Cucumber kimchi, wild red shrimp, pasta and eggs, organic brown rice

KIMCHI WITH CRUNCH: Cucumber Kimchi is a seasonal item at Arirang, 1 Remsen Place in Ridgefield. A 2-pound package made with cucumbers from Korea was $12 at the source in the H&Y Marketplace shopping center.

NO MSG: Arirang kimchis are made by hand with no MSG and no artificial ingredients.

WILD AND RED: Jumbo Red Shrimp from Argentina are packed in 4.4-pound boxes and frozen. They were on sale last Sunday at H&Y, a Korean supermarket at 1 Remsen Place in Ridgefield, below. 

ON SALE: These shrimp are a good deal at the regular price of $28.99 and a great deal at $24.99.

IN THE SHELL: I prepared them in a wok with olive and sesame oils, sake and seasonings, including Chinese Five Spice Powder and ground Star Anise. They are ready to eat when they curl up, but next time we'll peel and devein them first.

COMING TO A HEAD: I boiled the heads for 20 minutes, producing a broth with a strong shrimp flavor that could be used in a noodle soup or to cook rice with seafood.

ORGANIC EGGS WITH ORGANIC PASTA: Two organic brown eggs from Costco Wholesale in Teterboro served over organic whole wheat spaghetti from Whole Foods Market prepared in marinara sauce with sardines, anchovies and pitted black olives, below.

DINNER AND LEFTOVERS: I used 1 pound of pasta, a 40-ounce jar of marinara, one can of anchovies, four cans of Moroccan sardines and a can of pitted olives, ensuring plenty of leftovers for other meals. You can add red wine and extra-virgin olive oil, plus seasonings, to the sauce.

ORGANIC BROWN RICE: Lundberg Organic Brown Long Grain Rice from California can be found on Amazon.com, and prepared in a rice cooker with organic diced tomatoes from Costco and organic black beans from ShopRite in Paramus, where a 15.5-ounce can was only 76 cents during the Summer Can-Can Sale. Here, I served an omelet stuffed with fresh herbs, salsa and reduced-fat cheese over brown rice for breakfast.

SAUTEED SPINACH: Sauteed baby spinach is a great side dish at breakfast with organic eggs sunny side up, grated cheese, 

chopped fresh herbs and ground Aleppo pepper.

GOING WILD FOR FRESH SALMON: This week and last, Fresh Wild Sockeye Salmon was $9.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro. Above, I baked a tray of  raw salmon, organic spinach, fresh tomatoes, string beans, pitted black olives and fresh herbs in a preheated 400-degree oven for 15 minutes. If you like your salmon medium to medium rare, reduce the cooking time to about 12 minutes.

PESTO AND HERBS: Tonight, I added Costco's Himalayan Pink Salt and fresh lime juice to six portions of wild sockeye salmon, then grilled them on the stove top for 7 minutes (4 minutes with the skin side down and flipping them for 3 minutes). I took the grill off the medium-high flame and added Costco's refrigerated Basil Pesto, Aleppo pepper, and fresh basil and mint from my garden.

FOREIGN GARLIC: On my wife's last two visits to Costco Wholesale in Teterboro, she couldn't find the 3-pound bag of Christopher Ranch peeled California Garlic we have been buying for more than a year. Instead, the warehouse had a 3-pound bag of peeled garlic from Garland Food in Miami, but she passed because many of the cloves appeared to be soft. Garland said the garlic sold at Costco comes from Mexico, Argentina and Spain. Bad move, Costco.

100% LACTOSE FREE: A half-gallon of ShopRite 100% Lactose Free Milk was on sale for $2.89 during the Summer Can-Can Sale in Paramus. That's a discount of 10 cents. Cans of ShopRite pitted black olives were 99 cents each.

GREEN IS GOOD: An Asian green called Yuchoy was on sale at H Mart, 25 Lafayette Place in Englewood, for 98 cents a pound ($1.49 a pound regularly). I cut the tough stems off and sauteed the leaves in olive oil and sake, seasoning them with red-pepper flakes, salt, black pepper and ground garlic as a side dish for breakfast this morning.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

North of the border, Costco Wholesale members say vive la difference

Two 3-liter bottles of extra-virgin olive oil from Greece are part of an extensive selection at the Costco Wholesale on Bridge Street in Montreal, above and below. I bought the Elara brand from the island of Crete, right, which is a great deal at $18.99 Canadian or $13.30 in U.S. dollars -- less than $4.50 a liter. I can't find an unblended EVOO for that price in New Jersey.

