In Paterson, $1 bag of falafel is not as big of a bargain as it once was

The window of a Syrian wedding shop on Main Street and Gould Avenue in Paterson's South Paterson neighborhood, above and below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The parking lot of Fattal's was far from full today, so I'm sure no one noticed me in my car when I ripped open a plastic bag, tore off a piece of whole-wheat pocket bread, wrapped it around a hot falafel ball and ate it.

At home, I ate two more still-warm falafel in the same thin, Lebanese-style bread with garlicky hummus I made the day before from a can I bought at Fattal's on a visit in April.

But when I emptied what was supposed to be two paper bags, each with seven falafel, into a storage container, I came up short.

It turns out Salah Edin, a Middle Eastern restaurant near Fattal's in Paterson, has reduced the $1 bag of falafel to five from seven.

That's still a good deal, and the ground-chickpea falafel are beautifully fried and greaseless.

At Fattal's, I bought two dozen cans of Al Shark-brand Moroccan Sardines in Tomato Sauce (99 cents each), and a package of Fattal's large homemade Spinach Pies (six for $8.99).

At Nouri's, 999 Main St., I bought a package of medium, Lebanese-style whole-wheat pocket bread for $1.25.

Salah Edin is at 995 Main St., and Fattal's is at 975-77 Main St.

At home, we keep cans of Moroccan Sardines handy to add to bottled pasta sauce when we prepare organic whole-wheat fusilli, shells, spaghetti and other shapes. The whole-wheat pastas are available at ShopRite, Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's for $1.25 to $1.49 a pound.

Nostalgic for the past

Visits to the bustling Middle Eastern bazaar known as South Paterson once were filled with memories of the family meals of Syrian food my mother prepared every night in Brooklyn.

Now, all I can think about are the horrors of the civil war in Syria, where the brutal Assad regime indiscriminately bombs civilians.

I stopped into Aleppo Restaurant on Main and Thomas streets, to say hello to the chef and owner, Mohamed K. Jello.

The restaurant is named for the northern Syrian city where my parents were born.

While I was waiting for Mohamed to return from shopping for the restaurant, I spoke to an employee who was enjoying a bowl of ful mudammas or fava beans in sauce for breakfast.

He said the media have drastically under-reported the number of people killed during the Syrian civil war.

Libano Verde Hommos Tahina from Lebanon allows you to make your own at home by adding lemon juice, garlic and extra-virgin olive oil. The can for 99 cents, right, once 15 ounces is now only 13 ounces.

To make hummus from a can, I used fresh lime juice, finely chopped fresh garlic and extra-virgin olive oil, all to taste; chopped fresh mint and Aleppo pepper.

In April, five of the seven falafel for $1 at Salah Edin Middle Eastern Restaurant were still warm when I got them home, above. Now, you get five falafel for $1.

Salah Edin in April. Today, I walked past before I realized the restaurant had removed its sign in anticipation of getting a new one on Tuesday.

Kings Whole Wheat Pita is baked in Paterson without preservatives, but I couldn't find the thin, Lebanese-style loaves today at Fattal's or Nouri's, two Syrian bakeries on Main Street that have competed for decades.

Fattal's is a combination Syrian bakery, butcher, grocer and small cafe, with its own parking lot, at 975-77 Main St. in Paterson. The store also sells gold bracelets and necklaces, and other jewelry.

Fresh wild king salmon, sweet blueberries, butter-like spreads and more

Grilled fresh wild king salmon is delicious right out of the refrigerator, above, perched on peppery arugula dressed with extra-virgin olive and balsamic vinegar, or hot right off of a stove-top grill, below.

Fresh king salmon was $16.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack or $2 more a pound than the wild Alaskan sockeye salmon we purchased a week earlier.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Whether king, sockeye or coho, fresh wild salmon is one of the big draws these days at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

On Tuesday, my wife found fresh king salmon for $16.99 a pound instead of Copper River sockeye, which she bought for $14.99 a pound on June 2.

That may seem pricey, but Costco still has the lowest prices on fresh wild salmon when compared to Whole Foods Market, New York-based Fairway Market and other retailers.

King are the largest salmon, and the fillets can be as thick as 2 inches. 

They're delicious, of course, but don't have the deep red-orange color of sockeye or the distinctive taste of the smaller fish.

Our skin-on king salmon fillet, weighing just under 2 pounds, yielded six serving pieces, including these three, grilled on the stove top with fresh lime juice, a little sea salt, Aleppo pepper, and chopped herbs from the garden.

