Is Sapphire Thai Food Express any reason to eat in Teaneck?

Meing Kham at Sapphire Thai Food Express in Teaneck are Chinese broccoli leaf roll-ups with fresh ginger, dried shrimp, fresh chili, roasted peanuts, lime and browned coconut with a sweet sauce on the side.

There is very little dried shrimp on each leaf.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Wondee's in Hackensack has spoiled me for other Thai restaurants.

I haven't tried Thai Palace on Degraw Avenue in Teaneck, despite a recommendation from friends and a three-star newspaper review last year.

Now, a woman who cooked at that restaurant helped open a new place, Sapphire Thai Food Express, in a storefront on Teaneck's Cedar Lane.

Sapphire also got a favorable newspaper review recently -- 21/2 stars -- but the two dishes I ordered on Sunday evening were just good, not great.

There was so little shrimp in Meing Kham, one of the restaurant's specialties, that I could not taste it, especially if I added the optional sauce.

The broccoli leaf roll-ups have a crunchy filling and a too-sweet sauce of brown sugar, coconut and galangal, a member of the ginger family ($10).

Hand-held food

I ordered the dish because I can't resist the appeal of food you eat with your hands, such as tacos and anything stuffed into Middle Eastern pocket bread.

I liked the Papaya Salad, which I asked for medium spicy, but the strands of green papaya could have been cut thicker, as they are at Wondee's ($7).

The papaya, peanuts, string beans, tomato, chili and tart lime-juice dressing are served over crunchy chopped romaine lettuce, but I prefer Wondee's whole leaves, which allow you to wrap up the salad and eat it.

The shredded green papaya in Sapphire's Papaya Salad was thinner than the crunchy strands in the salad served at Wondee's Fine Thai Food & Noodles on Main Street in Hackensack.

Sapphire Thai Food Express seats fewer than 30, and on Sunday evening, the dining room was too cold when the air conditioner cycled on.

Sapphire Thai Food Express, 445 Cedar Lane, Teaneck; 201-928-0770. Open 7 days. Call for hours. BYO. Free parking in municipal lot around the corner.

The North Jersey 'ethnic-food run' is alive and well

The takeout counter at Pollos El Chevere, where the menu of Peruvian specialties goes far beyond its signature rotisserie chicken.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss some of the great ethnic food available in North Jersey, and shop with a coupon booklet from H Mart, a Korean supermarket chain. The H Mart in Englewood was closed in 2018.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

North Jersey's increasing diversity pays big dividends: Great ethnic food at nearly every turn.

I often did my "ethnic-food runs" on Saturdays, starting in the city of Passaic with a snack of tacos, stopping in Paterson for a takeout soul-food dinner, and ending with food shopping and a meal in South Paterson's Middle Eastern bazaar.

The soul-food restaurant closed, and three and a half years ago, I stopped eating meat. But I can still do a food run.

Last Saturday, my wife wanted to shop some of Passaic's cheap clothing stores.

That set up a visit to Pollos El Chevere, an inexpensive Japanese-Peruvian-owned restaurant that is one of the nicest and cleanest in that poor city.

We ordered takeout for the meat eaters in the family:

Pollo Entero Solo, a whole rotisserie chicken with a side of white rice, french fries, green or sweet plantains or yuca ($10); an order of Tostones or fried green plantains ($2.75); and two Empanadas with ground meat and boiled egg ($2.50 each).

We also ordered an extra container of a pale green, spicy chili-cheese sauce ($3) that can be poured over the chicken, green plantains or just about anything else.

Plenty of seafood

I fondly recall meals at Pollos El Chevere, especially enjoying my favorite dish, Ceviche de Pescado ($12), a Japanese-Peruvian twist on sashimi, served with  sweet potato and popped corn kernels.

Another great dish is called Tallerin Verde, a green or pesto-like pasta dish available with shrimp, fish or steak ($12.50 to $14).

The menu also offers many seafood dishes, including stews, fried fillets and steamed fish.

Pollos El Chevere, 228 Washington Place, Passaic; 1-973-249-6330. 

Web site: www.cheverechicken.com

Al-Shark Moroccan Sardines in tomato sauce or spicy oil are still only 99 cents a can in the grocery section of Fattal's Bakery in Paterson. We use them in pasta sauce and salads.

Corrado's

Our next stop was Corrado's Family Affair, a big, ethnic supermarket on the Clifton-Paterson border where I used to go for salted cod from Canada in 1-pound plastic bags.

