How long will DePiero's be around?

The entrance to DePiero's Country Farm store on a hill in Montvale.

Stairs to the store's gift and housewares loft.

No visit to Montvale would be complete without stopping at the hilltop store of DePiero's Country Farm.

Unfortunately, all of the fresh, local produce and the relaxed food-shopping experience soon may be just a memory.

If town officials approve, half of the farm's 55 acres will be used to build a huge Wegmans Food Market, displacing the homey farm store.

The Wegmans would be the chain's first store in Bergen County.

The Wegmans in Woodbridge is an enormous 140,000 square feet -- bigger than any other supermarket in Bergen.

Photos of the Woodbridge Wegmans 

On Monday, I stopped at DePiero's for a large cup of soup and purchased sweet corn, romaine lettuce, basil and leeks, all grown on the farm.

Fragrant basil, above. Romaine lettuce and leeks, below.

In late afternoon, customers arrived in twos and threes, but the store never got crowded.

The thick, meatless lentil soup was delicious.

When I got home, I shucked and steamed the bi-color corn, which was sweet and need nothing (6 ears for $3.50). 

It was far superior to corn I picked up last week at the Ramsey Farmers' Market.

I chopped some of DePiero's fresh basil, along with oregano and mint from my garden, to use with fresh wild king salmon on Tuesday night.

I plan to use the rest of the basil to make pesto, which is wonderful with fish.

A plastic spoon stood up easily in the thick soup.

Halloween costumes are available now.

DePiero's greenhouse.

DePiero's Country Farm Store, 300 W. Grand Ave., Montvale; 201-391-4576. Open 7 days until 6 p.m.

Web site: An Old-Fashioned Farm

Do we need a Wegmans in Bergen County?

Wegmans sells a large variety of prepared food for time-pressed shoppers.

Correction: After reading news reports about the size of Wegmans Food Markets, I called company headquarters and was told the Woodbridge store is nearly 140,000 square feet. A year ago, an employee told me the store is 45,000 square feet.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

At nearly 140,000 square feet, the Wegmans in Woodbridge is one of the biggest supermarkets in the state.

I visited the store this week, about a year after my initial visit, and I continue to be impressed with some of the low prices and the large number of products sold under the Wegmans label.

But it also became clear this store offers a great deal of pricey prepared food -- for takeout or to enjoy on a second level, where there are tables and chairs for about 200 customers.

Steam-table meals

A year ago, me and my wife had an expensive lunch of hot food from the Asian Wokery, for $7.99 a pound, and brown rice cost extra. 

Now, the price is $8.49 a pound.

This time, I tried one of the $6 meals -- an entree and two sides. But when I asked for vegetables, I was told I could select four cold items weighing a total of 1 pound. 

The meal was colorful -- crunchy string beans, zucchini with tomatoes and so forth -- but needed salt and other seasoning. 

Sushi at a Wegmans.

The clam-shell container had a recycling symbol on it, but an employee told me to throw it in the garbage.

"We don't recycle it," she said emphatically.

No free lunch

The Woodbridge Wegmans isn't big on free samples, unlike Costco Wholesale or Jerry's Gourmet & More in Englewood.

I got a tiny piece of Alaskan halibut, a heart-healthy fish, but the employee said he prepared it in artery clogging butter, and offered to pour more butter sauce on the small piece he gave me.

The prices for fresh, wild-caught fish at Wegmans are some of the highest I've seen. 

Organic meats

In refrigerated cases, I saw Wegmans Organic Chicken Drumsticks for $2.99 a pound, and Organic Grass-Fed Sirloin Steak for $11.79 a pound.

In view of all the prepared food, this is the supermarket for people who don't bother planning meals and expect dinner to materialize at the end of the workday.

A Wegmans in Manalapan.

They usually end up eating a takeout rotisserie chicken or stop for unhealthy fast food.

I picked up four 24-ounce jars of Wegmans pasta sauce for 99 cents or $1.99 each -- the lowest prices I've seen anywhere.

