Are New York prices always higher?

A Trader Joe's in lower Manhattan sells fruit by the piece.

Would you pay 79 cents for an orange, even if it's organic?

This seaweed snack weighs far more than the same product sold in Korean markets.

This sliced Yogurt Cheese costs the same in the Manhattan and Paramus stores.

I paid the same price in Paramus for this excellent extra-virgin olive oil.

At the charming Cafe Cluny in Manhattan, a cup of coffee will set you back $4, plus tax. 

Have you seen an intelligent discussion -- on TV or in newspaper food pages -- comparing restaurant prices in North Jersey and Manhattan?

You'd think the city's presumably higher labor, food, rental, insurance and transportation costs would translate into much higher prices than across the river in Bergen County.

But prices in Manhattan restaurants appear to be competitive, and in some cases lower.

Liquor profits

One reason is that most city restaurants can rely on big profits from ridiculously marking up wine and beer, a luxury not afforded a large number of BYOs in North Jersey.

City restaurants offering naturally grown or raised food on their menus also far outnumber their counterparts here.

Again, liquor profits allow them to buy and serve higher quality food.

Another factor is the number of times a restaurant can turn over its tables each night.

A Manhattan restaurant, in the course of the day, can seat 5, 10, 15 or more customers at the same table, while a place in Bergen County is lucky to turn over a table 5 times. 

Food-market prices

At the Whole Foods Markets in SoHo and Columbus Circle, prepared food is sold for $8.49 a pound -- 50 cents more than in the Paramus market.

But I was surprised to find several items I buy at the Paramus Trader Joe's -- including extra-virgin olive oil and sliced yogurt cheese -- are being sold for the same prices in the Trader Joe's on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan (Chelsea).

Table service

Great service also is more common in Manhattan, as we experienced last December at Lupa, an osteria from Chef Mario Batali, though a slow kitchen and small portions detracted from the experience.

I've had nothing but great service during Manhattan's winter and summer Restaurant Weeks, when a 3-course lunch is knocked down to $24.07, from about $45 on the a la carte menu. 

Service can be the undoing of a North Jersey restaurant, though some of our favorite ethnic BYOs still manage be attentive and deliver orders quickly.

Three that come to mind are Wondee's and Lotus Cafe in Hackensack, and So Gong Dong in Palisades Park.

What's on sale at ShopRite, Fairway Market

When I open supermarket sale circulars, I notice what's not on sale. Usually, antibiotic- and hormone-free foods are never discounted by ShopRite and Fairway Market, although Whole Foods Markets do a much better job in this regard.

The ShopRite circular for Aug. 9-15 prominently features that lousy Perdue chicken, for as little as 59 cents a pound. This is a case of getting what you pay for: flaccid chicken pumped full of antibiotics to make it grow faster and fatten the wallets of the owners. Packages are invariably marked "All Natural," a cruel joke on consumers. I'm still waiting for a sale on drug-free Readington Farms chicken, which is raised on a vegetarian diet.

At Fairway, USDA Prime shell steak, also known as New York strip, is on sale for $8.99 a pound from Aug. 8-14. Prime is the USDA's top grade, assigned that distinction because it has more fat than Choice or Select ("abundant marbling" is the way the USDA puts it). But the producer is not identified in the circular, so it's safe to assume the animals were confined in a feed-lot and pumped full of grain and hormones to get them to grow faster and get them to market faster. How appetizing is that?

Whole Foods often sells its drug- and hormone-free steaks for a discounted price of $9.99 a pound. And it stocks beef from New Jersey that is 100% grass-fed, considered the most natural way to raise the animals. Naturally raised chicken, pork, lamb -- all of it is on sale regularly -- and Whole Foods has the biggest selection, too.

Slap in the face for Jerry's Gourmet & More

The Record's report today on free samples at food stores omitted any mention of Jerry's Gourmet & More, but included several stores that are far less generous than the Italian specialty store in Englewood, where you can eat free cheese, bread, olive oil and even imported prosciutto to your heart's content.

The newspaper also ran a photo of the olive selection at Fairway Market in Paramus, under a bold headline: "HERE, TRY SOME!" Unfortunately, the olives are the one item in Fairway you can't sample; at least that has been my experience at the Harlem store, which posts stern warnings to that effect. I called the Parmaus store and left my number to find out if the policy is the same in New Jersey. (In any case, I buy my olives at Fattal's in Paterson, where most of them cost $2.99 a pound v. Fairway's $6.99 a pound.)

The Record listed several stores that give out far fewer samples than Jerry's, including Trader Joe's, Whole Foods Markets, Williams-Sonoma and Chef Central, an expensive cookware store. The article also didn't mention Balthazar Bakery in Englewood, where I sampled three items on a visit last Saturday.

Jerry's give-aways are out every day and usually include salami, sweets, bread, toast, olive oil and a dozen cheeses or cheese spreads. One Friday, I was surprised and pleased to see a tangle of expensive prosciutto di Parma near two of the cheese samples. Delizioso!

I don't think The Record spurned Jerry's because it may not advertise much in the newspaper (the market is well-known among food lovers). No. This is just another example of how little The Record's staff knows about the food scene in North Jersey. (See earlier post, "A poor job of food journalism.") 

Jerry's Gourmet and More, 410 S. Dean St., Englewood; 201-871-7108.

What you should know about farmed catfish

I try to avoid farmed fish altogether. For example, farmed salmon is artificially colored, but many people buy it because of the low price. Now, I've read something about farmed catfish that has really opened my eyes.

In the April issue of the whole deal, a monthly publication from Whole Foods Market, the supermarket chain said: "Despite its popularity, typical catfish farming practices across the U.S. don't measure up to our standards. Fortunately, we found a farm that does! Our supplier partner in North Carolina raises catfish the natural way without antibiotics, hormones, algicides or land animal by-products in the feed."

What are animal by-products? They are bits of dead animals such as chickens, cows and pigs, and waste from catering businesses, restaurants and so forth that find their way into fish and animal feed. That's why it's so important to buy poultry and meat raised on a vegetarian diet.

I just Googled farmed tilapia and came across a number of entries reporting unhealthy fats in that popular fish. So stick with wild salmon (fresh or frozen), trout, sardines, anchovies and other fish.They are easy to find because markets are now required to label fresh seafood by country of origin and whether it is wild or farmed.

To all you bacon freaks

Here is a comment I sent today to the Web site relish.com. Relish magazine comes with my local newspaper once a month (this allows the newspaper to do less food writing, not more):

I went to baconfreak.com, mentioned on Page 4 of your April 2009 Relish magazine, and it seems the vast majority of bacon sold there is cured and filled with antibiotics and preservatives such as nitrates. To call it natural, as you do, is a real stretch. It may be lower in fat, but I have read that pigs receive more antibiotics than any other animal raised for food. What's wrong with antibiotics? People who eat lots of poultry and meat raised with antibiotics are becoming resistant to antibiotics they get from doctors. There is no discussion On the Web site baconfreak.com of cured vs. uncured, antibiotics or growth hormones and whether the bacon sold there has them.

The Web site refers to people who want to avoid nitrates as "health nuts." It does offer a small selection of bacon without nitrates, but there is no mention whether this bacon contains antibiotics and growth hormones.

There is lots of uncured bacon without antibiotics, growth hormones or nitrates sold at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Markets. This is the bacon you should feature in Relish magazine.