Restaurant notes

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Our meal at Wondee's last night was as good as ever, but I wondered about all the empty tables. Two tables were occupied when we entered the BYO Thai restaurant in Hackensack and a family arrived as we were preparing to leave. The falling snow and forecasts of more, much more, must have discouraged people from venturing out.

Five of us feasted on steamed pork-and-shrimp dumplings, won ton soup, crunchy duck-and-fruit salad, fried chicken wings with a sweet-sour sauce, Cantonese-style pork with vegetables and a whole, steamed red snapper with hot chilies and garlic. Delicious.

I had had my heart set on dinner at Hummus, a Turkish place in South Paterson, because we had to go to a store there for a long, white robe my son needed for his Christmas pageant today. But as the snow fell, I dashed out alone and drove to Nouri's, a Syrian bakery and grocery store with electronics, musical instruments, clothing, cookbooks and more. I found just what I was looking for -- a simple, white, pullover robe made in Aleppo, Syria (photo), for $15. When I left, I briefly thought about ordering takeout from Hummus, then drove home.

On Thursday, I had a big lunch at Aleppo Restaurant,  across the street from Hummus. I ordered pureed lentil soup flavored with cumin and accompanied by half a lemon, fried kibbe, and a spicy dip called muhammara. I like to squeeze lemon onto the ground meat in my kibbe -- also called torpedos -- after biting off the end. I brought home pocket bread and two kibbe, making sandwiches with my homemade hummus and sharing them with my wife.

Aleppo Restaurant, 939 Main St., Paterson; 973-977-2244;
open seven days.

Hummus Restaurant,  942 Main St., Paterson, 
973-247-0066;
hummusturkishrestaurant.com

Wondee's Fine Thai Food & Noodles, 296 Main St., 201-883-1700; 
parking in rear
http://www.wondeenj.com/

Restaurant Week in Hackensack

 About a dozen Hackensack restaurants will be offering discounts Friday through Dec. 13, in what is being billed as Restaurant Week.

Unfortunately, the discounts vary -- unlike the $24.07 lunch and $35 dinner during Manhattan's twice-yearly Restaurant Weeks -- and some popular restaurants are not taking part in the promotion.

Examples of the discounts are the $19, three-course dinner at Cafe Arabica, a Middle Eastern restaurant, and the $10.95, three-course meal at Galapagos. Mangos Restaurant's three-course dinner special will be $25.  Other restaurants, including Wondee's Fine Thai Food & Noodles, will be offering a second entree at half price.


Pollos Mario, Greek Island Grill and Bohemia re among the restaurants not taking part in the promotion. Full details are available at the following link:

http://www.uppermain.org/events.html

My own seafood festival

I enjoyed fish at every meal on Thursday and I plan to attend an all-you-can-eat crayfish party tonight at Ikea in Paramus. Seafood is often the wisest choice when eating out because there is usually so little information about the origin of poultry and meat on menus.

My breakfast at home Thursday was another fat sandwich of preservative-free smoked wild sockeye salmon from Costco ($13.99 a pound), with hummus, tomato, romaine lettuce and shavings of Parmigiano-Reggiano. This morning, I had the same sandwich, adding homemade pesto and substituting fresh mozzarella.

I was in Morristown on Thursday afternoon and stopped at The Grand Cafe, an elegant place for lunch: moist, flaky baked cod atop garlic mashed potatoes and wild mushrooms, all floating in a broth made from fresh peas ($12.95). Delicious. I soaked up every bit of the broth with crusty rolls. This legendary fish, often salted, feeds many ethnic groups: Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Jamaicans and more.

Back in Hackensack, I visited one of my all-time favorites, Wondee's, for another great Thai dinner: steamed shrimp-and-pork dumplings and steamed whole red snapper, topped with minced red chilies and garlic and swimming in a reddish broth ($16.95). This dish positively glows.

I ate all this wonderful food on a day when the media reported a federal study of mercury pollution in fish taken from nearly 300 streams across the country, but I'm not worried because the wild-caught fish I ate contained little mercury and came from the ocean or in the salmon's case, a river. I looked at the Web site of the U.S. Geological Survey, which released the study, but couldn't find a list of the streams or fish. The link is below.

http://www.doi.gov/news/09_News_Releases/081909.html

Eating green at Wondee's Fine Thai Food

I have always loved Wondee's Fine Thai Food & Noodles in Hackensack. The food is always fresh and a good value for the money. You can get a whole fish for about $15, compared with other places that charge twice as much or more. We had dinner there Saturday night and I noticed how just about every dish contained green -- deep green romaine lettuce or vegetables such as green beans. 

We started with a large wonton soup, enough for three, which had some of the leafy part of the bok choy. Our duck salad with fruit was served over broad romaine lettuce leaves. The steamed pork and shrimp dumplings were crowned with a tangle of fresh cilantro.

Our shared entree, free-range Australian lamb in a spicy Panang curry sauce, was filled with crunchy green beans. Each of us also had a bowl of steamed white rice, for a filling and satisfying meal. It is no wonder that Wondee's packs in the customers on the weekends.


Wondee's Fine Thai Food & Noodles, 
296 Main St., 201-883-1700;  parking in rear
http://www.wondeenj.com/