Avocado Oil and olive oils from Greece, Italy and other countries stretch all the way to the end of the aisle. Although they aren't marked, olive oils for cooking and salads don't contain genetically modified ingredients.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

MONTREAL -- Costco Wholesale warehouses in Canada look exactly like the ones in New Jersey, but sell a few items I can't find close to home.

And with a strong U.S. dollar, there are some great deals to be had. 

I have a minor complaint: 

Costco warehouses in Montreal, where we were vacationing, take only MasterCard, and won't accept the new Costco Visa I use in New Jersey or even a Visa-branded debit card.

The MasterCard credit card I used to make purchases totaling $133 Canadian dollars charges a small foreign-currency transaction fee, but that was offset by the card's 2% cash rebate.

And my actual cost for the items was about $93 in U.S. dollars.

Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto is one of my favorite items from Costco. In Montreal, the price is $10.99 Canadian or about $7.70 U.S., compared to $7.99 in New Jersey.

Three large Canada-grown cucumbers are only $2.99 Canadian or about $2.09 U.S., compared to $3.49 to $3.99 in New Jersey.

I haven't seen shallots like these in the Costco Wholesale warehouse in Teterboro, N.J., or the Costco Wholesale Business Center in Hackensack, N.J.

Three pounds of shallots -- a type of onion with a hint of garlic -- were $4.99 Canadian or $2.80 in U.S. dollars.

When you figure in the strong U.S. dollar, fillets of fresh wild salmon, haddock and cod, above and photos below, cost about the same in Montreal and Teterboro, N.J. In Canada, fish is priced by the kilo (2.2 pounds).

If I ran out of Stanfield's Men's Briefs, which are made in Canada, I would drive the 350 miles to Montreal just to get more. They are the most comfortable I've found because they are cut generously, and come in black, gray or white. I bought two packages of five briefs for $21.99 Canadian each or about $15.40 U.S. I have a 38-inch waist, and buy Extra Large to allow for some shrinkage in the wash.

Two things to avoid buying at the Montreal Costco are gasoline and wine. The warehouse doesn't sell the inexpensive Kirkland Signature house brand wines and sparkling prosecco from Italy you can find at the Costco warehouse in Wayne, N.J. On July 4, Costco members paid $3.94.8 Canadian for a gallon of regular gas or about $2.77 U.S. The sign shows the price per liter.

Costco Wholesale, 300 Rue Bridge, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; 1-514-938-5170. No pharmacy.

A second, larger Costco warehouse at 105 Marche Central, Montreal, has a pharmacy; 1-514-381-1251.

Restaurant Manitoba, Baton Rouge, Pizza Il Focolaio and Brasserie T!

A large Shrimp Roll with Horseradish Mayo ($14) from the lunch or midi menu at Manitoba, an unpretentious neighborhood restaurant in Montreal that prepares only organic ingredients from Canada.

Manitoba's blackboard menu didn't list thick pieces of house-cured bacon when I ordered Morue or Cod Fillet with onions and a sauce made from nettles ($16), but my wife was glad to eat them with her shrimp roll and after our meal, ordered six more slices to go.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

MONTREAL -- Too many restaurants, too little time.

That's always the way it is during our visits to this cosmopolitan French-speaking city, which boasts a Manhattan-like array of fine-dining and ethnic restaurants.

Taxes of about 15% are more than double those in New Jersey, but the U.S. dollar's favorable exchange rate took the sting out of three of us eating every meal out for eight days.

We revisited favorites near the concert halls of the 37th edition of the International Jazz Festival, and tried two new places, funky Manitoba and Il Focolaio, an authentic wood-oven pizzeria with an astounding selection of 75 pies.

All prices are in Canadian dollars. The U.S. dollar was worth $1.27 to $1.29 Canadian dollars during our visit.

I started lunch at Manitoba with a Cold Celery Root Soup, which had a thick buttermilk base ($7).

Restaurant Manitoba

I had heard a great deal about Manitoba, which offers "a taste of the forest in our plates, a taste of nature in our glasses," and I wasn't disappointed.

The restaurant, which serves new Canadian fare, is now our favorite in Montreal, replacing the shuttered Vanhorne.

For lunch, I had a cold soup that tasted strongly of celery; a smoky, pan-roasted piece of wild cod that melted in the mouth; and two glasses of red wine.

My wife chose a radish salad to start; a large, delicious shrimp roll, and nougat ice cream for dessert.

