Little Ferry H Mart cuts back on free samples, stays mum on new store

These part-time employees at the H Mart in Little Ferry dispensed free seafood samples on the weekends for about a year, but last Sunday, they were gone for good, a store employee said. 

This empty space was where free samples of seafood were available, not far from the main fresh-fish counter, including seafood pancakes, crab meat, boiled octopus, smoked farmed salmon, broiled eel and broiled mussels topped with fish eggs. A few free samples, including meat, were available elsewhere in the store on Sunday.

The Korean supermarket occupies about half of the former Valley Fair building, which dates to the 1960s. A cyclone fence now surrounds most of the structure as workers clean the steel supports under the building, though it's not known whether the work is related to the company's plan to build a new store in the vacant half.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The shabbiest H Mart in Bergen County is long overdue for a complete makeover.

The store takes up the back half of an enormous 1-story building on Bergen Turnpike in Little Ferry that began life as a Valley Fair discount store.

The parking lot floods regularly, the dingy lunchroom closed years ago and the entrance to the Korean supermarket looks awful.

Still, the store attracts customers by offering fresh seafood, an unmatched variety of Asian greens, fresh produce and prepared Korean food -- much of it at low prices.

On Sunday, for example, a box of 16 small, yellow Ataulfo Mangoes was on sale for $8.99 with an instant coupon, reduced from $14.99.

Jackfruit was only 99 cents a pound.

I called H Mart headquarters in Lyndhurst on Monday, but couldn't find anyone who could tell me whether plans for a new store in the vacant half of the Valley Fair building are going forward.

A package of Stir-Fried Vermicelli, left, a yam-flour noodle Koreans call japchae, was $5.99 at the Little Ferry H Mart, 260 Bergen Turnpike.

Baby Bok Choy were cut to 68 cents a pound at H Marts in Englewood and Little Ferry.

A spicy preparation called Stewed Tofu was $4.99 at the Little Ferry H Mart. Prepared food is made in-store or supplied by such outside Korean caterers as Jinga.

A snack I enjoy at home is a small plate of reheated japchae with spinach and other vegetables topped with crunchy kimchi from my refrigerator.

Stewed Alaskan Pollack sections with skin and bones ($7.99 at H Mart) and Stewed Tofu served with leftover  Kabocha squash mashed with olive oil, and sauteed cabbage and sweet peppers.

The seafood counter at the H Mart in Englewood, where whole wild-caught whiting usually are $3.99 a pound.

A large tray of Kimbap -- a Korean roll filled with rice, vegetables, egg and imitation crab made from pollack, right front -- was $6.79 at the Englewood H Mart, 25 Lafayette Ave. Trays of sweet dessert Rice Cakes, rear, are 50% off after 4 p.m.

At H Mart, first sighting of Perdue chicken raised without antibiotics

Perdue, which has been selling low-quality chicken for decades, says its Harvestland birds are raised on all-vegetarian diet free of harmful antibiotics and animal by-products, such as kitchen scraps and bits of dead animals.

At H Mart in Englewood, boneless Harvestland thighs or what Perdue calls "filets" were a pricey $4.99 a pound. Chicken drumsticks, at $2.99 a pound, are more competitive. 

Editor's note: On a trip to pick up organic eggs and prepared Korean food, I noticed a new brand of Perdue Chicken. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I was heading for the fish counter at H Mart in Englewood the other day when packages of chicken caught my eye.

The Korean supermarket is the first store I've seen that stocks Perdue chicken raised without any kind of antibiotics.

This after decades of selling birds pumped up on harmful antibiotics, and spending millions on deceptive advertising to make the public think Perdue chickens were naturally raised.

Even the Perdue tractor-trailers I've seen on the turnpike had a farmhouse painted on their sides to counter the reality of chickens raised in crowded conditions and growing so large they sometimes fell over and could not get up again. 

