At So Gong Dong in Palisades Park and Lotus Cafe in Hackensack

ASK FOR SECONDS: I look forward to the five complimentary side dishes at So Gong Dong in Palisades Park just as much as the soft-tofu stew, seafood pancake and other Korean specialties. Crunchy cucumber kimchi, above, is one of my all-time favorites.

MORE CRUNCH: Fresh-tasting cabbage kimchi hasn't been fermented as long as the version served in some other restaurants. A third side dish is seaweed in gochujang, a spicy vinegared red-pepper sauce, top.

RADISH AND SPROUTS: Crunchy radish and bean sprouts are the other side dishes, and you can ask for seconds or even thirds of those you finish.

HOLD THE MAPLE SYRUP: A Seafood Pancake -- made from rice flour, scallions and cooked squid -- comes with a soy dipping sauce ($11.99, rounded up to $12 on the check).

COMPLETE MEAL: I ordered my Oyster Soft Tofu Stew with Perilla Seeds "more spicy," one of four levels listed on the menu ($10.99 or $1 more than other complete soft-tofu dinners, which include steamed rice, side dishes and a fresh egg to cook in the bubbling broth).

KOREAN RIBS: The three meat-eaters in my family shared an order of Beef BBQ, left rear ($16.99).

DETAILS: Dinner for four was $74.90 before the tip. Still, four can eat well for under $50, if they limit themselves to a filling soft-tofu dinner with an egg, five side dishes and rice (118 Broad Ave., Second Floor, Palisades Park; 201-313-5550).

GINGER AND SCALLION: Lotus Cafe in Hackensack offers whole fish, fillets, shrimp and other seafood prepared with ginger and scallion, such as this whole 1.5-pound lobster ($30.95), above and below, enough to feed three with another entree, a vegetable and brown or white rice.

LARGE SHRIMP: We also ordered Prawns in Garlic Sauce ($17.95) and Sauteed Chinese Star Squash, below ($10.95).

DETAILS: Dinner for three was $76.30 before the tip, including two Wonton Soups to start the meal ($1.25 each) and a House Special Won Ton Soup for 2 to go ($6.95). Lotus Cafe is a BYO in the Home Depot Shopping Center, 450 Hackensack Ave., Hackensack. Open 7 days; 201-488-7070. Free delivery within 3 miles ($12 minimum).

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

No worries: Tofu at So Gong Dong in Palisades Park is as good as ever

The rice-flour seafood pancake at So Gong Dong in Palisades Park is one of the soft-tofu restaurant's non-spicy dishes.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

We've been relying on So Gong Dong in Palisades Park for years to deliver a filling meal of healthy soft tofu, rice and vegetable side dishes for only $10. 

But in September, when we stopped there for dinner, my wife complained the beef broth of her soft-tofu stew was too salty, and I thought the grilled whole squid I ordered was a lot smaller than before.

Those proved to be momentary setbacks, as we found out on Friday, when we returned to the second-floor restaurant with our son, who was home from college and just had to have soft tofu.

Belly busting meal

I ordered an oyster tofu stew with rice and complimentary side dishes, and it was as good as ever ($9.99).

I also ordered a seafood pancake to share ($11.99), and my wife and son chose pork soft-tofu stews ($9.99 each). 

I'm not sure why, but after a couple of slices of pancake, I couldn't finish my tofu stew, and took the leftovers home.

Our son also ordered Bulgogi or Korean barbecue made with prime beef, and couldn't finish that either ($14.99).

Soft-tofu stews can be ordered from "no spicy" to "more spicy."

And when you finish the kimchi and other side dishes, just ask for more.

If you're afraid the beef broth will be too salty, you can order your soft-tofu stew made with hot water.

Organic tofu

For 100% organic tofu, try BCD Tofu House, 1640 Schlosser St., Fort Lee, where a complete dinner of tofu stew, rice and side dishes is $12.99.

The Fort Lee restaurant is usually packed, but doesn't take reservations, and you might have to wait on line.

When the soft-tofu stew is brought to your table in a stone bowl, it is bubbling furiously, hot enough to poach the fresh egg that is provided. We always ask for the stew "more spicy."

One of the great pleasures of a soft-tofu dinner is breaking a soft-boiled egg yolk over white rice and eating them together. The crunchy rice lining the bottom of the stone bowl is worth trying to scrape up.

Seaweed with gochujang, a spicy red-pepper sauce, was one of the complimentary side dishes on Friday.

Pickled radish with sliced jalapeno pepper.

Cucumber kimchi, above, and cabbage kimchi, below.

A side dish of bean sprouts.

The dining room filled up quickly as we ate.

Details

So Gong Dong Tofu & B.B.Q., 118 Broad Ave., Second Floor, Palisades Park; 201-313-5550.

