In Englewood, Emma waiter has a bad day and Starbucks is a mess

Emma Restaurant in Englewood has a comfortable waiting area, but I found only a couple of other tables occupied when I had lunch there with a friend on Tuesday.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I had a wonderful dinner of beautifully composed pan-Latino dishes at Emma Restaurant in Englewood in May 2015, but didn't return until I met a friend there for lunch on Tuesday.

The restaurant was nearly empty.

Still, the waiter was having a bad day after serving a half-dozen spoiled teenagers who left behind a mess on their tables and on the dining room floor. 

Yes, he said, sit anywhere you like.

When I saw a seafood salad listed on the lunch menu for $18, I asked whether the dish was a ceviche -- raw seafood cooked in lime juice.

No, he said emphatically, he knew ceviche well, even caught fish and made the dish in his native Ecuador.

No. Certainly not ceviche, but good.

I ordered the Baby Kale Salad with brioche croutons and shaved Parmigiano in a Caesar dressing, and my friend chose Choripan, chorizo or pork sausage sandwiches in a chimichurri emulsion with french fries ($10 each).

When I asked for the check, our server showed us an image on his phone, said the total was $21.50 and asked how much of a tip we wanted to leave.

I said $4, and he said he could email me the receipt. Then, he disappeared.

I wrote down my email address on a pad at the front desk and waited almost 10 minutes for him to come out of the kitchen so I could give it to him.

More than a day later, I haven't received an email receipt.

Coffee at Starbucks

Across the street at Starbucks, the front counter where we placed our order for medium-roast black coffee was covered in crumbs, and the only empty table we found also was a mess.

The baristas were so busy handling the crush of customers they ignored basic housekeeping.

My consolation prize was a Cheese & Fruit Bistro Box ($4.95) I took home free, using rewards on my Starbucks card.

I've eaten a lot of kale, but never tasted anything as tender or as delicious as the baby kale in Emma's salad.

My friend filled up on the tasty Choripan, but couldn't finish the fries.

Details

Emma Restaurant, 34 E. Palisade Ave., Englewood; 201-227-6103. BYO, metered parking on street or in a municipal garage about a block and a half away.

See post on our May 2015 dinner: Art on the plate

My Italian pasta boat comes in at Whole Foods

Organic Italian whole wheat pasta shells from Whole Foods Market in bottled marinara sauce with sardines, anchovies and organic kale.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

My Italian pasta boat finally came in, and today, I once again found those wonderful imported organic shells at Whole Foods Market in Paramus.

A bargain at $1.39 for a 16-ounce box, they are sold under the store's 365 Everyday Value label.

I turned them into a quick dinner with bottled Victoria Marinara Sauce (40 ounces), canned sardines and anchovies, and Earthbound Farm Organic Kale.

I added a few ounces of extra-virgin olive oil, red-pepper flakes and dried Italian seasoning to the sauce, in addition to the canned fish.

The store didn't have the shells in stock on Nov. 29, the day after Thanksgiving.

When I cooked the entire pound in boiling water tonight, I drained the pot after about 12 minutes, not the 14 to 15 minutes listed in the directions on the box.

I added another dimension to the dish with grated Pecorino Romano, a reduced-fat sheep's milk cheese from Costco Wholesale.

I transferred the drained shells to the bubbling sauce in another pot, and they continued to cook as I folded in about 6 ounces of the triple-washed baby kale leaves.

After two small portions of the pasta, I had a salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, organic baby kale, Campari tomato and cucumbers.

I drank Don Simon Shiraz from Spain, a smooth red wine with a screw top sold at Whole Foods for $3.99 a bottle.