Seafood restaurant to unveil $35-plus lunch entree

The Oceanaire Seafood Room replaces McCormick & Schmick's at The Shops at Riverside, an upscale shopping center in Hackensack once known as Riverside Square.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

The Oceanaire Seafood Room in Hackensack is open for happy hour and dinner, but won't serve lunch until early January.

Oceanaire replaces McCormick & Schmick's, a seafood restaurant with dark wood and leather booths, and food prices are among the highest in North Jersey.

A Hackensack lunch menu hasn't been posted online yet.

The Oceanaire Seafood Room in Washington, D.C., offers Chilean sea bass or Maryland rockfish at lunch for $37.95 each, and side dishes appear to be extra.

Parking is difficult in the crowded lot outside the Hackensack restaurant, in The Shops at Riverside, and the narrow spaces raise the potential of your car being dinged.

If the prices don't give you heartburn, damage to your car will.

Seafood Gourmet, a fish market and restaurant in Maywood, offers fresh fish, lobster and other fare at far more reasonable prices.

The opening of an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant has been delayed to at least next week.

At the Home Depot Shopping Center in Hackensack, the opening of the Port of Call American Fusion Buffet & Sushi has been delayed until at least next week.

The opening originally was scheduled for Dec. 7 -- the anniversary of the 1941 Japanese attack on the U.S. fleet in Pearl Harbor.

The Courthouse Cafe & Deli has opened at 10 Sussex St. in Hackensack, near the Bergen County Courthouse. John's Coffee Shop operated there for many years.

The new Courthouse Cafe & Diner in Hackensack won't stay open past 4 p.m., fearing few customers would venture out to eat dinner on the city's quiet Main Street.

Main Dish at 152 Main St. closes at 3:30 p.m. for the same reason.

The new-American restaurant opened in the space used for many years by Naturally Good.

Why is Trader Joe's trying to fatten me up?

If you're on a diet or watching your cholesterol, you might want to avoid Trader Joe's in Paramus until after the holidays. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Not just egg nog, but Egg Nog Ice Cream.

And Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Joe Joe's (sandwich cream cookies); Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels, Dark Chocolate Collection and Pound Plus Extravaganza.

You'll find all of this high-calorie, high-cholesterol food lovingly described in Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer, the guide to holiday foods the chain mails to customers, and in stores.

I stopped at Trader Joe's in Paramus this afternoon for Applegate Naturals Sliced Smoked Turkey, Sliced Ham and Sliced Roast Beef, as well two bottles of 100% juice blends.

The naturally raised, preservative-free cold cuts were $3.99 for 7 ounces or about $2 less than what ShopRite and other supermarkets charge.

Sixty-four ounce bottles of Carrot Tropical Blend and Dynamo Plus Calcium were $3.49 and $3.99, respectively.

It's a good thing I don't have a sweet tooth and that my step quickens when I see one of Trader Joe's displays of chocolates, cookies or other unhealthy food in the store at 404 Route 17 north.

Trader Joe's promotional flier also is filled with lots of prepared food I shy away from, including Camembert Cheese & Cranberry Sauce Fillo Bites, Scallops Wrapped in Uncured Bacon with Brown Sugar Glaze, Beef Tenderloin Bites and Chicken Parmesan Lollipops.

I'll stick with Trader Joe's organic and conventional sweet potatoes, organic whole wheat pasta, uncured hot dogs and bacon; 100% juices, frozen grass-fed beef from New Zealand and a few other items.

The dessert case at the Suburban Diner on Route 17 north in Paramus is one of the first things customer see as they walk in.

My Italian pasta boat comes in at Whole Foods

Organic Italian whole wheat pasta shells from Whole Foods Market in bottled marinara sauce with sardines, anchovies and organic kale.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

My Italian pasta boat finally came in, and today, I once again found those wonderful imported organic shells at Whole Foods Market in Paramus.

A bargain at $1.39 for a 16-ounce box, they are sold under the store's 365 Everyday Value label.

I turned them into a quick dinner with bottled Victoria Marinara Sauce (40 ounces), canned sardines and anchovies, and Earthbound Farm Organic Kale.

I added a few ounces of extra-virgin olive oil, red-pepper flakes and dried Italian seasoning to the sauce, in addition to the canned fish.

The store didn't have the shells in stock on Nov. 29, the day after Thanksgiving.

When I cooked the entire pound in boiling water tonight, I drained the pot after about 12 minutes, not the 14 to 15 minutes listed in the directions on the box.

I added another dimension to the dish with grated Pecorino Romano, a reduced-fat sheep's milk cheese from Costco Wholesale.

I transferred the drained shells to the bubbling sauce in another pot, and they continued to cook as I folded in about 6 ounces of the triple-washed baby kale leaves.