We've been buying other antibiotic-free brands, including Coleman and Readington Farms, at Costco Wholesale and ShopRite, and probably won't change to Harvestland.

Perdue's Harvestland brand doesn't replace the cheaper chicken Perdue raises conventionally with harmful antibiotics.

Whole Harvestland Chickens were $2.88 a pound.

Jumbo Brown Organic Eggs were on sale for $3.99 at the H Mart in Englewood, the closest I could get to the $3.50 a dozen Costco Wholesale charges for Large Brown Organic Eggs.

Cage-free, non-organic eggs also were $3.99 at H Mart.

The H Mart at 25 Lafayette Ave. in Englewood has a large selection of prepared food, including panchan, the traditional side dishes served with every Korean meal, above and below.

The H Mart store makes its own items, but also sells food from Jinga and other outside caterers. Prices went up sharply last year.

The package of Jinga Whole Roll or Kimbap I bought for $6.79 was labeled 16 ounces, but weighed more than that on my kitchen scale, lessening the sting.

Jinga's Whole Roll is meatless. Ingredients include seaweed, rice, egg, pollock and crunchy julienned vegetables, and the package includes hot jalapeno slices and Korean pickles. This serving made a light dinner followed by a big salad.

Same chain, same 15-pound bag of rice, so why is it double the price?

The H Mart in Fort Lee displays bags of rice just beyond the checkout counters, because the staff says there isn't room for them anywhere else in the store. Today, this 15-pound bag of rice was selling for twice what I paid on Saturday at another H Mart.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

We shop regularly at stores in the H Mart chain for prepared Korean food, Asian greens, fresh wild-caught fish and free samples on the weekends.

Today, I drove to the Fort Lee store, where I found a box of 16 Ataulfo Mangoes from Ecuador on sale for $9.99 with a store card -- a discount of $5 -- and two heads of Red Leaf Lettuce for only 99 cents.

After I checked out, I saw a sign for a 15-pound bag of Kokuho Yellow Label Rice for $19.99, twice what I paid the day before at the Little Ferry H Mart, 260 Bergen Turnpike.

In Little Ferry, the California-grown rice was $9.99, a discount of $10, according to the sign there.

This isn't the first time I've noticed different prices for the same item at stores in the H Mart chain, but I haven't seen anything as dramatic as the prices for rice in Little Ferry and Fort Lee. 

Squeeze play

At the Little Ferry store, I also picked up a 5-pound box of Bagu Clementines from Spain for $4.99, a discount of $3; and a package of Stewed Alaskan Pollack for $7.99.

The clementines rang up at $7.99, but I told the cashier the sign said they were on sale for $4.99. 

She went to get the sign, scanned the bar code on it to give me the lower price, but didn't return the sign to the display of clementines.

In Fort Lee today, a 5-pound box of clementines was $6.99.

Whole sea bass, which my wife seasoned and fried in olive oil, were $6.99 a pound on Saturday at the Englewood H Mart, 25 Lafayette Ave.

A Korean Finger Roll or Kimbap is even tastier when you add a couple of pieces of kimchi to it and wrap them in a lettuce leaf. A package of rolls with Korean pickles was $4.79 today at the Fort Lee H Mart in the Linwood Plaza shopping center.

Before I went food shopping today, I joined two friends for breakfast at the Rochelle Park Diner & Grill, 222 Rochelle Ave., Rochelle Park (201-843-0068), below. My tasty three-egg Florentine Omelet, with spinach and feta cheese, was $7.25, including potatoes and toast.

At the Rochelle Park Diner, the umbrella stand and clock are eye-catching, above and below.

Starbucks Coffee, Chipotle Mexican Grill and H Mart -- all in one stop

Three trays of takeout from H Mart and an Edamame Hummus Wrap from Starbucks Coffee, top left. You'll find the Korean supermarket and the busy Starbucks in Fort Lee's Linwood Plaza shopping center.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Linwood Plaza, Fort Lee's biggest and busiest shopping center, offers an array of eat-in and take-out food, ranging from kimbap to sushi to burritos.

