A celebratory meal at a temple of seafood

Crudo Al Taglio or sliced, raw fish at Marea in Manhattan.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

The menu at Marea offers an incredible variety of fresh seafood.

In fact, during a celebratory meal at the fine-dining Italian restaurant in Manhattan, I saw listings of fish I have never heard of, including Japanese greenling and Pacific parrotfish.

Marea means "tide," and I was delighted with what swam my way during a four-course, prix fixe dinner to celebrate my birthday on Sunday ($97).

I started with Lancia or raw Hawaiian blue marlin with sturgeon caviar in mussel vinaigrette, and the chef added a gift of Passera or raw Long Island fluke with lemon, caper and mint.

The fresh fish literally melted in my mouth.

House-made squid-ink pasta with sepia and other seafood.

   


All pastas are hand made in-house, and even the words in Italian make my mouth water: "Pasta fatta in casa."

For a second course, I chose Garganelli or squid-ink pasta with sepia, shrimp, scallops and butternut squash. 

The firmness of the pasta contrasted with the tenderness of the rich seafood. 

Roasted Alaskan Halibut with toasted kale and pomegranate seeds.

 

My entree of Ippoglosso or Roasted Alaskan Halibut was perfectly cooked. The thick, snowy fillet was moist and delicious. 

I don't eat meat, but missed mention on the menu that pancetta or cured pork belly was included in the dish, and had to weed out four or five small pieces.

For dessert, I had the Tasting of Three Cheeses -- variously made from buffalo, cow, sheep and goat milk -- the perfect end to the meal.

I nursed a glass of prosecco, a sparkling dry white wine, until the end of the meal ($11).
 

The final course was a Tasting of Three Cheeses.

 

I was offered complimentary petits fours, but had already broken my diet by eating lots of bread crusts with olive oil, so I asked the server to take them away. 

My no-bread, no-pizza, no-dessert diet has been so successful I was able to wear a sport jacket that was made for me 22 years ago.

I was surprised and disappointed not to see a salad listed on the menu, nor was I offered one, even though Italians usually end their meals that way.

The service at Marea is excellent, thanks to a big staff of captains, waiters and servers/bus boys, as well as a wine steward.

The young wine steward discussed whites with the couple on my left, and I noticed he was somewhat disheveled, with a mismatched suit jacket that was too small for him, a short beard and a shock of dark hair.

The servers describe each dish as they put it down in front of you, but sometimes, I couldn't understand their heavily accented English, and had to ask them  to repeat themselves.

The dining room at Marea echoes with the chatter of contented diners.

I dipped bread crusts in fruity extra-virgin olive oil.

A gift from the chef made from butternut squash, razor clam and frisee.

The drive into Manhattan was easy, and sidewalks around the nearby Time Warner Center were full of people enjoying the final hours of the weekend. 

There were only a few signs that Super Storm Sandy hit six days before, but streets were closed around the construction crane that broke atop at a 75-story building on West 57th.

I arrived early for my 6:30 p.m. reservation, and was seated next to a young Korean-American couple who spoke in California-accented English about celebrating "2 years together."

"Can you believe 2 years have gone by already?" he said.

"It seems longer," she replied.

Later, she brought up another woman he had dated, but he protested that was for only 3 months. She reminded him the relationship had lasted 8 months.

Meanwhile, I had a nice conversation with the young couple on the right, discussing food blogging and food safety.

Dinner at Marea was my fourth heart-healthy seafood meal in three days -- each one a small victory over harmful animal fats.

I had lunch at Seafood Gourmet in Maywood and dinner at Baumgart's in Englewood on Friday, and dinner at Legal Sea Foods in Paramus on Saturday.

I left Marea, wearing a warm overcoat and a fedora, and strolled over to the Time Warner Center, where I took the elevator to the fourth floor and the entrance to Per Se.

I'll return to Marea, of course, but looking over the menu offering a multi-course tasting meal for $295, including service, I thought Per Se would be a great place for my next birthday.

 

The entrance to Per Se in Manhattan.

 
 

Marea, 240 Central Park South, New York, N.Y.; 212-582-5100. 

Web site: Delights from the seven seas
 

A fresh look at Corrado's Family Affair

Part of the produce section at Corrado's Family Affair in Clifton.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Are there any other food stores with a more intriguing name than Corrado's Family Affair?

The big, ethnic supermarket on Main Avenue in Clifton -- just a couple of blocks over the Paterson line -- has been packing them in for more than 50 years.

The lure is a lot of food for just a little money, though there are fewer bargains here than in the past.

Jersey Fresh peaches were $1.39 a pound, the same price I paid for peaches at the Paramus ShopRite, but I ate only two of the latter and threw two away.

Two packages of Campari tomatoes were only $1, but they were less than a full pound.

Lousy peaches

After I wrote about buying South Carolina and New Jersey peaches for $1.39 a pound at the Paramus ShopRite -- they turned out to be lousy -- a reader said the new Corrado's supermarket in Wayne had Jersey Fresh fruit for only 99 cents a pound, and they were good.

Today, I went to the original Corrado's in Clifton, where New Jersey peaches were $1.39 a pound, so I bought four and will let them ripen on the counter.

I went for peaches and bought so much more.

Fresh bi-color corn, cold to the touch, were six for $1.99, and after I steamed them, they turned out to be sweet and needed nothing.

One-pound packages of strawberries were $2 each, sweet red peppers were 99 cents a pound and sweet orange peppers were $1.39 a pound.

But green-red peppers appeared wrinkled and old, and I passed, despite the low price.

Two 25-ounce bottles of Don Bruno Vodka Sauce, made with Italian tomatoes but no sugar, were $2.50 each.