Open 7 days, 10:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Valet parking and free parking on side streets. Meters in effect 7 days until 9 p.m.

Although So Gong Dong doesn't have a liquor license, you are discouraged from bringing beer or soju to enjoy with your meal.

At a Korean tofu house, ordering squid three ways

Raw squid in a fiery red-pepper sauce is one of the complimentary side dishes at So Gong Dong in Palisades Park, and one of three ways you can enjoy the mollusk at the popular Korean soft-tofu restaurant.

What do you do when your no-bread, no-pizza diet collides with one of your favorite meals -- a spicy Korean soft-tofu stew served with a fresh egg and a large bowl of white rice loaded with carbohydrates?

At So Gong Dong in Palisades Park, our favorite tofu house, I've been trying other dishes, but it's hard to avoid rice in one form or another.

Grilled squid and onions with gochujang, a red-pepper paste.

On Saturday night, I had squid three ways, including what's listed on the place-mat menu as Squid B.B.Q. with Spicy Sauce ($12.99).

The body of the squid had been sliced into rings, which were tender, and the tentacles had a pleasing firmness.

Raw squid appeared in one of the four free side dishes, and we shared Pajun, a grilled seafood-and-vegetable pancake that includes squid ($11.99).

Pajun is a grilled pancake made from rice flour.

The pajun, one of the non-spicy dishes available at So Gong Dong, came with a soy-based dipping sauce.

There are a dozen soft-tofu stews on the menu, some with noodles, but the basic Pork Soft Tofu is $9.99, including a fresh egg to poach in the bubbling broth, steamed white rice and side dishes.

You can order soft tofu four ways: "No spicy, little spicy, medium spicy and more spicy." 

Prices for soft tofu, squid, pancake and most other dishes end in .99 cents, but they include tax and are rounded up to the next dollar on your check.


So Gong Dong, 118 Broad Ave., Second Floor, Palisades Park; 201-313-5550. Open 7 days. Free parking on side streets.

Couldn't this place be a little more generous?

Spicy Kalbi Tang at Pine Hill Restaurant in Paramus.

The Korean restaurant serves grilled mackerel pike among the free side dishes.

Pine Hill Restaurant is the only Korean restaurant I know in Paramus -- which is the mall capital of North Jersey -- and it's far from the dozens of places that jockey for customers along Broad Avenue in Palisades Park.

Pine Hill also sets itself apart by serving at least 10 of the free side dishes that make a Korean meal so special.

But when four of us had dinner there on Saturday night, I began to wonder if serving more side dishes than most other Korean restaurants is enough.

Pine Hill has seen better days. Though clean, the interior was carried over from another restaurant, and hasn't ever been updated. 

The dinner menu lists a lot of sushi rolls and raw fish, but not that many entrees for non-meat eaters such as myself. 

No grilled fresh fish is available outside the mackerel pike in one of the side dishes.

Translucent Korean noodles are made from yam flour, not wheat.

After a waitress took our order, a tray was brought over and the small side dishes were arrayed on the table -- vegetables, fish and meat.

Pine Hill has some of the best cabbage kimchi around, both spicy and crunchy. The two mackerel pike were delicious.

Greens included fresh spinach. But the salad was iceberg, not the spring mix I've seen elsewhere. And slices of ham came with another cabbage side dish.

One of the complimentary side dishes or panchan.

A good Korean restaurant staff doesn't wait for the customer to ask for more panchan, but at Pine Hill our empty side dishes weren't replaced until I called over the waitress, who was chatting with other servers near the register.

I asked specifically for more kimchi and greens, but was disappointed we didn't get another set of the fatty mackerel pike.

For my entree, I ordered translucent noodles with vegetables called japchae, but asked the kitchen to hold the meat ($11.95).

A side dish of vegetable tempura.

The others had Stone-Bowl Bibimbap ($13.95), a rice, vegetable and ground-beef dish topped with a fried egg. A squeeze bottle of gochuhang, red-pepper paste, allows the diner to vary the spiciness.

The bibimbap came with a small bowl of soup, and an egg souffle in a stone bowl was brought for the table.

My teenage son asked for Spicy Kalbi Tang (also $13.95), a stew with beef short ribs, as hot as the kitchen could make it. It came with a small bowl of steamed white rice.

The food was good, and we had a filling dinner for about $16 each, including tip and tax.

But the relatively new Woochon Restaurant in Palisades Park serves as many side dishes, and they are of higher quality, so we might be going there the next time we want Korean food. 


Pine Hill Restaurant, 123 Paramus Road, 
Paramus; 201-843-0170. Open for lunch and dinner.

Woochon Restaurant, 280 Broad Ave., Palisades Park; 201-242-9999. Open for lunch and dinner.