The large Fletcher Avenue strip mall is especially busy at lunchtime, when you can pick up Korean lunch boxes or stop for a meal or takeout at Starbucks Coffee, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Linwood Pizza or Hachi Sushi.

Last Monday, I used my Starbucks Card rewards to pick up a free light lunch, the Edadame Hummus Wrap ($5.95).

Zucchini, bell peppers, spinach and a garlic-herb cheese spread are rolled up in a spinach tortilla, with a roasted tomato sauce and sesame-flax crackers on the side.

When eaten, the sections of the tortilla wrap were both creamy and crunchy. The roasted tomato sauce complemented the wrap, but was a bit too salty.

At H Mart, I picked up trays of Kimbap, Japchae and Dried Persimmon.

Kimbap is an addictive roll of rice, egg, shredded vegetables and imitation crab (made from a wild-caught fish), all wrapped in seaweed ($6.79).

The roll comes with Korean pickles and sliced jalapeno peppers with seeds, which are really hot.

Japchae are yam-flour noodles stir fried with vegetables, best served hot ($5.99). 

Dried Persimmon are intensely sweet ($5.99 a pound), and like all dried fruit delicious when eaten with a crumbly Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese.

The Korean supermarket also has a coffee bar with tables and chairs where you can eat a lunch box or other prepared food.

Linwood Plaza, Fletcher and Linwood avenues, Fort Lee. 

Favorite things, pasta with greens and Wondee's

The perfect forkful of handmade egg tagliatelle from Italy with Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto, both from Costco Wholesale. I used two generous tablespoons of the refrigerated pesto for 4 ounces of the noodles, which cook in just 4 minutes.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

Editor

One of my favorite things is a bowl of handmade egg tagliatelle dressed in Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto.

Just 4 ounces of the imported noodles yield a dozen or more perfect forkfuls dressed in one of the best pasta sauces on earth.

For an advocate of eating lower-carb, whole-wheat pasta as part of a no-bread, no-pizza diet, these Filotea-brand pasta ribbons are a guilty pleasure that show up now and again at my Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

The basil in the Kirkland Signature pesto is imported from Italy.

A Super Spice Mixture -- a combination of every spice in my cupboard and refrigerator -- is perfect for breading chicken, pork, beef and fish fillets, such as wild haddock from Costco Wholesale, above. The mixture, which I refrigerate between uses, starts out with several packages of Wick Fowler's 2-Alarm Chili Kit (omit the masa flour), available in supermarkets.

Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto and Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon are two of my favorite items from Costco Wholesale. Here, I used them in a frittata with egg whites and whole organic eggs, also from Costco, served with leftover Chinese takeout shrimp and vegetables, and brown rice.

Addictive kimbap -- Korean seaweed, vegetable, fish and rice rolls -- from Jinga, a food company in Queens, are half-price after 4 p.m. at the H Mart, 25 Lafayette Ave., in Englewood. Last week, I paid $3.24 for a 1-pound tray of kimbap with Korean pickles and wickedly hot sliced jalapenos instead of $6.49.

Two other favorites from H Mart are stewed wild-caught Alaskan pollock ($6.99), front, and stewed tofu ($3.99), served here with mustard greens and a baked sweet potato. The pollock and tofu, which can be eaten hot or cold, are prepared with soy, red-pepper powder, garlic, scallion and other ingredients.

Under the category of fish and greens, we often prepare wild sea bass from H Mart stuffed with okra and callaloo, a canned, spinach-like green from Jamaica, and showered with fresh lime juice.

The pesto-smoked salmon frittata is made with reduced-fat sliced Jarslberg Lite Swiss Cheese from Costco that melts beautifully, above.

Organic whole-wheat spaghetti from Whole Foods Market in Trader Joe's canned Marinara Sauce with sardines, anchovies and fresh dandelion leaves.