Salted codfish

My biggest purchase was six 1-pound packages of Atlantic Pearl Salted Codfish Fillets from Canada at $6.99 each -- far lower than at ShopRite or Fairway Market in Paramus.

The high price of salted cod has prompted us to buy salted Alaskan pollock from Costco Wholesale, but my wife says the taste and texture aren't quite the same.

Corrado's is one of the few stores that carries squid-ink pasta, but an 8.8-ounce package was $5.99, and I decided against buying one.

The original Corrado's opened in 1960, and has expanded across Getty Avenue to a Corrado's shopping center -- with a store for amateur wine makers, garden center, pet store and so much more.

Gasoline, too

There is even a Corrado's gas station on Getty, where regular was $3.56.9 cents a gallon today.

I'd shop at Corrado's Family Affair almost every time I visited Fattal's Syrian Bakery and the Middle Eastern restaurants in nearby South Paterson.

But I stopped going there a few years ago after produce quality slipped, and I saw price stickers placed over expiration dates on organic salad mixes.

Today, Corrado's has liquor, flower and houseware stores inside the main building, as well as one corner devoted to brick oven pizza.

As good as Corrado's prices are on many items, I still had to go to Fattal's today for Al Shark spicy Moroccan sardines, still only 99 cents a can, and a gallon of Merve Aryan Yogurt Drink for $7.79.

I also noticed Corrado's is charging $12.99 a pound for Manchego sheep's milk cheese from Spain -- more than at Whole Foods Market in Paramus or the Hackensack Costco. 

I also couldn't find any antibiotic-free chicken for family members who eat poultry.

Corrado's Family Affair, 1578 Main Ave., Clifton; 973-340-0628.

Web site: www.corradosmarket.com

Fattal's Bakery, 975-77 Main St., Paterson; 973-742-7125.

At Sanducci's Trattoria in River Edge

Image via Wikipedia

We finally had dinner at Sanducci's Trattoria, which was forced by the blizzard to close Sunday and Monday, though there was no change in the recorded message I got when I called.

We arrived around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday and the bi-level dining room filled up fast. Dark-wood furniture, columns and booths, and black-and-white family photos dominate the pleasant decor.

My son wasn't feeling well, and me and my wife felt like pasta with seafood, so we ordered only three dishes. I brought a bottle of Italian wine and we munched on crunchy bread and focaccia squares, which were served with a small cup of olive oil, wine, garlic and pulverized sun-dried tomato.

My son ordered soup, a large bowl of pasta e fagioli, also called pasta fazool ($4.50). I wanted to have the squid-ink pasta I enjoyed so much on my first visit to Sanducci's a few years ago, and selected the homemade black fettuccine with lobster ($18.95). My wife ordered capellini  with crab meat, but asked the kitchen to hold the light butter sauce ($17.50).

Because nearly all the other tables were occupied, we had to wait for our food. I drank my wine and nibbled on a slice or two of the bread, which I dipped into the oil-wine-tomato sauce.

When our pasta entrees arrived, they looked as if they had been sitting under a heat lamp for a few minutes. Still, they were delicious and the restaurant is generous with both tender lobster and crab. Next time, I'll order my black pasta with a tomato sauce, instead of the rich pink sauce I got.

My son loved his soup, and my wife brought home the angel-hair pasta she couldn't finish.

Sanducci's moved to a new location in November, a few blocks from its old building. In 2008, readers of The Record voted it one of the Top 5 Italian restaurants in the region, in a poll taken by the advertising department. 

We'll return for the table-side pasta night, which the waitress was describing to people at the next table: Caesar's salad, antipasto and unlimited pasta ($16.95) on Wednesday and Thursday nights. An all-you-can eat dinner buffet is served Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays (also $16.95). Check the hours for both offers.


Sanducci's Trattoria, 620 Kinderkamack Road, River Edge; 201-599-0600.
BYO, open seven days, parking in front and rear lots. Web site:


The new Sanducci's Trattoria 

 

Shopping notes

Image by wka via Flickr

Rotten tomatillos, tired-looking red peppers and squid-ink pasta for about $12 a pound. You may be surprised that I found all of those at Corrado's, the large ethnic supermarket on the Clifton-Paterson border that has a reputation for low prices. 

I had an errand in Totowa, and decided to stop in Paterson to pick up Middle Eastern spices and bread at Fattal's Bakery. I also needed grated pecorino romano cheese, which Corrado's sells for $6.99 a pound. I keep it in the freezer, and use it on pasta and to sprinkle over salads and focaccia.


Corrado's is one of the few supermarkets I know that stocks squid-ink pasta, but today, the only package I found was 8.8 ounces and cost $5.99. I passed. One side of an entire aisle is devoted to pasta, including 24-inch long spaghetti from Italy.

I picked up two plastic bags of grated cheese, each one about a pound. Five pounds of carrots were $1.99, and jalapeno peppers were 2 pounds for $1. But I'll have to go elsewhere for tomatillos. Corrado's still has low prices, but in some cases, the quality is low, too. You get nothing back for bringing your own bags.


At Fattal's, I picked up two packages of Syrian bread ($1.50 for 12 loaves); a variety of green and black olives ($2.99 a pound), Aryan yogurt drink ($3.79) and a half-pound each of cumin and coarse Aleppo red pepper ($3.96 a pound).


The cumin and mildly spicy red pepper are my main spices for seasoning several dishes, including wild salmon, eggs and hummus.

I didn't need sardines on this visit to Fattal's, but noted Corrado's charges $1.49 for the same Moroccan sardines you can get at the bakery for 99 cents.

Fattal's Bakery, 975-77 Main St., 
Paterson; 973-742-7125.
  
Corrado's  Family Affair, 1578 Main Ave., 
Clifton; 973-340-0628.