After two earlier visits to Corrado's, only to find they were out of those bags of salted cod, I called ahead and was told by a fish counter worker the cod had finally come in.

But what the employee called cod turned out to be salted Alaskan pollock, a cheaper substitute I buy at Costco Wholesale, and I left empty handed.

We drove less than a mile to Fattal's Bakery on Main Street in Paterson, where I picked up 21 cans of Al-Shark Moroccan Sardines in tomato sauce or spicy oil (99 cents each).

Aleppo Restaurant offers a great Syrian meal in a pleasant setting, above and below, free of the annoying hookah smoke so prevalent in other restaurants in South Paterson or over the border in Clifton.

If you like spicy food, Aleppo Restaurant's Muhammara is a must.

Aleppo Restaurant

We finished our "ethnic-food run" with another great meal of soup, salad, fish and kebabs at Aleppo Restaurant in Paterson.

See a previous post: 

My heart goes out to the city of Aleppo, Syria 

Details

Aleppo Restaurant, 939 Main St., Paterson; 1-973-977-2244.

Fattal's Bakery, 975-77 Main St., Paterson; 1-973-742-7125.

Corrado's Family Affair, 1578 Main Ave., Clifton; 1-973-340-0628.

One of the coupons in a book sent to some H Mart shoppers offers 20% off on big seedless watermelons, but that's just $2 off the price of $9.99.

The best coupon for me gave a $1 discount on 2 pounds of wild mussels harvested in Massachusetts just a week before I bought them. The discounted price was $1.99.

Whole whiting, here swimming in a sake-organic diced tomato sauce, were $3.99 a pound. There is no coupon for fresh fish.

H Mart 'savings'

H Mart has sent a "summer savings" coupon booklet to holders of the Korean supermarket chain's Smart Card, which gives a 1% rebate on purchases of $1,000.

On Wednesday, at the Englewood H Mart, I used coupons to get 20% off the price of green peppers ($1.59 a pound), and to buy 2 pounds of wild mussels for only $1.99.

I steamed opened the mussels in a little inexpensive sake, and they were deliciously tender and grit-free.

Non-coupon items I bought included a box of 20 intensely sweet Champagne or Ataulfo Mangoes for $8.99, a dollar less than before.

The store was having an even better special -- 2 boxes or 40 mangoes for $14.99. The regular price is $15.99 a box.

Jinga's Cheese Kimbap -- a seaweed, rice and vegetable roll -- were half price after 4 p.m. or just $2.49.

Fresh collard greens were 99 cents a pound.

H Mart has other stores in Fort Lee, Ridgefield and Little Ferry.  Coupons are good through July 14, 2013.

See its Web site: 

http://www.hmart.com/

From pristine sushi to homey tacos

Image by Emily Barney via Flickr

Mole is a classic Mexican sauce made with dark chocolate and chilies.

After 16 years of serving pristine seafood in a jewel-box setting in Englewood, restaurateur Charles Hamade is moving his Japanese restaurant to Cliffside Park.


Wild Nigiri on Palisade Avenue -- known for many years as Wild Ginger -- has closed.


In its place, Hamade had the soft opening today of Papa Mole, a Mexican restaurant where, he said, a trio of tacos cost $7 and entrees top out at $16 or $17.


Later this month, he plans to open Bushido in Cliffside Park, a restaurant with a liquor license, which he has never had in Englewood.

Papa Mole, 6 E. Palisade Ave., Englewood; 

201-567-2660. BYO, no reservations accepted. 

Chipotle Mexican Grill earns bragging rights

Image via Wikipedia

A Chipotle Mexican Grill in Colorado Springs, Colo., the state where the chain started.

The "Food With Integrity" policy at Chipotle Mexican Grill puts other fast-food chains, fancy burger restaurants and many expensive restaurants to shame.

The policy is posted next to the wall menu at the busy Paramus store: chicken, pork and beef served here were raised without antibiotics, growth hormones or animal byproducts, and some of the vegetables are organic.

Here's what the company Web site says about the pork it uses:

"There are ranchers whose pigs are raised outside or in deeply bedded pens, are never given antibiotics and are fed a vegetarian diet. It's the way animals were raised 50 years ago before huge factory farms changed the industry. We believe pigs that are cared for in this way enjoy happier, healthier lives and produce the best pork we've ever tasted.

"We call this style of ranching naturally raised, and since 2001, we have sourced 100% of our pork from producers who follow these guidelines."

When we walked into the restaurant Saturday afternoon around 5, there were already about 20 people on the line and after a few minutes, another dozen or so customers arrived.