Pasta with greens

I prepared organic whole wheat pasta with greens again, but couldn't find the baby kale I used the last time.

Instead, I bought 1.8 pounds of dandelion, a foot-long leafy green the Greeks call "horta," for 89 cents a pound at the International Food Warehouse in Lodi.

At home, I washed them and chopped them into 3-inch sections, adding them to the hot water in which the pasta was boiling in the last minute of cooking time.

I then drained pasta and greens, and transferred them to anther pan containing the bubbling sauce, which included three cans of sardines and a can of anchovies (drained of oil and rinsed).

The last time, I folded the baby kale into the sauce along with whole wheat shells.

I didn't find any difference in color retention when I added the greens to the pasta water, but next time, I'll chop the leaves smaller to avoid clumping.

For breakfast, a fried organic egg with a pinch of Aleppo pepper makes a nice topping for leftover whole wheat spaghetti.

A three-tomato, three-cheese frittata gets added flavor from leftover marinara sauce and Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto. It also includes fresh and sun-dried tomatoes; shredded Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, Jarlsberg Lite Swiss Cheese and Pecorino Romano Cheese in the pesto, all from Costco. 

Flavors of Wondee's

The snow was falling and the wind blowing, but we got a warm welcome during a late Saturday afternoon visit to Wondee's at 296 Main St. in Hackensack.

As I ate spicy shrimp soup, salad with crispy tofu and fruit, and jumbo shrimp in wine sauce, I marveled at all the wonderful Thai flavors that give this food such vibrancy.

Lemongrass, wilted leaves of fresh basil, chili paste, lemon juice, kaffir lime leaves, garlic, ginger and other accents are matched by an abundance of vegetables in nearly every dish.

At Wondees Fine Thai Food & Noodles in Hackensack, Talay Thai Shrimp ($17), front; Lamb with Panang Curry ($14) and Pad Kraprow Fried Rice with Pork ($10.50).

From the Vegetarian Menu at Wondees, Yum Rod Pedt, a salad of crispy tofu tossed with oranges, carrots and onion, and dressed with lime juice and chili paste ($10). Fresh cilantro and romaine lettuce that can be used for wrapping also are used.

Thome Yum Koong is shrimp soup with lemon juice, mushrooms, chili paste, lemongrass and other ingredients ($4 for small). Wondee's is closed on Mondays.

A free introduction to Korean food

A customer stops for a free sample of Korean noodles at H Mart in Fort Lee.

If you haven't already discovered the vibrant flavors of Korean food, H Marts in Bergen County provide an easy way to try the cuisine without spending money on a restaurant meal.

On the weekends, H Marts in Fort Lee, Englewood, Little Ferry and Ridgefield provide free samples of fruit, Korean noodles, rice cakes, seaweed-vegetable rolls and other food, and not all of it is spicy.

On Sunday, I sampled translucent noodles called japchae at the main Fort Lee store, as well as dried fish, fruit, rice cakes and a seaweed-egg omelet.

The woman offering the free noodle samples attracted customers with a sing-song, "Japchae ... kimbap sushi ...japchae."

Translucent noodles with vegetables were $5.49.

Vegetable, rice and seaweed rolls (kimbap) contain egg and imitation crab.

H Mart also is a great place to buy fresh fish, and prices are among the lowest around. 

All seafood is labeled with country of origin and whether it is wild or farm-raised.

At the H Mart fish counter in Fort Lee, wild carp trumps farmed pompano from China.

I found whole, wild-caught whiting from the United States at the H Mart Fresh in Fort Lee for $4.49 a pound, and we had it for Sunday dinner, along with fresh broccoli and organic brown rice with organic diced tomatoes prepared in an electric cooker.

We love whiting for its minimum amount of bones and its maximum of flaky, white fish. I also bought japchae and kimbap at H Mart Fresh.
 
