Why should lunch for two cost $81 at Legal Sea Foods in Paramus???

Melt-in-the-mouth raw ahi tuna is the star in Tuna Poke at Legal Seafoods in Paramus. This lunch appetizer was $14.95.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

No other North Jersey restaurant offers the incredible variety of fresh oysters, fish and other fare than you'll find at Legal Sea Foods in Paramus.

But the restaurant is expensive, even at lunch, as we found out on Friday.

This wasn't my first visit to the Boston-based fine-dining restaurant in Garden State Plaza, New Jersey's biggest mall, so the sticker shock wasn't totally unexpected.

The restaurant was almost empty when we arrived at noon. After a hostess seated us and gave us menus and wine lists, we waited and waited for a server to take our order.

And the rolls, made in house, were truly awful.

To add insult to injury, they were served with butter, not extra-virgin olive oil.

Of course, the solution is only a few miles away in Englewood, where Balthazar Bakery turns out some of the best dinner rolls on the planet, and delivers them to restaurants.

What a concept.

Our lunch

I started with three freshly shucked oysters ($2.95 each), squeezing lemon over them, and a flight of three white wines ($9.95), which were perfect together.

I followed with an appetizer of Tuna Poke ($14.95), a Hawaiian dish made with raw ahi tuna that is pronounced "Po-kay."

Legal Seafood's version is made with diced fish and avocado. I also had a side dish of Quinoa Vegetable Salad ($6.50 for a cup).

My wife ordered her two favorite seafood dishes, a cup of Lobster Bisque ($8.50) and Legal's Signature Crab Cake ($17.95), but there was only one medium-size cake with jumbo lump crab meat. 

All of the food was delicious. Still, my wife complained the bisque had too much heavy cream in it.

Our total for food was $66.70, plus tax and a $10 tip, for a total of $81.37.

That sounds like a lot for two people to have lunch.

'Brain food'

My receipt notes "fish is brain food, be smart and eat here often," but if you truly think about it, wild-caught fish aren't expensive, so where are all the profits going?

Certainly not to the men and woman who land the fish and other seafood.

Legal Seafoods calls this cup of Quinoa Vegetable Salad with Calabrian lime dressing a premium side, and charges $6.50 for it at lunch.

My wife chose Legal's Signature Crab Cake (one medium-size crab cake), which came with a salad and a side, in this case mashed potatoes ($17.95).

Freshly shucked oysters were $2.95 each.

A cup of Lobster Bisque was $8.50. My wife liked how it tasted, but complained it was made with too much cream.

A flight of white wines, two of them from France, was $9.95. Each glass held 2 ounces. They were the perfect drink with my raw oysters.

One look at the formal setting, with lots of dark wood and wall-to-wall carpeting, should tell you not to expect fish shack prices. On the way to the bathroom, I saw bottles of Veuve Clicquot (Yellow Label), an expensive French champagne, in a refrigerated case. I can't imagine how much Legal Sea Foods charges for Veuve Clicquot, which retails for $50 and up.

Details

Legal Sea Foods, 1 Garden State Plaza, near Macy's, Paramus; 1-201-843-8483. Open 7 days.

Web site: Restaurant and Oyster Bar

ShopRite cuts price of lactose-free milk to near what Costco charges

ShopRite in Paramus is offering Jersey Tomatoes that are "locally grown and shipped from nearby," which sounds redundant to me.

Editor's note: Food prices go up and down. Here, I discuss  a few I encountered on the down side.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I'm mystified by the price roller coaster at Costco Wholesale and other food stores.

On Thursday morning, on the way home from the gym, I stopped at the ShopRite in Paramus to pick up lactose-free milk, because I had run out of the half-gallons I've been buying at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

Costco introduced Kirkland Signature 100% Lactose Free 2% Reduced Fat Milk early this year. 

Three half-gallons are $7.99 or about $2.66 each, compared to $3.49 a half-gallon at ShopRite.

But on Thursday, ShopRite's Lactose Free Milk was reduced to $2.99 for a half-gallon, and that isn't a sale price.

ShopRite does have more variety: Lactose Free Milk is available as 1% and 2% reduced fat, and as whole milk. 

This week, the Paramus ShopRite also had a sale on cantaloupes for 97 each with a store card.