The menu is limited: burritos, tacos, and bowls made with or without meat, such side dishes as guacamole, chips and salsa, and soft drinks. Sadly, no fish or shrimp tacos are available. Main dishes are $6.25 and $6.65 (pork).

It's strictly counter service. The menu is posted above servers who assemble your meal as you move down the line, but the pans they are dishing from are unlabeled. Your last stop is the register, where credit cards are accepted. More employees work in an open kitchen behind the servers.

We ordered three bowls, one of them to go, with chopped chicken, shredded pork (carnitas) or peppers and onions, and all of them with white rice, black beans, sour cream, cheese, hot sauce and a side of guacamole ($1.95 extra). Pinto beans made with a little bacon also are available.

Our food was tasty, but not hot enough. I didn't get hot sauce on my vegetarian meal, but used one of the bottled hot sauces next to the drink machine. My wife found a filament in her food and, at home, my son said there was some grit in his guacamole.

Image by shawnblog via Flickr

My son's bowl with shredded pork filled about three-quarters of a dinner plate when we heated it up in the microwave. My wife took home half of her meal, and I was pleasantly satisfied after finishing mine.

In view of the restaurant's popularity, I'd definitely choose take-out next time for all three meals. Although we found a table right away, there was the inevitable bumping into other customers at the drink machine, where I found lemon wedges for my seltzer.

If you Google "Chipotle Mexican Grill," you might come across many negative "reviews" online from people who ate at the Paramus restaurant, but I didn't see any uncleared tables and the staff was harried but friendly. It's hard to know if the store was poorly run at one time or if the reviews are completely off the mark.

As we waited on the line, an employee was walking around the small dining room, sweeping up anything that had fallen to the floor from tables.

Our bill for food and two soft drinks was $30.17, with no need to tip, far less than what a meal for three, tip and tax would be at a restaurant serving conventionally raised, mystery food.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, 81 Route 4 west, Paramus, 

in the 35 Plaza shopping mall; 201-556-0180.

Web site: Food With Integrity

Family hour at Rosa Mexicano Restaurant

Image by ChrisGoldNY via Flickr

Making guacamole at Rosa Mexicano Restaurant on Union Square in  Manhattan.

If you've never thought of having a family meal during happy hour, you might want to reconsider and go to Rosa Mexicano in Hackensack, where some drinks and appetizers are half price from 4 to 7 p.m. on weekdays.

I've attended cooking demonstrations at this shopping center restaurant, and in the early days, enjoyed the free breakfasts that were served first. I soon learned the cooks make just about everything from scratch, resulting in the best Mexican food in North Jersey, if not the entire state, with prices to match. And it's one of the most beautiful restaurants around.


I've eaten lunch there -- try the fish tacos with a couple of sparkling salsas -- but never dinner. Happy hour gives me a chance to sample more of the food at terrific prices, and my 13-year-old son can participate as long as we sit at one of the tables in the bar area.

Friday night, we got there around 5. My son insisted we order the made-to-order guacamole, which is he addicted to, and I relented, despite it not being one of the discounted appetizers. I love it, too, but at $12 for two avocados ..... We asked for it spicy, and they delivered, along with wonderful, small, warm corn tortillas made in the dining room and red and green salsas.


We also ordered a delicious quesadilla oozing with melted cheese and mushroom-like huitlacoche or corn fungus ($4.40) and an order of two pork street tacos ($3.50) -- both bargains. Each of these appetizers came with its own salsa or salsas, different from the two served with the chunky guacamole.


My wife drank a traditional margarita ($4), I had two bottles of dark Negra Modelo beer ($2.75 each) and our son had two Mango Boing soft drinks ($4 each).

So that's how we turned happy hour into a satisfying family meal.

Rosa Mexicano Restaurant, 390 Hackensack Ave.,
Hackensack (The Shops at Riverside); 201-489-9100.
rosamexicano.com

Guacamole, falafel and vegetable souffle

Image via Wikipedia

We've tried two more of the prepared-food items I found at Costco as I widen our choice of non-meat dishes for the five or six meals we have at home every week


Last night, we started off with a 16-ounce container of  Wholly Guacamole, a brand made from Hass avocados and spices. I spooned the thick guacamole into a bowl and, to thin it, added two chopped, herbicide-free Campari tomatoes and fresh lemon juice. We made guacamole tacos with whole-grain tortillas, also from Costco. A terrific appetizer.


