Lox around the clock with Costco Wholesale's smoked wild salmon

The selection of cheeses at Jerry's Gourmet & More, 410 S. Dean St. in Englewood, above, is among the largest in North Jersey, but no other store matches Jerry's unlimited free samples.

Jerry's Meals To Go are restaurant-quality takeout, such as this dinner of grilled shrimp, pasta salad with chicken, fava-bean salad and broccoli, above. They are reduced to $5.99 after 4 p.m.

Editor's note: Today's buffet includes versatile Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon from Costco Wholesale, Jerry's Gourmet in Englewood and more.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR


This is probably the last month for fresh, wild-caught salmon at Costco Wholesale, but you can continue to lox around the clock with smoked and sliced sockeye.

Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon, available year-round, is appropriate at any meal, and you don't need a bagel with a schmear to enjoy it.

I add the fatty, heart-healthy fish to dinner salads and frittatas or for a snack, simply roll it up with a slice of reduced-fat Swiss cheese and organic spring mix, two other items you can find at Costco.

Costco's smoked wild salmon is terrific snack food. Here, I rolled it up in Romaine lettuce with reduced-fat cheese, Dijon mustard and herbs from the garden.

No bread or pizza

Before I went on a no-bread, no-pizza diet, I loved to layer the smoked salmon in sandwiches with cheese, greens and pesto.

One pound of the smoked wild salmon comes in two half-pound pouches for $15.59, reflecting a 20-cents price increase this year.

This is less than what you'd pay for smoked farmed salmon, which is artificially colored.

Smoked wild sockeye salmon added to a takeout dinner salad.

You won't find the deep red-orange color of smoked wild salmon in farmed counterparts.

Jerry's dinners

I picked up Grilled Shrimp, Chicken Milanese and Stuffed Squid takeout dinners at Jerry's Gourmet & More in Englewood after 4 p.m., when they are marked down to $5.99 each.

My first stop on Wednesday was Balthazar Bakery, 214 S. Dean St. in Englewood, for a pair of its wonderful baguettes ($2 each).

The baguettes are made with unbleached wheat flour, water, rye flour, sea salt, yeast and barley malt, and weigh 8 ounces.

Parking challenge

Leaving Balthazar's small parking lot is still dangerous, even with a round, convex mirror attached to a utility pole at the exit.

Vehicles, including buses and tractor-trailers, are larger and much closer than they appear in the mirror.

And cars parked at the curb in front of the building block the view of drivers who are trying to exit the lot safely.

Unfortunately, there is little street parking available.


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Should I yield to the temptation of Chinese garlic?

A breakfast of cabbage and salt fish with sweet plantains uses peeled and chopped Christopher Ranch garlic from Costco Wholesale.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

My wife has a lot more patience than I do when it comes to peeling and chopping fresh garlic for our home-cooked meals.

I'd just as soon grab a jar of Kirkland Signature Granulated California Garlic. 

We use fresh, California-grown Christopher Ranch Monviso Garlic, an  heirloom variety that originated in the Piedmont region of Italy.

A 2-pound net bag of the garlic is $4.29 at my Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

But I can't tell you how tempted I am by the large jars of peeled garlic cloves I see at H Mart, the Korean supermarket chain in North Jersey.

I peeled and chopped Christopher Ranch garlic for this dish of organic whole-wheat pasta with vegetables and sardines, which I served with tofu and a wedge of frittata.

The pasta dish contained Trader Joe's Healthy 8 Chopped Veggie Mix: broccoli, carrots, green cabbage, red cabbage, jicama, green bell pepper, radish and celery.

The only problem with the H Mart garlic is that it comes from China, which has a poor food-safety record. 

And if you read the label of the Christopher Ranch garlic, you may not want to bother with anything else:

"Monviso [heirloom garlic] has the highest concentration of savory oils" and "is preferred by chefs for its farm-fresh quality, bold nutty flavor and creamy garlic finish."

I've picked up one tip on how to peel garlic easily:

Smashing the clove first with the flat side of your chef's knife will make it much easier to peel.

Update

Prompted by a reader's comment, I went looking for peeled Christopher Ranch Monviso Garlic at my Hackensack Costco.

I found a 3-pound plastic bag or pouch of the California garlic -- peeled -- for $4.99, but it was marked "perishable" and "keep refrigerated," and had an expiration date of Oct. 11, 2013.

The peeled Chinese garlic at H Mart wasn't refrigerated.

The peeled Christopher Ranch garlic is cheaper than the unpeeled, but can I use 3 pounds of garlic cloves in a month?

 

Service can suffer at popular Korean restaurant

The flash of cabbage kimchi being cut up and plated by your server, then covered in extra sweet-and-spicy sauce, is part of the experience at Gammeeok, a popular Korean restaurant in Fort Lee.

The Tofu Soup with Seafood for Two is filled with big chunks of soft tofu and large clams, mussels, head-on shrimp and even a few crab legs for flavor.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

This weekend, we showed up at Gammeeok, a popular Korean restaurant in Fort Lee, without a reservation (I didn't know the staff took them).

