Yakitori 39 in Teaneck

A sign on the window offers "Japanese tapas," but we found that many of the skewered and grilled selections at Yakitori 39 in Teaneck actually were tidbits and would make great drinking food.

Three of us sampled 14 items last night, including soup, salad, one beer and soft drinks, and the bill before tax and tip came to $52. We pretty much liked everything and, given the low price per skewer, probably shouldn't have been surprised that what was described as "thigh" was actually bits of one thigh. The chicken used is free range. At $9, chicken and egg over rice is the highest-priced selection. (Photo above is from a Tokyo restaurant.)

The restaurant, formerly Bistro Zen, is plainly decorated, with tables in the front and along one side and the grill station behind glass on the other side. A soundtrack of Billie Holiday songs reminded me of the Japanese restaurant where I ate Tuesday night (see post, "A celebratory meal in the city").

We started with tasty smoked-duck, avocado and greens in a ginger-carrot dressing ($8), loved the house special Nagoya fried wings in a sweetish sauce ($6) and sampled marinated and charcoal-grilled yakitori of chicken skin, tail, gizzard, thigh and  thigh with scallion ($2 or $2.50). Then we tried two rice balls in seaweed sheets, one with bonito flakes, the other with pickles ($4), but found a lot of bland rice before we hit the fillings. Denied french fries, my son had a bowl of rice and added ketchup ($2).

Chicken-meatball soup ($4) was served last. Still hungry, we ordered a special described as two whole, fried jack fish with a little salad ($6), likely the best value of the night. We got two fish about the size of my palm, breaded and deep fried, and a plum dipping sauce. The fish were crunchy and moist.
 
Why 39? See the Web site:
www.yakitori39.com 


Yakitori 39, 252 Degraw Ave., Teaneck; 201-692-0700; opens at 5 p.m., closed Mondays.

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A celebratory meal in the city

Billie Holiday via last.fm

I'm celebrating my birthday this week with meals at restaurants familiar and new.

Last night, I had some terrific fish at Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill, across from the Time-Warner Center in Manhattan. Before dining there, I looked over the $275 tasting menus at Per Se. I was surprised that service (tip) is included.

At Blue Ribbon, I started with a crunchy seaweed salad ($7) and a trio of sushi rolls ($16.50) -- Spanish mackerel, California and tuna, which I eat only a few times a year because of its high mercury content. The rice in the rolls was warm and the tuna melted in my mouth.

My entree was juicy, pan-roasted mahi-mahi ($28), also known as dolphin fish. It was served on a thick bed of  julienned vegetables and crowned by a large tangle of  thread-like, fried carrot -- how did they do that? Unfortunately, the fish was bathed in a plum-butter sauce that had no plum taste and I blame the dim lighting for my not noticing that on the menu description (I try to avoid butter). If there is a next time, I'll ask for a soy-sake sauce.

I washed it all down with a 22-ounce bottle of Kirin Ichiban beer ($10). The restaurant is windowless and uses paper napkins. When you are led to your table, you'll hear shouted greetings from the five sushi chefs. The sound system has songs by Billie Holiday and Ray Charles, a fitting appetizer for the jazz concert I attended later.

For commentary on food coverage in The Record, see:

http://eyeontherecord.blogspot.com/

Self -checkout can be a nightmare

Anyone know of a self-checkout system that goes smoothly every time you use it? My last experience, at the Super Stop & Shop in Hackensack yesterday, was frustrating and confusing, and I needed the assistance of an employee as well as the woman behind me to complete my purchase.

I went there to buy drug-free Australian shoulder lamb chops (on sale through Thursday for $3.69 a pound) and picked up antibiotic-free chicken legs sold under the Nature's Promise label, four packages in all. There was no price sign near the clementines from Spain -- the first I've seen this year -- and no wonder. A produce worker said they were $9.99 for a five-pound box, about twice what I'm used to paying.

The self-checkout systerm  -- called "EZ Shopper" -- turned out to be a broken promise. Three of my four packages scanned with a beep, but the fourth didn't and the belt ran backward. The employee came over to help. Then, after I swiped my credit card, I couldn't find the box in which to sign my name (it wasn't on the pad where I swiped the card). The woman behind me showed me it was located elesewhere.

In all the confusion, I didn't get credit for my reusable bag.

Good for the ocean, but not good for you

The Record's Better Living section has the usual food coverage in a Monday paper -- a single vegetarian recipe -- but under Health on F-8, there is more: a Washington Post story about fish that are not only caught sustainably but are also rich "in long-chain omega-3 fatty acids," a key in reducing the risk of heart disease. Pole-caught albacore tuna is listed, but the rankings by the "influential" Monterey Bay Aquarium don't take this tuna's high mercury content into account. So the headline isn't really accurate: "Good for the oceans and good for you." The story probably could have used a subhead: "Oh, but not the albacore tuna."

This is one of the dangers of running a lot of stories supplied by outside sources, including the Washington Post, especially when, like The Record, your food and copy editors know little about what is healthy and what is not.

Too little, too late

After virtually ignoring for at least two years how the food she writes about has been raised or grown, restaurant reviewer Elisa Ung of The Record has a column on the Better Living front today listing places that serve organic items, wild fish or meat and poultry free of antibiotics. She lists five eating places in all of North Jersey.

This past Friday, her restaurant review displayed no such sensibility. She is an inconsistent voice for the consumer. She has spent far more time obsessing over the quality of desserts she has encountered in her reviewing and feature stories.

The Record could be of even more service to readers by listing supermarkets that sell naturally raised food, but that might run afoul of the drive for advertising revenue.

Hold the swordfish, please

Image via Wikipedia

In Friday's restaurant review, Elisa Ung of The Record says the owner knows what will sell to his "primarily senior citizen clientele ... fish selections like swordfish and grouper, not something like wahoo."

Wahoo? I had never heard of it and had never seen it listed on a North Jersey menu, so I did some internet research. I learned it is an "eco-sustainable alternative to swordfish," which is a fish so high in mercury that young women and children are warned not to consume it. I'm a senior and would order wahoo every time to avoid  mercury and certainly would patronize a restaurant that served it over one that served swordfish. Learn more about wahoo at this Web site:

www.tobagowild.com

Returning to the restaurant's name, Ung reports it is named for the owner's daughter, Davia, and son John wanted "no part of the name." Imagine if he did. It could be called Davohn, Daviohn, Javia, Javian, Johnia, Jia, Davia-John or John-Davia.