Farmed v. wild red snapper; takeout from Seafood Gourmet in Maywood

This bone-in steak from a large, wild-caught red snapper we bought at H Mart in Englewood was prepared with caramel, sweet peppers, onion and garlic.

Editor's note: We love fresh fish -- prepared at home, in restaurants or as takeout. Here is a report on some of our recent meals.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Little did I know the two whole wild-caught red snappers I bought at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro last October would be the last.

The next time I looked for them, I found two red fish labeled "Snapper," farmed in Costa Rica, and they weren't even scaled.

And there was nothing on the label about whether they were raised with antibiotics or treated with preservatives.

The texture and taste of the farmed fish paled in comparison to a firm, flaky, wild red snapper. What a mistake, I thought.

My only comfort was in knowing even farmed fish is good for the heart and the brain, and far better for me than meat or poultry.

Snapped it up

This past Sunday, my wife bought a wild-caught red snapper weighing more than 2 pounds from H Mart in Englewood ($7.99 a pound).

She cut the fish into three parts (head, steak and tail portion); and prepared them with Grace-brand Browning (caramel), sweet peppers, onion and garlic.

I took the steak, and ate it with a salad and a glass of wine. Delicious.

So, my advice when buying whole fish or fillets: Go wild.

A takeout container from Seafood Gourmet in Maywood held one of last week's specials: Grilled Wild Thai Salmon.

I plated the wild-caught king salmon, Thai chili bok choy and jasmine rice, and gently reheated them.

Seafood Gourmet

I've enjoyed every meal I've eaten in the small restaurant behind the fish market at Seafood Gourmet in downtown Maywood.

But the fresh seafood prepared by an adventurous chef is so popular it is often difficult to get a dinner reservation there.

That's when we decided to follow a friend's advice and order takeout from a menu and weekly specials listed online.

Lunch portions

Seafood Gourmet allows to you to order lunch portions from the takeout menu that cost less than dinner, and we found them satisfying, even if you don't finish with a salad.

And the specials listed online often cost less than the same dish served in the dining room.

Late Saturday afternoon, we ordered three lunch portions:

A special of Grilled Thai Wild Salmon ($15); Shrimp Parmigiana over Linguine ($13.99), a house specialty; and Sole Francese with sauteed spinach, both fish and greens made with garlic and oil, not butter ($12.99).

We also ordered a quart of the Soup du Jour, a tomato-based Maryland Crab Chowder ($10).

Rare problem

About 10 minutes after I called, I remembered I forgot to tell the woman who took the order I like my wild salmon prepared medium rare.

But when I called back, she said the cook usually prepares salmon medium, and I said that would be OK.

We enjoyed our takeout, which was ready for pickup in 25 minutes.

As I was paying with a credit card, the cook's helper, wearing plastic gloves, grabbed a couple of fresh fillets from the display case in the market, and returned to the kitchen.

When I got home, I found the king salmon had been cooked through. Though juicy, the fish would have been better if prepared medium rare.

We also found the crab chowder too salty to eat. We exchanged the uneaten portion on Tuesday for a quart of lobster bisque at no charge.

Details

Seafood Gourmet, 103 W. Pleasant Ave., Maywood; 201-843-8558.

Web site: Fresh fish for here or to go

On Wednesday afternoon, a complete takeout dinner from Jerry's Gourmet & More, 410 S. Dean St. in Englewood, included a skin-on fillet of orata with sweet peppers, linguine in clam sauce with zucchini, and vegetable dumplings, above. A kale salad also was included, below.

Another Meal To Go from Jerry's included a large fillet of sea trout, above. Complete takeout dinners are $7.99 or $5.99 after 4 p.m., if there are any left. After 4 on Wednesday afternoon, I found three at the lower price.

A pesto-accented egg-white omelet stuffed with smoked wild Alaskan sockeye salmon, which is available at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro, but not at the Costco Business Center in Hackensack. I had it for breakfast with leftover Asian greens and boiled Kabocha squash.

Costco Visa with 'generous rebate package' will replace Amex in 2016

How big is the new Costco Wholesale in Teterboro? Too big, in the opinion of many shoppers, including me, who couldn't find items on their list, and tramped back and forth looking for them and asking others for directions. In the distance, you can barely see the food court photos, which are just beyond the checkout lanes.

