The first challenge at new H Mart Fresh is finding a place to park

A new H Mart Fresh on Broad Avenue and Fort Lee Road in Leonia occupies a building that was home to two other markets, but the store doesn't have a parking lot.

Editor's note: Today, I report on a brief visit to a new H Mart Fresh in Leonia, and compare wine prices at Trader Joe's and ShopRite.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The other day, I drove through downtown Leonia and was surprised to see the food market at Broad Avenue and Fort Lee Road had been transformed into an H Mart Fresh.

Today, on the way back home from Fort Lee, I wanted to take a look inside, but found parking a challenge.

The bad news is the store has no parking lot, but the good news is street parking is free, if you can find a space.

Still, after I found parking in a municipal lot a short block away from the store and took a foot path to Fort Lee Road through a bank lot, there wasn't a single bargain to be had in the store.

On Sunday, I visited the full-size H Mart supermarket in Little Ferry and saw many items on sale, including California-grown Kokuho Yellow Label White Rice, Shin Ramyun Noodle Soup and organic soft tofu.

None of those items were discounted at the Leonia H Mart Fresh, which opened about a month ago and isn't even listed on the company Web site: hmart.com

In a creative re-use of store signs, H Mart put its logo on the Aisle 6 marker, above, but left the old market's name on the other side, below.

Second H Mart Fresh

The new H Mart Fresh in Leonia joins the H Mart Fresh near residential high-rises on 16th Street in Fort Lee, a town that also boasts a full-size H Mart supermarket.

H Mart Fresh is an abbreviated version of the bigger stores, designed more for convenience than anything else.

The Leonia H Mart Fresh is in the heart of the borough's downtown, near a few apartment buildings.

I met another shopper who explained why I wasn't able to find a parking space closer to the store.

She said teachers from the school on the next corner lost their lot when an addition was added, and they now park in many of the street spaces.

Unanswered is how borough zoning officials ever approved a food market for a building without a parking lot.

Every other H Mart I have been to, from Fort Lee to Edison, has a parking lot.

And H Mart, part of the Hanahreum Group, also is the only chain I know that doesn't have the same sales in every store, and when an item is on sale in several stores, discounts can vary.

On Sunday, shoppers found the Little Ferry H Mart's parking lot flooded, and the entrance to the store, above and below, as shabby as ever. The entire store, one of H Mart's biggest, is desperately in need of a makeover.

Trader Joe's Wines on 14 Street in Manhattan, near Union Square, offers Charles Shaw Blends from California for $2.99 a bottle, and other red wines for $4.99, $5.49 and $5.99 a bottle.

Hunting for a bathroom

This morning, a part-time job took me into Manhattan, where I parked at a meter and walked to a Starbucks Coffee for a latte.

But the store on 3rd Avenue and East 15th Street doesn't have a bathroom, and I was directed to a Trader Joe's on East 14th Street.

There, a security guard directed me to a Trader Joe's Wine Store a couple of doors down the street, where I did find a bathroom, and a store full of red-wine bargains.

Trader Joe's Two-Buck Chuck (Charles Shaw Blends) now costs $2.99 a bottle for Merlot, Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon, and I bought one of each.

I also picked up a bottle of Green Fin organic Cabernet Sauvignon for $4.99, TJ's Growers Reserve Petite Sirah for $5.49 and Grifone Toscana Rosso for $5.99.

Trader Joe's Wine Store, 138 E. 14th St., New York, N.Y.; 1-212-529-6326.

The wine department at the ShopRite is Paramus isn't the place to shop, if you are a wine lover in search of bargains. In a quick walk through the aisles last week, I couldn't find any bottles of red wine in my price range, $3 to $7.

If we are what we eat, what are you and I?

A canned fish salad -- yellow-fin tuna, pink salmon and skinless-and-boneless sardines with their oil or water, all from Costco Wholesale -- gets its crunch from an abundance of diced celery, onion and apple. Instead of mayo, I dress the salad with Dijon mustard, fresh lime juice and ground cumin, and, if the salad is dry, add extra-virgin olive oil.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss the concept of "You are what you eat" and how we think of food, progress on the reopening of Arirang Kimchi, formerly of Englewood; and food samples at Korean supermarkets.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Am I what I eat?

If so, I am low fat (milk), reduced fat (cheese) and no fat (Greek yogurt).

I don't eat butter or cream, and use a lot of extra-virgin olive oil in salads and bottled pasta sauce, and to fry eggs sunny side up or make frittatas.

I go organic as much as possible to avoid pesticides and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

I switched to brown -- in rice and pasta -- regularly eat quinoa, and went from conventional potatoes to less starchy sweet potatoes.

I fill up not on animal fats, but on the heart-healthy fats found in wild-caught fish and other seafood.

When I shop for the meat eaters in the family, I buy antibiotic-free poultry and meat, including grass-fed beef; and preservative-free cold cuts, hot dogs and bacon.

I shop for good food at Costco Wholesale's good prices or food that is on sale at ShopRite and other markets, but I don't buy any one item because it is cheap.

Preparing food at home is the easiest way to control what you are eating, including sodium and sugar.

Since I hit a high of 228 pounds in April 2010, I have lost more than 40 pounds by not eating bread and pizza, and loading up on whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

I'd rather be eating than doing almost anything else, and I agree with a woman I once overheard telling her friends during dinner at It's Greek to Me in Englewood, "I'm happiest when I'm eating."

Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix is a great foundation for a dinner salad with Campari tomato wedges, fresh blueberries, roasted almonds dusted with cinnamon and chunks of Parmigiano Reggiano, a reduced-fat cow's milk cheese imported from Italy. All the ingredients came from Costco Wholesale.

The dressing is extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar without added color, such as Ponti Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, available at Jerry's Gourmet & More in Englewood. 

Arirang Kimchi is 'coming soon'

Arirang Kimchi, formerly of Englewood, is renovating a store in the H&Y Shopping Center in Ridgefield, above and below. The construction permit was issued in late April.

Free samples, sales

On Saturday, I went to see if Arirang Kimchi had reopened in a storefront next to the H&Y Marketplace, a Korean supermarket at 1 Remsen Place in Ridgefield.

I found an Arirang Kimchi sign, and a construction permit on the door for renovating the interior that was issued at the end of April.

Since Arirang closed its Englewood factory last year, my consumption of fermented cabbage, radish and cucumber kimchi has plummeted.

The H&Y supermarket offers a limited number of free food samples, but among the best anywhere are warm balls of Mixed 7 Grains (brown rices and beans) that you can wrap in dried seaweed sheets.

The woman preparing the samples handed me one containing pieces of radish kimchi, and it was outstanding.

I did a little shopping. Bunches of scallions were 10 cents each, with a maximum of 10; and two kinds of apples were on sale for 99 cents a pound, with a maximum of 6 pounds.

H Mart

At the H Mart at 321 Broad Ave. in Ridgefield, a box of 15 Ataulfo Mangoes from Mexico were $7.99 or $6 off, and Chinese broccoli was 98 cents a pound, compared to the usual price of $2.49 a pound.

Today, I stopped at the H Mart at 112 Linwood Plaza in Fort Lee, looking for brown rice on sale, but didn't find any.

The store displays bags of rice just beyond the checkout counters, claiming there is no room for them inside.

But this H Mart has the most extensive array of free food samples in the Korean supermarket chain, including freshly cut fruit; prepared noodles, tofu and dumplings; kimchi, pork or beef barbecue and other items.

I had to go to the bigger H Mart at 260 Bergen Turnpike in Little Ferry to find a 15-pound bag of U.S. grown brown rice for $12.99, a savings of $4.

A box of 16 4.2-ounce packages of Nongshim Shin Ramyun, a spicy instant noodle soup made without MSG, was on sale for $9.99 or $7 off.

But I noticed that the box of mangoes I bought for $7.99 in the Ridgefield H Mart was $9.99 in the Little Ferry store.

I'll bet you can't eat just one. A 16-ounce tray of seaweed-and-rice rolls (kimbap) from Jinga in Queens is $6.49 at H Mart. They contain egg and imitation crab made from pollock, and come with Korean pickles and jalapeno peppers.

Hospital salad bar offers pie

Image via Wikipedia
I took a good look at the ingredients listed on the package of my son's favorite ramyun.

Editor's note: This morning, I made a second visit to the cafeteria at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, and stocked up on one of my son's favorite breakfasts.

You never know what you'll find on the cafeteria salad bar at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center -- besides salad, that is.


This morning around 9, the salad bar held more than a dozen slices of pie, and no salad. Although I don't eat pie, they looked as if they were filled with cream cheese.


The first-floor cafeteria -- called the Garden Cafe -- is used by doctors, nurses and other hospital employees, in addition to visitors and other members of the public.


On my initial visit to the cafeteria about three weeks ago, I saw a tray of whipped cream with fresh strawberry slices on the fruit salad bar.


Today, walnuts and small cookies were nestled in the whipped cream, in addition to fresh strawberry slices.


A doctor I spoke to after my first visit said the cafeteria is one of the biggest profit centers at the hospital. 


He also said that when the menu was revamped to offer healthier choices, many employees complained, and the person in charge of that effort was let go.


Korean ramen


One of my 14-year-old son's favorite breakfasts is instant Shin Ramyun Noodle Soup (Gourmet Spicy), a Korean version of ramen, but he ate the last one in the cupboard this morning.


I bought this soup for him a few years ago, because it has one of the lowest sodium contents of such instant soups -- 43% of the recommended daily allowance. 


This morning, after cardiac rehab at the hospital in Englewood, I stopped at H Mart to pick up more. 


The Family Pack offered five 4.2-ounce packages for $4.99 or about $1 each, so I bought a box of 20 for $14.99 or about 75 cents each. They weren't on sale.


Using a Japanese-made soup spoon with fork tines, my son usually eats all the noodles and a little of the soup, throwing away much of the broth.  


The ingredients list is long, but "no MSG is added." 


Some of the ingredients are wheat flour, palm oil, powdered beef fat and beef stock; carmel, corn syrup, dehydrated vegetables, garlic, ginger, powdered sand-lance concentrate (a fish), sugar and tocopherols (antioxidant).


The ramyun is made in the U.S.A. by Nongshim America Inc., and has a "best before" date of November 2012.


I also picked up two H Mart prepared items, stir-fried vermicelli noodles with vegetables ($3.50) and radish kimchi ($2.75), each in a 16-ounce package.


I get the impression H Mart prepared food is cheaper than items from Jinga in Maspeth, N.Y., that are sold by the supermarket chain.


H Mart, 25 Lafayette Ave., Englewood; 
201-871-8822. Open seven days.


Related post

• Looking for healthy food in the hospital (doyoureallyknowwhatyoureeating.blogspot.com)