Kirkland Signature 100% Lactose Free 2% Reduced Fat Milk at the Costco Wholesale in Wayne.

A 3-pound net bag of Jersey Sweet Potatoes were $2.99 each at the Paramus ShopRite, but on Tuesday I found two that weighed 3.5 pounds and nearly 4 pounds. Meanwhile, a 3-pound bag of Organic Sweet Potatoes was $6.99, a dollar more than before. I enjoyed a baked sweet potato with an egg-white omelet, kimchi and homemade coleslaw.

Great wine in Wayne

After running an errand in Clifton today, I headed for the Costco Wholesale in Wayne, the only one I know that sells wine under the Kirkland Signature label, the house brand.

A best buy is the 1.5-liter bottle of a delicious 2013 California Cabernet Sauvignon -- the equivalent of two bottles -- for only $7.99. I bought two.

Another good value is Kirkland Signature Prosecco, a sparkling wine from Italy, for $6.99.

And I also picked up a bottle of Kirkland Signature Champagne (Brut) from France ($19.99), as are the bottles of Veuve Clicquot displayed next to it at more than twice the price ($44.89).

At Costco Wholesale in Hackensack on Thursday, large, heavy seedless watermelons were $5.49 each, above and below.

While her husband went to get the car, a woman and her children guard what looks like a couple of dozen packages of Bounty Paper Towels from the Hackensack Costco.

In Wayne, Costco sells its French champagne, right, for less than half the price of Veuve Clicquot, below.

More than three dozen drivers lined up at the Costco Wholesale gas station in Wayne, where regular was selling for $2.09.9 this afternoon. But I've seen that price at non-Costco stations, and can't figure out why they would want to wait on a long gas line.

This Costco is bigger and brighter -- but I still can't find anything

The new Costco Wholesale in Wayne sells alcohol, including Kirkland Signature wines, unlike the unaffiliated liquor store at the Hackensack warehouse, where I have shopped for years. These boxes hold three 750-milliliter bottles of Dom Perignon Champagne from France and a bonus ice bucket for a bracing $435.99, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The new Costco Wholesale in Wayne -- across the road from the old one -- has been open for nearly two months.

But when I shopped there the other day, I found members wandering around just like me, and asking each other for help to find wine, food and other items.

After I finished an errand in Clifton, less than 5 miles away, I used my car's navigation system, which took me past the old store in the Willowbrook Mall.

The new store, in the adjacent Wayne Towne Center mall, was built on the site of a Fortunoff that closed years ago and was demolished.

The exterior color scheme of the new store -- shades of brown and gray -- is a departure from the nearly all-white Costco in Hackensack.

The new Wayne store is supposed to have a gas station, but I didn't see it, just a large parking lot packed with cars and a relatively small entrance.

I imagine the new Wayne Costco is a preview of what loyal Hackensack customers can expect when a bigger Costco opens three miles away in Teterboro --now scheduled for November 2015 -- and the Hackensack warehouse closes.

The Teterboro store will have a gas station, but I haven't seen any word on whether it will carry Kirkland Signature wines.

These farmed Black Tiger Shrimp from Indonesia are eight to the pound, a size I haven't seen in my Hackensack Costco, where I have bought farmed shrimp for years. But now I only buy wild-caught Gulf Shrimp from Mexico or the United States.

Fresh-water lobster tails are previously frozen, as are cooked lobsters, king crab and other shellfish I saw at the Wayne Costco on Monday. I have tried previously frozen Dungeness Crabs from Costco and haven't liked them, but the king crab legs remain juicy after a little steaming.

The only reason for me to shop at the Wayne Costco is the large selection of wine, above and below, including inexpensive bottles of Kirkland Signature California Cabernet ($7.99 for 1.5 liters) and Prosecco from Italy ($6.99).

An unusual 3-liter bottle of Veuve Clicquot Brut, a dry champagne from France known for its yellow label, was $299.99, left.

Treasure hunt

What isn't new at the bigger and brighter Wayne Costco is the "treasure hunt" members must embark on in trying to find items they have purchased before.

It's well-known Costco employees move items around, and place new items on the ends of aisles to attract shoppers' attention.

I had a list with me on Monday, but in searching for what I needed, I came across several items that I bought impulsively:

• Kirkland Signature Coconut Juice in 11.1-ounce containers -- with nothing added -- for $9.89, a few dollars less that the Vita brand next to it on the shelf.