A farmer's market was operating on Sunday across the street from H Mart Fresh, the smaller of the two H Marts in Fort Lee. The last day for the outdoor market is Nov. 18.

Whole pan-fried whiting with broccoli and organic brown rice.

H Mart, 112 Linwood Plaza, Fort Lee; 201-947-7800. H Mart Fresh, 1379 16th St., Fort Lee; 201-944-9009.

For other store locations, consult the Web site:

H Mart

  

My wild salmon swims in a sea of green

Frozen wild salmon fillets cook quickly in bottled Mexican salsa verde.

Wild salmon with collard greens and leftover organic brown rice.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss preparing frozen and fresh wild salmon, using a no-calorie cooking spray instead of oil, and pass along a a couple of bargains I found at Costco Wholesale and H Mart.

If past years are any guide, fresh wild salmon will be available at Costco Wholesale for only a couple of more weeks.

But frozen Alaskan wild sockeye salmon fillets are sold year-round, and we made a quick dinner the other night with four pieces we found in the freezer.

We used a 16.7-ounce bottle of La Costena Green Mexican Salsa (medium spicy), a preservative-free combination of tomatillo, jalapeno pepper, iodized salt, corn starch and spices.

I partially thawed the fillets, seasoned them with lime juice and Aleppo red pepper; put them in the pre-heated sauce, and covered the pan.

They were ready in 10 minutes; from frozen, they usually cook in about 20 minutes.

I also blanched fresh collard greens from the Englewood H Mart (68 cents a pound), drained them and seasoned them with a little soy sauce and sesame oil. 

Fresh wild king salmon from Costco is veined with heart-healthy fat.

Ready for the oven with Aleppo pepper, lime juice and chopped fresh herbs.

On Tuesday, I found fresh wild king salmon at the Hackensack Costco for $12.99 a pound -- a dollar more than when it first appeared a few weeks ago.

At home, I chopped fresh oregano, basil and mint; sprinkled the fillets with a little salt, Aleppo red pepper and lime juice, and cooked them at 400 degrees (roast/convection oven setting).
 
I had placed the salmon in a pan with aluminum foil and cooking spray.

For medium rare, the inch-thick fillets cooked in about 10-12 minutes; they cooked through in about 15 minutes, but stayed moist.

The high heat setting toasted the fresh herbs.

I also picked up a 2-pound package of those incomparable Campari tomatoes for $3.49 after an instant $1 coupon (through Sept. 23).

Two organic eggs prepared with no-calorie cooking spray.

No-calorie cooking spray

We've been using the Kirkland Signature Canola Oil Cooking Spray I bought at Costco to cook eggs, sautee vegetables and prepare Jamaican ackee and saltfish.

We substitute the spray for extra-virgin or canola oil.

The Kirkland Signature top is on the left.

A better bottle top

Both Costco and Trader Joe's have terrific 100% Spanish extra-virgin olive oils, and they are about the same price.

But the slit in the top of Costco's Kirkland Signature oil is ideal for drizzling, while the round hole in the Trader Joe's top requires more attention to avoid using too much oil.

Kimbap rolls, foreground, were 50% off at the Englewood H Mart.

Surprising bargain

On Wednesdays, I usually stop at Jerry's Gourmet and More in Englewood to pick up restaurant-quality takeout dinners, which are reduced to $5.99 from $7.99 after 4 p.m.

But this week, I went to H Mart in Englewood for prepared Korean food, and found a bargain on kimbap -- those addictive seaweed-wrapped rolls with egg, vegetables and fish.

The large package of Jinga kimbap was 50% off after 4 p.m. -- $2.49 instead of $4.99. 

The new awning and sign on Main Street in Fort Lee.

Here we are

Ramen Setagaya in Fort Lee is easier to find now that it has a new awning and sign.

The ramen restaurant opened several months ago on Main Street near Center Avenue.