Try a nice piece of fish at Sanducci's Trattoria

Tilapia Francese at Santucci's Trattoria in River Edge can be made without butter. The lunch entree comes with a generous, nicely dressed salad, below; coffee and a free refill.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss lunch at Santucci's Trattoria in River Edge, a recipe for Spaghetti with Garlicky Bread Crumbs and Anchovies, a quinoa salad, a rare visit to Stop & Shop in Teaneck, and signs of life in a Hackensack building that once housed a Korean bakery.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

One of my friends wanted antipasto for lunch. The other one was in the mood for a chicken parm sandwich. And I felt like a nice piece of fish.

We all got we wanted today at Sanducci's Trattoria in River Edge.

The menu offered only two farmed fish -- tilapia and salmon.

I chose the tilapia and was impressed with the large, fresh-tasting fillet and how beautifully it flaked, as well as the sauteed vegetables and the size of the well-dressed salad ($12.95).

My friend loved his gooey Chicken Parmigiana Hero ($7.50), and took home half for dinner.

And the other friend was delighted with his Antipasto Plate ($8.95).

The Antipasto Plate at Sanducci's Trattoria.

The chicken in the Chicken Parmigiana Hero is hidden under a blanket of melted cheese.

Tables and booths are available on the restaurant's first level. The people in the family photos on the dining room walls look like they could be your relatives.

Casual service

Lunch service today was casual, even though the dining room was far from full.

The waiter brought my salad first, and my friends weren't served their sandwich and antipasto until I finished and was ready for my fish entree.

While I ate salad, they ate bread, and the waiter happily brought a second basket.

There is limited parking in front, and from the rear lot, you have to take an elevator to the restaurant's second level, then walk down stairs to the main dining room.

The restaurant shares an entrance with a preschool, which explains the mothers and one father I saw picking up their children and strapping them in for the ride home.

Sanducci's offers a buffet lunch for $11.95 Mondays through Fridays, above and below.

Sanducci's Trattoria, 620 Kinderkamack Road, River Edge; 201-599-0600. BYO, parking lot in rear.

Web site: The lunch buffet is back

Pasta recipe needs tweaking

My version of Spaghetti with Garlicky Bread Crumbs and Anchovies from The New York Times has more oil, garlic, parsley, red pepper flakes and hot pasta water than called for.

I also used organic whole wheat spaghetti from Italy I buy at Whole Foods Market.

More liquid?

Pasta swallows handfuls of parsley and baby spinach, and tends to need far more liquid then you think.

Tonight, I prepared a recipe for Spaghetti with Garlicky Bread Crumbs and Anchovies from The New York Times' Dining section.

I used the two egg yolks called for, though I think 1 pound of pasta could stand more, but tripled the 6 cloves of garlic, and used more parsley, extra-virgin olive oil and hot pasta water.

I had hot sauce on hand, but not fish sauce.

I also used capers from a jar in the back of my refrigerator I usually forget is there, and a little shredded Asiago Cheese.

I ate the first portion without the recommended salt, black pepper and lemon juice, but added them to the second, and they improved the dish, especially the fresh lime juice I used.

Organic whole wheat shells from Whole Foods Market with extra-virgin olive oil, baby spinach, chopped garlic, grated Pecorino Romano Cheese and a teaspoon or two of Costco Wholesale's prepared Basil Pesto.

Leftover cooked organic quinoa from Costco Wholesale was easily turned into a crunchy salad with diced scallion, skin-on cucumber, sweet pepper, onion and apple. The dressing is red-wine vinegar, fresh lime juice and extra-virgin olive oil.

After I ate half the quinoa salad for breakfast on Tuesday, I topped the remainder with two organic eggs from Costco Wholesale, above.

Stop & Shop in Teaneck

I needed bread crumbs and parsley for The Times recipe, and didn't want to go out of my way, so stopped at Stop & Shop in Teaneck on the way home.

Stop & Shop is best known for a full line of naturally raised and organic food labeled Nature's Promise and found on almost every shelf and in every refrigerated case.

But prices are generally higher than at ShopRite and other stores.

For example, I saw a 13.25-ounce box of whole wheat spaghetti for $1.59, compared to a full pound of organic whole wheat spaghetti from Whole Foods Market for $1.39.

Two 40-ounce jars of Victoria Marinara were on sale for $10, but I bought them at Costco Wholesale for $8.39 last November and for under $7 when they were on sale.

Half-gallons of Stop & Shop Lactose-Free Milk were $3.99 each, compared to $3.49 for ShopRite's store brand.

The spaghetti recipe was good with the Rienzi Italian Style Bread Crumbs (made with corn syrup, unfortunately) I found at Stop & Shop, but next time, I'll see if I can get  much better ones at Balthazar Bakery in Englewood, where I buy crusty baguettes. 

The signs for a Korean dumpling restaurant remain on a Main Street building across the street from Sears in Hackensack, but the place never opened. Now, a sign says Upsy Daisy will be opening soon, below. A Shilla Korean Bakery operated there at one time.

Upsy Daisy will serve lactose-free ice cream, coffee and other items.

Conquering the all-you-can-eat monster

Image via Wikipedia

Sanducci's serves fried calamari like this as part of its $16.95 all-you-can-eat buffet.

Can you tackle one of those all-you-can-eat buffets and stay on your diet, too? The answer is "yes," if you show a lot of self-control and eat the same foods you do every day.

