Eating out here and there

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Three meals out in two days is unusual for me, but with my wife and son away, preparing food for one can get monotonous.


Breakfast at home: Sandwich of four canned fish salad -- light Italian tuna, red salmon, Moroccan sardines and anchovies, with chopped onion and garlic, cumin and Dijon mustard -- topped with cheese and fresh arugula. 

Dinner at home: A foccacia from Jerry's in Englewood, with a little grated cheese and a lot of fresh arugula or organic spinach on top with extra-virgin olive oil and salt. 

Snack at home: Forkfuls of canned fish salad or leftover foccacia.

Uncle Paulie's in Maywood

On Friday, I met two friends for lunch at Uncle Paulie's Puro Sabor, a Peruvian restaurant where we had the $7.50 lunch special, which includes soup or appetizer, entree and a soft drink. 

I chose boiled potatoes in a cream sauce for my appetizer and squash stew with fried fish and a big mound of white rice, a tasty, filling meal. Uncle Paulie's is popular for lunch and the waitress had a hard time keeping up with drink requests. My food, especially the rice, could have been hotter. 


Uncle Paulie's Puro Sabor, 109A W. Pleasant Ave., 
Maywood. 201-368-2400.


Man'na in Teaneck


Friday evening, I had dinner at a small Korean restaurant with traditional and fusion dishes, and counter service.


This is the home of the Korean value meal (small and large), which includes a main dish, salad, pasta salad, miso soup, kimchi or pickled radish, and water or soda. 

I chose the bibimbap large value meal ($7.99) -- a big steel bowl with rice and chopped vegetables topped with a fried egg. (I told the counter worker I didn't want  the usual ground beef with the dish.) You mix everything up and pour on hot red pepper sauce from a squeeze bottle. Lip-smacking good.


I also ordered a spicy kimchi taco ($1.50), but was surprised to find a little ground meat in it, because there is no indication of that on the menu. The Tex-Mex preparation included shredded lettuce and cheese.


Man'na Modern Asian Cuisine & Frozen Yogurt,
1168 Teaneck Road. 201-357-8782.


Iano's Rosticceria in Princeton

I drove down to Princeton on Saturday to sell old jazz LPs, and hoped to eat at Eno Terra, a restaurant in the neighboring hamlet of Kingston known for fresh, local food. I got there at noon, having skipped breakfast, and was told the enoteca that serves light fare wouldn't open until 2.


Back in Princeton, I briefly flirted with the idea of having an expensive lunch at Lahiere's, the well-known Contemporary American-French restaurant that has been there since 1919. Maybe a seafood risotto and a salad, I thought as I looked over the menu posted near the entrance. 

Instead, I found a pizzeria with a beautiful grilled eggplant and fresh mozzarella salad that came with tomato and olives and a couple of small rolls ($7.50). I drank freshly made, unsweetened ice tea. I sat in a booth and looked at a proverb in Italian and English that is hanging in a gold frame on the wall: "You never age at the dinner table." 

Next door at Twist, a self-service yogurt shop, I had some non-fat fruit yogurt topped with fresh berries (49 cents an ounce).


Iano's Rosticceria, 86 Nassau St., 
Princeton. 609-924-5515.

Peruvian fish story

We tried a new restaurant close to home last night -- Uncle Paulie's Puro Sabor in Maywood, a Peruvian rotisserie chicken place with a full menu of beef, fish, rice, beans and root vegetables.

What Uncle Paulie's lacks is wild fish. When I learned the ceviche de pescado was made with farmed tilapia, I ordered another appetizer, boiled potatoes with cheese sauce. Other dishes were made with fillets; no whole fish, such as red snapper, was offered. Portions are generous and prices reasonable.

Don't miss the milky Peruvian hot sauce for the chicken or the homemade chicha morada, a traditional purple-corn punch, garnished here with finely diced apple ($2).

My wife and son both ordered chicken soup ($4) and couldn't finish the two pieces of chicken in the broth. Entrees also were too large to finish. We had the marinated one-quarter rotisserie chicken (dark meat) with rice and beans ($3); lomo saltado, pepper steak strips served over french fries with rice ($12); and tallarin verde con apanado, linguine with pesto and topped with "breaded top brasciole" ($11.50). I have had this dish in other restaurants and it was invariably served with fried fish. It would be great without the beef and topped with a fried egg "a la pobre."

Before we left, I spoke to the owner about the farmed fish. He said he wanted to keep prices low, but if I called ahead, he would get red snapper from the fish market down the street (Seafood Gourmet), make a ceviche for me and charge me accordingly.

My favorite Peruvian restaurants -- Pollos El Chevere in Passaic and Jaimito's in Clifton -- are a lot further from home. So if I get a hankering for an Asian- or Italian-inspired Peruvian dish, Uncle Paulie's is just a few minutes away. Though Uncle Paulie's is good, it can't replace those two winners. (Revised.)