Our teenage son had a green salad, the cod with thick-cut bacon and a glass of red wine (the drinking age is 18 in Canada).

Our lavish lunch, including taxes and four glasses of wine, but not the tip, topped $150 Canadian or about $105 in U.S. dollars.

Restaurant Manitoba, 271 Rue Saint Zotique Ouest, Montreal; 1-514-270-8000. 

A taxi from our downtown hotel cost $20 Canadian (about $15.60 U.S.), including the tip, but we paid only $3.25 each to take the No. 80 bus back along Avenue du Parc, a major north-south street (coins only).

Web site: Great food in a funky setting

Manitoba's Green Salad, above, and a Radish Salad with Creme Fraiche and Lemon, below, $7 each.

Nougat Ice Cream.

This is one time I should have ordered a bottle of wine. The three of us had four glasses of Ombre du Soir organic red wine from France, but the check listed only three at $14 each.

The entrance to Manitoba on a quiet Montreal street.

Seating is at a bar and tables, above and below, and during our lunch, two chefs worked in an open kitchen, rear. The floor is unpainted concrete.

Our server also tended bar at Manitoba, but only a few tables were occupied during our leisurely lunch. The back of the dining room is a large glass garage door, which was open to a garden.

BATON ROUGE IN COMPLEXE DESJARDIN: The Lobster Salad ($21) at Baton Rouge, a popular steakhouse in Montreal, doesn't ordinarily have this much tender claw meat, above. But the restaurant was so busy, the kitchen sent out the first one with no lobster, below, and to apologize doubled the usual portion of the delicious crustacean.

My wife and son shared a pound of Baby Back Ribs with mashed potatoes ($29).

A House Salad served in a large soup bowl at Baton Rouge was $11, above. A Caesar Salad was $13, and you can add chicken for $8 more.

A 9-ounce glass of red wine was $11, above. A 6-ounce glass was $8.

We had to wait about 20 minutes on a busy Sunday for a table at the Baton Rouge on Saint-Catherine Street West, where the kitchen, servers and managers were slammed by the jazz festival crowd, above and below.

The restaurant also has seating outdoors. Web site: Steakhouse & Bar

IL FOCOLAIO: This downtown institution offers 75 different wood-fired pizza pies, each one the size of a large dinner plate, including No. 23, Campagnola, with pancetta, onions and olives (hold the mushrooms) ordered by my wife and son, above ($15.50).

The pies are cut into quarters, and I saw many customers eating them with forks and knives, as they do in northern Italy.

Pizza Il Focolaio

I loved the incredible selection of authentic Italian pizzas, inexpensive house wine, optional lactose-free cheese and the service at Il Focolaio, a downtown Montreal restaurant that has been slinging wood-oven pies since 1934.

But our lunch there was marred by flies in the dining room, including big and small ones that buzzed around my table during the hour I waited for my wife and son to meet me there (they walked in the opposite direction for 20 minutes).

When they finally arrived, my wife had to cover her pizza to keep those nasty, dirty insects from landing on it.

After I paid the bill, I went downstairs to the men's room and encountered another fly, as well as the strong smell of urine and deodorizer.

Now that I'm home, I may call the Montreal Health Department to alert officials to the unappetizing conditions.

When I first arrived, the host found a table for me, even though the restaurant was almost full, and a waiter poured glasses of water and gave me menus while I sipped a glass of red house wine ($5.25), and waited for my wife and son.

I mentioned the flies to the host as I was leaving, and he thanked me, though he didn't seem surprised or ask a waiter to get out the fly swatter. 

Pizza Il Focolaio, 1223 Rue du Square-Phillips, Montreal; 1-514-879-1045. 

Web site: Wood is good

At Il Focolaio, No. 71 is a pizza with pesto, fresh tomato slices, fresh arugula and balsamic glaze ($16.25). The Montreal pizzeria is the first I've encountered to offer lactose-free cheese for an extra $1.50, and it's organic, too. I asked for both pizzas to be made well-done, but they weren't.

The restaurant's menu says "wood is good," but I've found coal is better and imparts a deliciously smoky taste to the pizza crust.

We shared this terrific combination, called Giardino, a Caesar Salad topped with Grilled Vegetables and served with two pieces of chewy pizza dough rubbed with tomato ($13.75).

A can of San Pellegrino Limonata was $2.75.

BRASSERIE T! I found a perfect lunch dish -- grilled Dorade or Sea Bream served over crunchy spring vegetables ($26) -- at this fine-dining restaurant on the Place des Festivals in Montreal.