After two small portions of the pasta, I had a salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, organic baby kale, Campari tomato and cucumbers.

I drank Don Simon Shiraz from Spain, a smooth red wine with a screw top sold at Whole Foods for $3.99 a bottle.

Taking comfort in more simple and delicious food

There is nothing like the comforting taste of an organic egg yolk broken over Lundberg organic brown rice for breakfast, above. I added Aleppo pepper and, using a vegetable peeler, shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese as the eggs cooked. The eggs and cheese came from Costco Wholesale, as did organic diced tomatoes in the the rice, prepared in an electric cooker.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss comfort foods; good deals on extra-virgin olive oil and organic greens; and restaurant-quality takeout dinners for only $5.99.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

The imported Parmigiano Reggiano cheese I buy at Costco Wholesale is good down to and including the rind, according to the package.

The Italian cheese maker says the rind shouldn't be grated, but can be diced and added to pasta sauce for flavor.

I reserved the rind and added a small dice of two or three pieces to bottled Victoria Marinara Sauce the last time I made organic whole wheat pasta with anchovies and capers, both rinsed under water to reduce the sodium in the finished dish.

The rind doesn't disappear completely even after the sauce is boiled for the 10 minutes or so the pasta takes to cook, but has a distinctive flavor and a nice chewy texture.

Trader Joe's Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti with bottled marinara, canned anchovies and capers made a nice dinner with a glass of wine and a salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix from Costco Wholesale.  

The whole wheat spaghetti showed up the next morning as a foil for a simple egg-white omelet with Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto and a little Aleppo pepper.

Food deals in Lodi

I stopped at the International Food Warehouse at 370 Essex St. in Lodi today after looking over a sales flier that came with the morning newspaper.

The store no longer has as many bargains as before, but I wanted to try a 3-liter glass jug of extra-virgin olive oil from Tunisia for $12.99 or a low $4.33 per liter.

I bought two after checking out the sturdy metal cap and closure. Plastic inserts in the cap and neck make for easy pouring into smaller containers. 

For many years, Tunisian extra-virgin olive oil has shown up in blends with oil from Greece, Italy, Spain and other Mediterranean countries.

The store is where I bought several 3-liter tins of excellent extra-virgin olive oil from the island of Cyprus.

The Alomda Extra Virgin Olive Oil is 100% Tunisian, above. Colavita blends oils from Italy, Greece and Tunisia at a higher price, below. The sale ends Dec. 17.

No deal. Pure apricot and wild blackberry juices from Serbia are a pricey $6.99 for a 24-ounce bottle, above.

Greens for less

I found another bargain in the produce section, where organic baby kale, spring mix and other combinations of greens were only 99 cents for a 5-ounce package.

I bought two packages of Earthbound Farm Organic Kale for 99 cents each, and added some to my salad of Earthbound9 Farm Organic Spring Mix at dinner tonight.

The organic spring mix is $4.49 to $4.99 for a 16-ounce package at Costco.

The label on the kale suggests adding it to smoothies and pasta recipes.

A salad with Earthbound Farm Organic Kale, dressed simply in Tunisian extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Organic greens at the International Food Warehouse.

Let Jerry cook

On Wednesday, I picked up two Meals To Go at Jerry's Gourmet & More on South Dean Street in Englewood ($7.99 or $5.99 after 4 p.m.).

Both restaurant-quality dinners included pasta, vegetable, dumplings and other items.

The main ingredients were roasted braised beef in red wine sauce and filet of sole with a crab-meat stuffing.

Stuffed filet of sole with mac-and-cheese and vegetables from Jerry's in Englewood.

Why can't I find what I want at Costco Wholesale?

An open-face, egg-white omelet with sliced Campari Tomato, Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto and shredded Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (all ingredients from Costco Wholesale), served with leftover baked sweet potatoes and organic carrots.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Where are those bleach tablets I bought for a couple of years at Costco Wholesale, and dropped into my toilet tank to keep the bowl white?

Where are those Kirkland Signature fruit, seed and nut bars I carried around to help me skip lunch?

They're not available at my Hackensack Costco.

Last year, Della-brand organic brown rice disappeared for a couple of months before it re-appeared.

By that time, I had switched to another brand, Lundberg, a non-GMO long-grain brown rice that is grown in California.

I found another great vegetarian soup from Cedarlane Natural Foods in California at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack today.

Now you see them ...

In addition to stuff that disappears after you get to like it, Costco stocks "seasonal" items for only part of the year.

Refrigerated soups are nowhere to be found in the summer months. Sweet potatoes only show up around the holidays. 

Other stores sell sweet potatoes year-round. 