• A 30-ounce tin of Starbucks Hot Cocoa powder ($9.99), which makes 42 cups, if you follow the recommended two heaping tablespoons of powder per cup of milk (that seems excessive).

• Organic Dates from Made in Nature ($8.79), and canned wild Alaskan Pink Salmon (six 6-ounce cans for $12.99).

• Kirkland Signature Prosecco, a sparkling wine from Italy, for $6.99, displayed just inside the entrance, far from the main wine section.

Among items on my list, two 16-ounce jars of Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard were only $5.49 ($6.99 with a $1.50 instant coupon), and a 1-pound package of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix was $4.89.

I also found 1.5-liter bottles of Kirkland Signature's wonderful California Cabernet for the equivalent of only $4 per bottle, but couldn't find the store brand of the French champagne I enjoyed last year.

This Ninja food blender and food processor at the new Wayne Costco is rated at 1.5 horsepower, compared to a 2-horsepower system I saw in a Target ad for the same $149.99. My wife couldn't find this item at the Hackensack Costco.

The food counter and number of tables in the new Wayne Costco are about the same as those in the old Wayne store and in the Hackensack Costco. One difference between Wayne and Hackensack is that the tire counter is inside the main store, but members with returns must enter through the exit, forcing them to swim against the tide of members leaving with their purchases.

Costco Wholesale, 149 Route 23, Wayne; 1-973-339-4006. Liquor department, gas station.

On champagne, coffee, cocoa and more

Champagne and other holiday bubbly at Western Beverages in Hackensack.

Looking over the price for Veuve Clicquot champagne in a sales flier from Total Wine, I wondered if I could beat it at Western Beverages in Hackensack.

Western Beverages is a small liquor store with a limited selection inside the Costco Wholesale warehouse on South River Street, but you don't need to be a Costco member to shop there.

I usually buy a bottle of non-vintage French champagne once a year, and Veuve Clicquot Brut (Yellow Label) is my preferred sparkling wine.

Total Wine in River Edge lists Veuve Clicquot at  $41.17 through Dec. 30, 2012, but I was surprised the same 750ml bottle cost more -- $43.99 -- at Western Beverages.

My bottle of Spanish sparkling wine in the cooler.

Then, I decided I really didn't need a bottle of authentic champagne. 

So I purchased a 750ml bottle of Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut for $8.09 at Western Beverages, compared to $8.17 at Total Wine.

It's a good thing I look at my credit-card receipt before I leave a store, because the Cordon Negro rang up at $8.69, but Western Beverages was happy to refund the overcharge, plus four cents tax.

Still, that's sloppy, and I wonder how many customers before me had overpaid for Freixenet, and didn't realize it.

A pound of Starbucks Christmas Blend was on sale for $9.95.

Hot coffee and warm milk are a great way to start the day.

 

I found a pound of Starbucks Christmas Blend coffee beans on sale for $9.95 -- a discount of $5 -- and asked the woman behind the counter for a Turkish grind.

With a Turkish grind, I get a powder that exposes more of the coffee to hot water in my small, drip coffeemaker and produces a robust brew.

Starbucks Christmas Blend tastes good black -- not a trace of bitterness -- but I usually add warm, foamy non-fat milk to it.

A 2.5 pound canister of Starbucks Hot Cocoa is $13.89.

  

Another Starbucks product -- Hot Cocoa Classic -- is $13.89 at Costco Wholesale.

The canister contains 56 servings for just under 25 cents per serving, not counting the cost of milk.

Salads, fruit and other healthy food on the New Jersey Turnpike.

I didn't think there was much healthy food at the Thomas A. Edison Service Area of the New Jersey Turnpike until Monday, when I discovered a refrigerated case with salads, fruit and other nutritious food.

The case is between Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits and Sbarro, which sells pizza and other pricey Italian-American fare.

Only the food court in the northbound lanes is open (between Exits 11 and 12). 
 

How many ways can you say, "Thank you"?

 

If you want to learn how to say "Thank you!" and "How are you?" in different languages, you'll find a lesson above the entrance to H&Y Marketplace in a shopping center on Washington Avenue in Bergenfield.

In almost every way, this Korean supermarket is inferior to any of the H Marts, so the lesson is just about the only reason to go there.