Editor's note: The bigger Costco Wholesale warehouse in Teterboro signed up more than 1,000 new members since a preview party on Oct. 13. Meanwhile, Costco announced the end of its relationship with American Express by next April.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

Costco Wholesale has begun preparing members for the transition to a Visa credit card from longtime partner American Express.

In a letter to members, Costco said the warehouse giant "will stop accepting American Express credit cards, including the co-branded Costco American Express Cards," sometime after March 31, 2016.

"As part of our continuing commitment to provide members with the best value possible, we have partnered with Citi and Visa to develop new credit cards ... that will provide you with the opportunity to earn generous rewards ....," the company said.

Costco American Express Card holders won't have to apply for new cards or take any other immediate action.

Details of the new Costco Visa Card's "very generous rebate package" will be provided in early 2016.

Now, the Costco American Express Cards give members cash rebates on their purchases in the warehouse store, as well as at outside gas stations, restaurants and other businesses.

Many members easily recoup their membership fee of $55 or $110, and hundreds of dollars more.

Today, I couldn't find Kirkland Signature Himalayan Pink Salt, said to be the purest salt on earth. Instead, Costco is offering a grinder of Kirkland Signature Mediterranean Sea Salt ($3.49), left, or Pure Sea Salt from Brazil ($2.79), but the latter doesn't provide iodide.

Another Kirkland Signature item that was missing was 2% Lactose Free Milk in three 64-ounce cartons. Instead, I had to buy a 96-ounce container of 2% Lactaid Lactose Free Milk for a pricey $4.99, compared to three half-gallons of Costco's product for $7.99.

Shopping in Teterboro

On my second visit to the bigger Teterboro Costco, which opened on Oct. 14, I had a longer list than I did last Friday, and had trouble finding several items.

But just inside the door today, I was delighted to see an Aroma-brand 10-cup combination electric rice cooker, slow cooker and food steamer, just what I needed to replace my 15-year-old Panasonic cooker with a chipped inner pot.

The cooker, with a "quick rice" setting for white rice in 10 minutes, was only $29.99.

I picked up my usual 1-pound package of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix for $4.59, as well as three heads of Butter Lettuce hydroponically greenhouse grown in Quebec, Canada, for $4.79.

A 4-pound bag of Nature's Intent Organic Quinoa is $14.79, and Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes are $6.49 (eight 14.5-ounce cans).

The Poland Springs water pack is bigger than before, with 40 16.9-ounce bottles for $4.99 or about 12.5 cents each. 

And the price of six wonderful frozen Maryland-style jumbo lump crab cakes from Phillips Seafood Restaurants dropped to $15.99 from $18.99.

Another shopper walked away in a huff when I told her about Fresh Atlantic Salmon from Norway, where the farmed fish are raised without harmful antibiotics, for $8.99 a pound, above and below, or $2 more a pound than the enormous hunk of fresh farmed salmon from Chile she had put in her cart. Chilean fish farmers are said to use a tremendous amount of antibiotics to prevent disease and promote growth.

I wanted to buy wild-caught whole red snapper from Nicaragua for $6.59 a pound, but wasn't sure the fish were scaled.

Buying Legal Sea Foods Alaskan King Crab & Sweet Corn Chowder at Costco is a lot cheaper than having lunch at the upscale chain restaurant in Paramus.

Tonight, I used my remaining Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto with a use by or freeze date of Oct. 25 to dress a full pound of Luigi Vitelli-brand Organic Whole Wheat Linguine ($1.25 from ShopRite), and added Chinese pignoli nuts. I had less than half of the 22-ounce jar left, and added a little hot pasta water as I mixed the rich sauce into the linguine.

Costco's pesto, which uses basil from Italy, extra-virgin olive oil and imported cheese, also complements the fresh tomato slices in a frittata, served here with organic quinoa, black beans and organic diced tomatoes prepared in a rice cooker.

I started the egg mixture, which included minced garlic, and chopped sweet peppers and onions, on top of the stove, above, and finished it under the broiler. The pesto is added when the pan comes out of the oven.