We didn't go until after 6 p.m. on Saturday, so we could park at a meter for free and avoid the valet in the small lot, but had to wait about 10 minutes for a table.

The restaurant was full, and that was reflected in the slow service.

There was a delay between the kimchi service and the arrival of a Seafood Jeon, a large, fluffy pancake with tender squid, shrimp and scallions ($14.95) that three of us shared.

And then we had to wait some more for our entrees -- two Korean comfort dishes.

The Dolsot or Stone Bowl Bibimbap -- rice, vegetables and ground beef topped with a raw or fried egg that you mix up and eat with a mildly spicy sauce -- was $13.95.

Gammeeok's signature cabbage and radish kimchi.

Seafood Jeon is enough for three or four to share.

The Tofu Soup for Two with Seafood wasn't listed on the menu, but we were offered it when I asked for an individual tofu stew.

The soup for two is served with steamed white rice for $20, about what we pay for two soups, rice and side dishes at So Gong Dong, our favorite tofu house in Palisades Park ($9.99 each, including tax).

We ladled the Tofu Soup into individual bowls.

At So Gong Dong, the tofu soup arrives at your table bubbling furiously and you take a fresh egg and crack it into the broth, which cooks it to soft-boiled perfection.

At Gammeeok, the soup was hot, but not boiling, and no egg was provided.

Still, there was plenty of soup and rice left over to take home and offer to our teenage son.

I liked the strongly flavored broth and the big mussles, clams and shrimp, but my wife doesn't care for shellfish and didn't think the version here approached the tofu soup at So Gong Dong.

Of course, she might have been upset at being denied bibimbap, her favorite dish at Gammeeok.

Condiments include bean paste, above, that you can scoop up with fresh cabbage, below.

Although we had to wait for food and for our tea cups to be refilled, the staff accommodated me when it came time to pay the bill, honoring a coupon I had, even though I didn't buy $50 in food.

The coupon, from the local daily newspaper, was $15 off a dine-in order of $50, not including tax, and I was short more than a dollar.

The Fort Lee restaurant, a branch of the Manhattan original, has been a reliable choice for Korean food since 1991.

 
Gammeeok (say GAM-yo), 485 Main St., Fort Lee; 201-242-1333.

Web site: www.gammeeok.com

Trying new items at Trader Joe's in Paramus.

Trader Joe's encourages customers to try new items in Fearless Flyer, a publication sent to homes with detailed descriptions of fresh, frozen and prepared food, much of it organic or naturally raised.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Sliced yogurt cheese with jalapeños. Check. Antibiotic- and preservative-free hot dogs. Check. Sweet potatoes. Organic or conventional? Check.

My Trader Joe's shopping list hardly varied, and I'd return time and again for a handful of items I couldn't find in other food stores.

Costco Wholesale, for example, has better prices on just about everything, but only carries sweet potatoes at holiday time and doesn't stock the organic kind.

Trader Joe's in Paramus has both year-round.

Then, I got Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer in the mail, read through it and took it with me on Thursday after I met a friend for lunch at a diner near the Route 17 store.

Steaks, juice, pasta

I picked up frozen Grass-Fed Angus Strip Loin Steaks from New Zealand ($10.99 a pound); a 4-pack of canned, not-from-concentrate Pineapple Juice, each one about 8.5 ounces ($2.99); a 16-ounce package of 8 chopped vegetables ($2.99); and a 16-ounce package of frozen Tropical Blend Organic Fruit ($2.99).

I also picked up more 1-pound packages of Trader Joe's Organic Whole Wheat Fusilli Pasta ($1.39 each); a 3-pound bag of Organic Sweet Potatoes ($3.69); and naturally raised Applegate Sliced Roast Beef ($3.99 for 7 ounces), $2 less than at the ShopRite in Englewood.

I also picked up packages of antibiotic- and hormone-free Trader Joe's Bacon and Beef Hot Dogs ($4.49 each).

Trader Joe's prices don't vary, unlike the fluctuating prices at Costco Wholesale.

Trader Joe's produce section.
 

Mold problem

At the Hackensack Costco last Tuesday, I bought a 5-pound tray of Sunset Beefsteak Tomatoes, put them on my counter to ripen and was surprised to see mold growing out of the stem end of two or three of them only 2 days later.

My wife took them back for a full refund of $6.39, which is about 40 cents higher than before.

I also saw mold growing on one of the fresh California Black Figs I picked up at Trader Joe's (2 pounds for $4.99), and I'm monitoring them.

Luckily, I can substitute tomatoes and black figs from my garden.

Trader Joe's, 404 Route 17 north; 201-265-9624. Open daily 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

A large, deep bowl of split-pea soup at the Suburban Diner in Paramus.