A few days ago, we also tried falafel balls from Meal Mart. They're vegan and kosher. You just heat up the falafel balls. They are tasty but dense. I served them with a chopped cucumber, tomato and onion salad dressed with extra-virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar and dried mint, along with warm Syrian pocket bread and a tahini sauce (falafel, sauce and salad are stuffed into the bread).

The fully cooked Classic Cooking-brand vegetable souffle looks like a winner. (I plan to serve it tonight with soy burgers or leftover pasta and  Mexican-flavored "sausage" made with wheat gluten and soy I bought at Whole Foods Market.) The ingredients include potato, eggs, carrot, zucchini, broccoli, red pepper and spinach.

In Hackensack, the best restaurant outside of Mexico City?

The dining room of Rosa Mexicano Restaurant in Hackensack. Corn tortillas are made by hand at the counter in the rear.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

We celebrated our son's 13th birthday Saturday night with a wonderful meal at Rosa Mexicano in Hackensack, where we love the handmade guacamole and corn tortillas, and sparkling salsas.


If there is better Mexican food in North Jersey, I don't know where it is served. 

I recall visiting the flashy Mama Mexico when it first opened in Englewood Cliffs, and the food was terrific, but I haven't been back. That restaurant eventually closed.

At Rosa Mexicano, just about everything is made from scratch with good ingredients, and you'll pay for it. 

You'd have to go to Mexico City to find food prepared at this level.

Guacamole

The guacamole for two, made at your table with onion, tomato and jalapeno, is $12 -- and that's for one avocado. 

For a second avocado, you'll pay $12 more.

We treated our single order as an appetizer, and kept on asking for the small corn tortillas to fashion tacos with the two small cups of hot sauce.


We ordered two more appetizers -- small crab empanadas with a mango salsa ($10.75), and a quesadilla with huitlacoche ($8.75)  -- the exotic, black corn fungus that my wife and son ate, though they usually avoid mushrooms. The latter was served with a Mexican sour cream and green salsa.


We shared an entree -- a butterflied, whole red snapper (sans the head), with each half covered in a different hot sauce ($26). 

We couldn't get the kitchen to serve us the head, too. 

Tacos

I also ordered roasted vegetable tacos -- wild mushrooms, squash blossoms, zucchini and garlic -- served with flax-seed tortillas, Mexican street or creamed corn and beans with roasted pumpkin seeds ($17).


We would have been satisfied and full without the vegetable tacos, which seem expensive, and I had to eat them myself. My son ordered dessert -- churros (fried dough) with chocolate and two other dipping sauces ($6.95).

This is one of the most beautiful restaurants in North Jersey, with Mexican pottery, sconces and wall hangings. Service is attentive, but I wish the waiters wouldn't push the expensive, exotic drinks or that second avocado for the guacamole.

Details

Rosa Mexicano, One Riverside Square, in The Shops at Riverside, Hackensack; 201-489-9100. Reservations recommended on weekends.

Rosa Mexicano website

Tito's Burritos and Beyzaleda Turkish Food

Image via Wikipedia

I had business in Morristown on Friday and a friend offered to buy me lunch at Tito's Burritos on Washington Street.

I ordered the swordfish taco ($4.25), hold the cabbage. This is a lot of money for one taco, compared with the Mexican joints I used to frequent in Passaic city, but you usually can't get fish of any kind there. However, Tito's does sell Jarritos, the Mexican soda made with sugar.

The swordfish came in a hard taco shell wrapped in a flour tortilla -- not the usual two corn tortillas -- and the chopped fish was in a cilantro-lime sauce. So this is more of a California or Hawaiin version. It was tasty, though.

On Saturday night, we dropped into Beyzaleda Turkish Food in Cliffside Park for dinner, but the vegetarian options were limited, so we ordered lentil soup; a salad of chopped tomato, cucumber and onions in a light dressing; and ezme, the coarse walnut-and-pepper salad. 

This was a properly spicy ezme salad, and the other items were wonderful. Still, the 16-seat, halal  restaurant was out of another salad and of the rice with beans pictured on the menu. The waitress kept pushing the hummus, but we declined.

The soup and chopped salad came with wedges of lemon, and we got small basket after small basket of homemade puffy bread. But the Turkish pizza we wanted isn't prepared on Saturdays and the potato or parsley omelet we asked for is made only in the morning. Our meatless pledge prevented us from trying a special kabob wrapped in bread.

Tito's Burritos, 26 Washington St., Morristown; 
973-267-8486. Open seven days. Second location in Summit.
www.titosburritos.com

BeyzaledaTurkish Food, 633 Anderson Ave., 
Cliffside Park;  201-840-1245. Open seven days.