Troll-caught king or chinook salmon are harvested from a boat singly by hand, using a baited hook. The Costco label identifies the salmon as "Product of USA."

On the same day my wife bought Costco's king salmon for $16.99 a pound, Whole Foods Market in Paramus was selling the same fish for $29.99.

At Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, Georgia blueberries have steadily fallen in price, from $6.99 for a 2-pound container when they first appeared about a month ago to $5.99 on Tuesday. Here, I add them to Kirkland Signature Non-Fat Greek Yogurt with a little organic agave syrup. At ShopRite in Paramus, 12-ounce containers of North Carolina blueberries are on sale this week for $2.49.

For breakfast, a simple egg-white omelet with reduced-fat cheese, salsa, and chopped garden herbs, served over organic quinoa prepared in an electric cooker with organic chicken stock and water. A 4-pound bag of organic quinoa is $16.89 at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, and no rinsing is required.

The light version of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, above, has fewer calories and saturated fat than the light version of Smart Balance with Olive Oil, another butter substitute, below, but more sodium, and both contain palm oil. 

A 15-ounce package of Smart Balance was $3.59 at ShopRite in Paramus, compared to $2.99 for I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, a discount of 20 cents. Only the Smart Balance is labeled non-GMO.

A 59-ounce container of Tree Ripe Orange Juice is a better buy per ounce when on sale at the Paramus ShopRite, above, than four 59-ounce containers of Tropicana for $10.79 at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

A 3-liter tin of Pons Extra-Virgin Olive Oil from Spain, where it is made from Arbequina Olives, is $17.99 ($6 a liter) at the International Food Warehouse, 370 Essex St., Lodi.

Good buys at Lodi warehouse

One of the problems I encounter at the International Food Warehouse in Lodi is missing or inaccurate price signs and registers not programmed to reflect sale prices.

I received a sales flier with the newspaper, and stopped by today for bottled pasta sauce, extra-virgin olive, salsa and pre-washed packaged greens.

In looking over my receipt before I left store, I saw that I had been overcharged for 24-ounce jars of Naturamica Pasta Sauce from Italy.

The sale price is two jars for $3, but I was charged $1.79 each and had to ask for a refund of $2.32 on eight jars of Marinara Sauce and Garden Sauce.

I also picked up two 5-ounce packages of fresh arugula, and two more of organic baby spinach, mixed with baby kale and baby bok choy, for 99 cents each.

One non-sale item I bought is a 3-liter tin of Pons-brand Extra Virgin Olive Oil, unfiltered, made from Arbequina Olives in Spain ($17.99).

This Spanish EVOO is one of the few at the warehouse that isn't a blend of "Mediterranean" oils from several countries.

This is the first unfiltered oil I've purchased (contains tiny particles of pit and olive), and the can instructs you to shake it well before dispensing.

Sales prices are good through June 23.

A 24-ounce jar of pasta sauce from Italy, without added sugar, is a good buy at $1.50. When heating up the sauce, you can add red wine, extra-virgin olive oil, and drained and rinsed capers and anchovies for a really special taste.

The sign said "2 packs for $4.00," but 5-ounce packages of pre-washed organic and non-organic greens rang up at 99 cents each. They have short expiration dates, however, either Sunday or Monday.

At the food warehouse, pocket breads from Nouri's in Paterson were as stiff as cardboard, and may not have been fresh. They were marked $1.49.

Fresh pita bread in Hackensack

When I run out of soft, chewy Syrian bread from Fattal's Bakery in Paterson, getting more involves a 16-mile, round-trip drive. The other day, I was running an errand in another part of Hackensack and found fresh bread at Sahara Stores on South Summit Avenue.

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This is a small, Middle Eastern deli and grocery store, with prepared food and shelves of imported goods, and now, fresh pita bread delivered seven days a week, the friendly owner said. (Despite the name, it's only one store.)

I found Nouri's Syrian bread there and another brand I had not seen before, Kings Pita, a thinner Lebanese-style bread, both from Paterson and both $1.50 a package at Sahara. You get more with Nouri's -- 12 loaves weighing 22 ounces versus 6 larger loaves that weigh only 14 ounces. But what I like about Kings Pita is that after a minute or two out of the fridge, it is soft and chewy -- not card-boardy like some Lebanese bread -- perfect for scooping up hummus or wrapping around spicy lamb sausage.



Sahara Stores, 242 S. Summit Ave., Hackensack, 201-487-7222.