Soup for lunch

At lunch on Thursday, I ordered a bowl of split-pea soup -- a Greek-diner classic -- at the remodeled Suburban Diner in Paramus, and, well, I was bowled over by the portion size ($3.95).

Even without croutons, the serving filled me. I also ordered Earl Grey Tea, and was told all teas are organic ($2.25).

The same whole-leaf bag yielded 3 strong cups of tea.

The lunch menu also lists wine by the glass for $4.95.

The Suburban Diner's new look.

Suburban Diner, 172 Route 17 north; 201-261-2605.

Giving up meat, poultry and bread: Diet food never tasted this good

Thin Icelandic flounder fillets ($7.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack), coated in a homemade mixture of spices, take about 12 minutes to cook in a 375-degree oven. I enjoyed them with boiled sweet potatoes that I mashed with extra-virgin olive oil, a little salt, cinnamon and other seasoning. I finished the meal with an organic spring-mix salad.

Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Spaghetti ($1.39) in canned Trader Joe's Marinara Sauce with anchovies, sardines and canned Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes (about 75 cents a can at Costco Wholesale).

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR


When you give up meat, poultry, bread and pizza to lose weight -- as I have -- then everything else is diet food.

Of course, I've never been a big fan of cake, pastry and pies. My idea of a sweet ending to a meal is fresh fruit and a great cheese.

My diet foods include wild-caught seafood, organic salad mixes, reduced-fat cheese, greens, vegetables, fresh fruit, whole-wheat pasta, brown rice and tofu.

Instead of butter, I use lots of extra-virgin olive oil in cooking and salads.

Salt-free, raw almonds I roast at home and dust with cinnamon are my main snack, but I also rely on snack bars from Kashi, Kirkland Signature and others to help me skip lunch. 

Lundberg Wild Blend Rice from Costco stands in for bread in this Jamaican breakfast of ackee and salt fish (ShopRite is a good source for dried cod at $6.99 a pound).

An open-face, egg-white omelet with Campari tomato halves gets its gooey richness from reduced-fat Jarlsberg Swiss Cheese and Kirkland Signature refrigerated Basil Pesto. All the ingredients come from Costco.

45-pound weight loss

I've had a weight problem since I was 13, and I've taken off and put on so much weight my clothes have needle tracks from being altered repeatedly.

In 2010, I started using a trainer at the gym who said that if I really wanted to lose weight, I should give up bread and pizza.

Earlier in 2010, I gave up meat and poultry, and immediately lost 4 pounds.

But the no-bread, no-pizza diet, which I observe to this day, knocked off more than 40 pounds.

Last week, I gave away a half-dozen pairs of shorts with 40- and 42-inch waists.

We grow lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and black figs in our garden.

Sweet fig halves from our garden top a salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix and Sunset-brand Gourmet Cucumbers, dressed simply in extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar and eaten at the end of the meal.

An occasional guilty pleasure is the heel from a Balthazar baguette, still only $2 at the bakery on South Dean Street in Englewood.

A platter of escoveitch fish using porgy from H Mart in Englewood ($2.49 a pound). The fish is pan fried, then doused in a spicy sauce of vinegar, whole pimento, carrot, sweet pepper and onion.

Porgy with steamed broccoli.

Leftovers for breakfast: A frittata with pesto and smoked wild salmon, left; wild coho salmon with pesto and organic diced tomatoes; and whole-what pasta with anchovies and sardines. Most of the ingredients can be found at Costco Wholesale.

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A small, sweet victory in the battle of 'us' against 'them'

A 3-pound bag of New Jersey sweet potatoes was $2.69, according to a sign at the ShopRite in Hackensack, but during checkout, it rang up at $2.99.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Why does food shopping often feel like it's a battle of "us" against "them"?

I don't include Costco Wholesale or Trader Joe's in that assessment, but even a great store like Whole Foods Market disappoints every once in a while.

The other day, I saw a sign at the Paramus Whole Foods offering local, bi-color sweet corn, but when I got the 4 ears home and shucked them, they weren't bi-color and, when I steamed them, they weren't sweet.

What should I have done? Dropped dinner preparations, jumped in the car and returned them? Take the cooked ears back the next day?

On Sunday, only one employee was working at the Courtesy Counter of the Hackensack ShopRite on South River Street. Shoppers buy cigarettes and lottery tickets there, as well.

One of shoppers' biggest pet peeves is when stores don't update their computers to accurately reflect price signs on shelves and in the produce section.

At the Hackensack ShopRite, if you have such a problem at check-out and notice it in the store, the cashier can't make an adjustment.

You have to go to the Courtesy Counter, as I found out on Sunday, when 3 pounds of Top Crop Sweet Potatoes rang up at $2.99, not the $2.69 on the sign.

There were three or four other people in front of me at the Courtesy Counter and the employee had to call produce to confirm the price, but I got my $2.99 back, meaning the sweet potatoes were free.

My only other purchases were 2 jumbo cantaloupes on sale for 99 cents each.