On Tuesday night, we drove over to Sanducci's -- an Italian restaurant in River Edge that is less than 3 miles from our home -- for the $16.95 buffet. It's served on Sundays from 5 to 8 p.m., and on Mondays and Tuesdays from 6 to 8 p.m.

We had a choice of seven main dishes, including fish, chicken, pasta, fried calamari and eggplant parmigiana, plus two salads, mixed vegetables and pizza (I missed the vegetables initially because they were hidden under the pizza pan in a covered chafing dish.)

My son had two plates of chicken, pasta, pizza and bread, but I'm not eating meat, so I started with two dinner plates of salad, the second topped with fried calamari; then had three pieces of fish in lemon sauce and two plates of mixed vegetables.

I didn't have room for the eggplant parmigiana. I didn't eat pasta or pizza, and on the scale at the gym this morning, I had shed a pound, compared to the day before.

We've eaten here before and like the food. It's a BYO, but I forgot that and didn't bring any wine. My wife didn't have a big appetite and ordered angel-hair pasta in a tomato sauce with lots of crab meat ($17.50). She took most of it home.

As for the buffet, the sauce with the tender rings of fried calamari was too mild for my taste, and I would have preferred the wild-caught sole listed on the early bird menu to the farmed tilapia I had. 

But the broccoli and carrots in the mixed vegetables retained some crunch and the salad contained romaine lettuce, shredded carrots and fat grape tomatoes.

The waitress said the buffet included dessert, either rice pudding or chocolate mousse, but we're not dessert eaters. I asked for a cup of coffee instead, but she said it wasn't included. 

Sanducci's Trattoria, 620 Kinderkamack Road,

River Edge; 201-599-0600. BYO. Open seven days.

At Sanducci's Trattoria in River Edge

Image via Wikipedia

We finally had dinner at Sanducci's Trattoria, which was forced by the blizzard to close Sunday and Monday, though there was no change in the recorded message I got when I called.

We arrived around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday and the bi-level dining room filled up fast. Dark-wood furniture, columns and booths, and black-and-white family photos dominate the pleasant decor.

My son wasn't feeling well, and me and my wife felt like pasta with seafood, so we ordered only three dishes. I brought a bottle of Italian wine and we munched on crunchy bread and focaccia squares, which were served with a small cup of olive oil, wine, garlic and pulverized sun-dried tomato.

My son ordered soup, a large bowl of pasta e fagioli, also called pasta fazool ($4.50). I wanted to have the squid-ink pasta I enjoyed so much on my first visit to Sanducci's a few years ago, and selected the homemade black fettuccine with lobster ($18.95). My wife ordered capellini  with crab meat, but asked the kitchen to hold the light butter sauce ($17.50).

Because nearly all the other tables were occupied, we had to wait for our food. I drank my wine and nibbled on a slice or two of the bread, which I dipped into the oil-wine-tomato sauce.

When our pasta entrees arrived, they looked as if they had been sitting under a heat lamp for a few minutes. Still, they were delicious and the restaurant is generous with both tender lobster and crab. Next time, I'll order my black pasta with a tomato sauce, instead of the rich pink sauce I got.

My son loved his soup, and my wife brought home the angel-hair pasta she couldn't finish.

Sanducci's moved to a new location in November, a few blocks from its old building. In 2008, readers of The Record voted it one of the Top 5 Italian restaurants in the region, in a poll taken by the advertising department. 

We'll return for the table-side pasta night, which the waitress was describing to people at the next table: Caesar's salad, antipasto and unlimited pasta ($16.95) on Wednesday and Thursday nights. An all-you-can eat dinner buffet is served Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays (also $16.95). Check the hours for both offers.


Sanducci's Trattoria, 620 Kinderkamack Road, River Edge; 201-599-0600.
BYO, open seven days, parking in front and rear lots. Web site:


The new Sanducci's Trattoria 

 

Dinner out is snowed out

Image by taivasalla via Flickr

There were only a few inches of snow on the ground when we set out around 4 this afternoon for Sanducci's Trattoria, which has moved to a new location in River Edge. There were lights out front, but when I drove down into the rear parking lot and took an elevator up one floor, the place was dark.

We wanted to try the new Sanducci's, because it is a BYO that offers lots of choice: an all-you-can eat dinner buffet for $16.95, a three-course, early bird special, with tea or coffee, also for $16.95; a long a la carte menu and pizza. 

We ate at the original location a few years ago and I was impressed with a wonderful squid-ink pasta.

Costco to the rescue

Rather than try to find a restaurant that was open, we returned home and I dove into the freezer, unearthing frozen mahi-mahi loins and Dr. Praeger's spinach-and-potato cakes, both from Costco in Hackensack.

I steamed the meaty fish with sake, sesame oil, citrus marinade and soy sauce, and put the spinach cakes in the oven for 20 minutes. It was a quick, filling dinner.

More frozen seafood

I was delighted with the king crab legs, farmed prawns and sea scallops I picked up at Costco on Friday and served for Christmas dinner the next day. All were previously frozen, but they were as tender as could be after we prepared them.

I cut up the crab legs, which are cooked and more than a foot long, and steamed them for less than 10 minutes. My wife shelled the shrimp, which are deveined, and I cooked them quickly with stewed tomatoes, extra-virgin olive oil and Italian seasoning. I just sauteed the scallops in olive oil and seasoned them. 

Sanducci's Trattoria, 620 Kinderkamack Road, 
River Edge; 201-599-0600.  Web site:

Sanducci's Trattoria