Today, I picked up Cedarlane Chopped Tomato and Vegetable Soup with Quinoa ($7.99 for two 32-ounce containers).

I also bought a package of frozen wild mackerel fillets caught in Norway and prepared with sea salt in South Korea (2 pounds, 3 ounces for $14.99).

I probably could do better buying fresh whole mackerel and having it filleted at H Mart or another Korean supermarket.

Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

Fresh fish fillets

Other purchases include Nature's Bakery Fig Bars ($8.49), Kirkland Signature Organic (Brown) Eggs (24 for $6.99), Kirkland Signature Multigrain Bread (2 loaves for $4.49) and 2 pounds of Jarlsberg Lite Sliced Swiss ($8.59), one of the three reduced-fat cheeses I buy at Costco.

I also picked up a 1-pound package of Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon ($15.59).

The sliced salmon is great for adding to omelets and frittatas or for eating rolled up with Jarlsberg Lite Swiss Cheese and dipped in Dijon mustard.

For dinner, I bought 1.74 pounds of flounder fillets from Iceland that were packed today ($7.99 a pound). 

The wild-caught haddock in the case was from Nov. 30, and I haven't seen any Pacific cod fillets in the past two months or so.

The thin flounder fillets cooked in about 5 minutes when added to a pan with bottled Mexican green salsa and fresh lime juice that were heated until they were boiling gently.

Flounder fillets in bottled Mexican green salsa.

I served them with boiled and mashed skin-on sweet potatoes, Kabocha squash and garlic cloves moistened with extra-virgin olive oil and seasoned with Kirkland Signature Himalayan Pink Salt and Organic No-Salt Seasoning.

Chasing Whole Foods' 99 cents turkey drumsticks

The homely monkfish on a well-iced display at Whole Foods Market in Paramus. The huge mouth is perfect for hunting in deep waters. The store pledges that all the seafood it sells is free of antibiotics and preservatives, and that fresh fish is delivered six days a week.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss a Black Friday food sale I always shop, whole wheat pastas and a spicier stew at my favorite Korean tofu house.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

I had to make two trips to Whole Foods Market in Paramus before I found a parking space in a lot that was packed with Black Friday shoppers besieging other mall stores.

On the second trip, after 7 on Friday evening, I found several empty spaces not far from the entrance, and only a handful of shoppers inside the organic supermarket.

I picked up two packages of naturally raised turkey drumsticks for 99 cents a pound, and another two packages of turkey backs and necks for $1.99 a pound.

I couldn't find any 16-ounce boxes of organic whole wheat pasta shells sold under the store's 365 Everyday Value label for $1.39.

So, I bought two 16-ounce packages or 365 Everyday Value Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti.

Whole Foods sells organic whole wheat pasta made in Italy -- linguine, spaghetti, shells and other shapes -- for $1.39 a pound, but Italian brands of organic whole wheat pasta on the same shelf go for more than $5 or $6 a pound.

A new ingredient in So Gong Dong's "more spicy" soft-tofu stew are chopped, hot green peppers, above. The broth is hot enough to soft boil a fresh egg that comes with the meal. Excellent cabbage kimchi is one of four free side dishes, below. We also ordered a seafood pancake.

Turning up the heat

I found a new ingredient in the Oyster Soft Tofu I ordered on Saturday evening at So Gong Dong in Palisades Park, our favorite Korean tofu house in North Jersey.

I asked for my soft-tofu stew "more spicy," as usual, and when it came to the table, I noticed chopped green chilies sprinkled on top.

They added a new level of heat to the stew I hadn't encountered before at the second-floor soft tofu parlor, which also serves an array of other traditional Korean dishes, including barbecue and bibimbap.

Soft tofu is comforting and a bargain, and it's not uncommon to see three generations happily enjoying the meal, including infants that have to be fed by their parents.

For $9.99, a complete soft-tofu meal includes the stew, a second stone bowl of steamed white rice and four side dishes, including bean sprouts, two kimchis and a fiery preparation of raw squid.

We asked for and received a second set of side dishes, and a third portion of the wonderful cucumber kimchi.

As a comfort food, soft tofu is especially good in the chilly months of winter. It's also available "no spicy," "little spicy" and "medium spicy." 

I love poaching the fresh egg that is provided, breaking the soft yoke over the rice and eating them together.

We also ordered pajun, a seafood-and-scallion pancake that serves four ($11.99).

On the bill, prices are rounded up a penny and include tax ($10 and $12).


So Gong Dong, 118 Broad Ave., Second Floor, Palisades Park; 201-313-5550. Open 7 days. BYO. Free parking on side streets.

Two organic brown eggs sprinkled with shredded Parmigiano Reggiano cheese from Costco Wholesale and served with Thanksgiving leftovers.