Quick dinner

When I got home this past Monday night, I heated up the delicious Italian Classics Vodka Sauce ($1.99) and mixed it with 100% whole-wheat pasta spirals from Trader Joe's.

One thing I couldn't find at Wegmans is whole-wheat pasta.

Do we needs a Wegmans in Bergen County?

No. I'm still waiting for a one-stop food-shopping experience, with high quality and low prices.

Until then, I'm content to make the rounds, looking for ingredients for home-cooked meals at Costco, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods Market, ShopRite, H Mart, the Korean chain; and Jerry's.

Update

On May 15, my local daily newspaper reported Wegmans may open a store in the wealthy Bergen County town of Montvale, which is on the New York State border.

That will make two friends who are big fans of the Woodbridge Wegmans very happy, because they live near Montvale. 

But for most Bergen residents, the opening of a Wegmans so far from them would be a non-event.


Wegmans Food Market, 15 Woodbridge Center Drive, Woodbridge; 732-596-3200. 

Open 7 days from 6 a.m. to midnight. Woodbridge is about 35 miles south of Hackensack.

 

The biggest supermarket in New Jersey?

Image via Wikipedia

Wegmans has fresh wild salmon from the Copper River in Alaska, above.

Correction (May 16, 2012): After reading news reports about the size of Wegmans Food Markets, I called company headquarters and was told the Woodbridge store is nearly 140,000 square feet. A year ago, an employee told me the store is 45,000 square feet.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

As big as it is, I completely missed the Wegmans Food Market in Woodbridge and drove a mile or so out of my way on Friday before asking for directions.

At nearly 140,000 square feet, this is the largest Wegmans in the state and likely one of the largest supermarkets in the Garden State -- if not the largest.

We entered the long, two-story brick building at the end with a cafe and market, and decided to have lunch before doing any food shopping.

We saw a sub shop, a pizzeria, a kosher deli, a bakery, a large cheese counter, an olive bar and a sushi section, in addition to hot and cold buffets. You can eat your food in a spacious second-floor dining room.

My wife and I chose food from the Asian Wokery, including white or brown rice, all at $7.99 a pound, resulting in a pricey lunch that wasn't worth the detour.

For $6.95, I got vegetarian meatballs, which I liked, though the Panang curry sauce was bland;  plus cauliflower and stir-fried tofu. But the small container of brown rice rang up at an additional $2.96. 

My wife chose what looked like three meaty ribs and broccoli for $8.39, but asked for and got a refund. She said the ribs tasted as if they weren't cooked thoroughly.

Image via Wikipedia

We found a small shopping cart and started exploring the grocery aisles under a two-story, warehouse-like ceiling, discovering a garden shop, kitchenware section and pharmacy.

The prices at the seafood counter were through the roof, but Wegmans is the first store I've seen this season with fresh wild salmon from the storied Copper River in Alaska. 

The fillets were $24.99 a pound -- about $10 more a pound than Costco Wholesale charged last June.

Unlike Whole Foods Market, Wegmans carries live lobsters for $9.99 or $10.99 a pound, depending on size.

We saw lots of groceries at low prices with a store card, including a 64-ounce bottle of organic lemonade for $1.99; a 6-ounce cup of low-fat yogurt with fruit for 40 cents; and VO5 shampoo for 77 cents.

I also bought a 10-ounce container of panko breadcrumbs for $1.99 that is sold under the Wegmans label, as are eggs, milk, cola, pasta sauce and many other items.

A half-gallon of Smart Balance fat-free and lactose-free milk was on sale for $2.79, an unusually low price for milk without lactose.

I asked an employee at the courtesy counter whether Wegmans is planning a Bergen County store. He said a few years ago, the company looked and couldn't find a property that was big enough in the "Hackensack area."

Now, he said, the company is pursuing expansion in other states.

Wegmans Food Market, 15 Woodbridge Center Drive, Woodbridge; 732-596-3200.

Web site: Wegmans