three large, gourmet cucumbers were $3.29. They reached a peak of $3.79 not long ago.

H Mart prices ease

H Mart prices also are falling. I picked up two heads of red-leaf lettuce for $1, compared to a high of $1.79 for a single head. 

Some beautiful baby bokchoy were $1.49 a pound, and a few bunches made a nice, bright-green addition to homemade cheese-tortellini soup Tuesday night.

Watermelon watch

Seedless watermelon are on sale at ShopRite for $3.99 each through Memorial Day -- a savings of $3 and the lowest price I've seen this season.

Live lobster also is on sale for $5.99 a pound through the holiday.

Wasted trip

Garden State Market in Englewood is described as "gourmet" in another food blog, but when I visited today, I found a small market with large prices, and nothing really remarkable that I wanted to buy.

It shares a building with a dry cleaners on busy South Dean Street, just up the street from Balthazar Bakery's retail shop and a half-mile or so from Jerry's Gourmet & More. 

My advice: Don't brake as you pass Garden State Market on the way to those outstanding places.

Dragon & Pheonix come to dinner

Image by infomatique via Flickr

Year of the Rabbit celebration in Dublin.

Lotus Cafe in Hackensack is serving a special menu for the Year of the Rabbit (4709), with seafood and meat options sure to please any Chinese New Year celebrant.

We enjoyed a bountiful meal Saturday night -- with lobster, shrimp, scallops and other seafood; chicken, greens, tofu and noodles (for longevity). 

We started with a soup from the regular menu -- spinach and creamy tofu for two ($4.95) -- and it was enough for three of us. Then, the waiter brought our two entrees from the New Year's menu and a noodle dish from the regular menu:

• Dragon & Pheonix -- Maine lobster in a ginger-and-scallion sauce with five-spice fried chicken on the side ($29).
• Fish & Leaves -- flounder fillet and velvet egg white mounded over sauteed snow-pea shoots ($18).
• X.O. Seafood E-Mein -- braised noodles with shrimp, scallop, squid, and fish cake in an X.O. sauce of anchovies, shrimp roe and dried scallops ($14.95).

Service was excellent, as usual, and I sipped my own Korean soju during the meal at our favorite Chinese restaurant.

We ordered two of the six dishes on the special menu, which is being served through Feb. 13, so we'll have the chance to go back and try the others.

My wife and son are eating meat, but I'm not, so I'm looking forward to sweet-and-spicy Walnut Scallops. They can choose from Tangerine-Braised Duck with steamed buns, X.O. Shrimp and Steak Kew, or Happy Family Meat-Ball Casserole with fish tempura, quail eggs and crab stick.

If you go on the weekend, reservations are recommended. You'll have to ask for the special New Year menu when you sit down.

You'll find a wonderful discussion of the Chinese New Year at Diva Indoors: Food, with love. Click on the following link:

Enter the Year of the Rabbit!

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

What's wrong with these pictures?

Image by dougtone via Flickr

I was leafing through (201) magazine at Hackensack Toyota, where my car was being serviced on Thursday, when I came across the main article on food: elaborate dishes by chefs at five of Bergen County's best restaurants.

What's the purpose of such an article, which had mouth-watering close-ups of the food? Is it to promote the restaurants? Is it to inspire readers to go and order the dish, or to attempt to duplicate it at home? Is the magazine saying, Maybe you can advertise with us? Or is it the magazine's way of saying thank you to advertisers?

So I took a closer look. Four of the dishes employed seafood, but two used deep-red tuna that was cooked rare. Seems like a lack of coordination there, and tuna is a fish very high in harmful mercury. A third dish used salmon, but it was likely farmed salmon, which is artificially colored and often contains contaminants. The fourth dish was lobster in a creamy sauce.

I won't be running out to try any of these dishes. I cook seafood at home, using wild-caught fish low in mercury. Thanks (201), but no thanks. (Photo: A road in Bergen County.)

Luke's Lobster in Manhattan

Image by amg2000 via Flickr

We took a break from Thanksgiving leftovers yesterday and drove into the city for some terrific lobster rolls at Luke's Lobster in the East Village.

Luke's says it has the best value in lobster rolls in Manhattan, thanks to a direct supply of crustaceans from the owner's father, a lobster man in Maine.

We tried the regular lobster roll ($14), which is 4 ounces of meat on a hot dog roll. For $2 more, you get a bag of great chips, a Maine root drink and a pickle. This was tender, moist lobster, but I was so hungry, it was gone in a couple of gobbles. And I wondered if  I could have gotten them to warm up the lobster, which had been removed from its shell and refrigerated.

We also tried a couple of soups -- lobster bisque ($7.50) and crab chowder with sweet potato ($5.50), and both were delicious.

Of course, we spent about $75 for three and the ambiance was a cramped storefront with counter seating for eight and plastic utensils. We were served from behind the counter and when I asked if I could use the bathroom, I was told there is none.

When I got hungry last night, I assembled two simple, soft turkey tacos at home.

 Luke's Lobster, 93 E. 7th St., Manhattan; 212-387-8487

www.lukeslobster.com