Brasserie T! and Taverne F, a Portuguese restaurant, operate in sleek steel-and-glass boxes set end to end. You can get a fixed-price lunch of two courses and a side dish at Taverne F for $21 or less than the price of an entree at Brasserie T!

My son loved the tender beef in his Flank Steak with Toque Butter and Fries ($26). On the other hand, my wife was unhappy with her Shrimp Roll ($20), which was smaller but more expensive than the one she would have at Restaurant Manitoba, and a mix-up over her getting fries instead of salad ended up in the waiter adjusting the check to compensate us.

All of us were delighted with a starter of Cheese Croquettes, made with parmesan ($8).

We also loved another starter, a salad of Potatoes and Smoked Surgeon ($7).

A glass of Portuguese wine at Brasserie T! was $10.

The restaurant has outdoor seating on the plaza where free concerts are staged during the International Jazz Festival. Web site: Brasserie T!

Every meal is a winner in Montreal, but some of the jazz concerts bomb

Jazz piano master Kenny Barron and Elena Pinderhughes delivering a mean, low-down, dirty blues on July 4 as their encore during the 37th edition of the International Jazz Festival in Montreal. Critics call the 20-year-old singer and flutist a "prodigy" 

Editor's note: With hundreds of free and paid concerts over 11 days, you'd expect a clunker or two at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. But I was really disappointed in two of the elaborate acts I paid more than $100 Canadian a ticket to see.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

MONTREAL -- You'd have to go out of your way to have a bad meal in this sophisticated French-speaking city, but a bad concert seems unavoidable.

In attending eight days of the International Jazz Festival, I noticed the scent of marijuana was in the air at free outdoor concerts, and joints were readily available for sharing or purchase as Canada moves to legalize pot next year.

So, I'm wondering what the organizers were smoking when they agreed to stage a French opera or indulge a rap artist who didn't sing a note until two and a half hours after the scheduled start of her concert.

Singer-songwriter and composer Rufus Wainwright thanked everyone from the tailor who made his elaborately brocaded suit to his husband, who was sitting in the audience.

With nearly 3,000 seats, Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier is the biggest concert hall used during the Montreal festival, which ends on Saturday. Rufus Wainwright and rapper Lauryn Hill performed there on July 2 and July 5, respectively.

Rufus Wainwright

I didn't have much to go on a couple of months ago when I purchased three tickets for $118.75 Canadian each to Opera Primadonna & Rufus Wainwright Symphonique.

What a bomb.

The first half of the show was an opera sung in French that seemed to be a homage to soprano Maria Callas, one of the most influential and renowned opera singers of the 2oth century.

Enough musicians for two symphony orchestras appeared to be crammed onto the stage, and a large movie screen behind them showed framed photos of Callas, as well as an older actress removing her makeup in a dressing room. 

Wainwright sung during the second half of the concert, switching between a piano and a microphone stand at the center of the stage.

He also brought out a sister, nephew and niece to sing.

One of his angst-ridden songs went:

"My phone is on vibrate for you.

"Who knows what all these new drugs do?"  

Rapper Lauryn Hill finally started singing at around 10 p.m. after her disc jockey played a dozen reggae tunes and exhorted Canada to "legalize ganja." The concert started with a singer, bass-guitar player and drummer who weren't advertised. My teenage son dismissed them as a high school-level band.

The crowd waited and waited and waited for Hill to appear on stage at a concert that was scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., and booed several times.

Ms. Lauryn Hill

After keeping the audience waiting for more than two hours, Lauryn Hill finally appeared on stage playing a guitar in front of a wailing, highly amplified  nine-piece band and three backup singers.

I couldn't understand most of the lyrics, heard only noise and soon inserted the earplugs I brought from my hotel room.

She had technical problems with the guitar and when they couldn't be solved, she put it down and just sang. But I still couldn't make out most of the words.

This concert, which also cost $118.75 per ticket, was a waste, though my teenage son enjoyed it.

The best part for me and my wife was Hill's disc jockey and his repertoire of recorded Jamaican music.

Elena Pinderhughes

I bought tickets to see the Kenny Barron Trio & Elena Pinderhuges on the strength of her being described as an accomplished jazz singer.

Unfortunately, she performed only three songs written by a friend of Barron's, and all of them sounded the same.

Why she didn't sing any of the great jazz classics eludes me.

Ticket prices

The pricey tickets to the Wainwright and Hill concerts were the exception, and most events were far more reasonable than you'd find in Manhattan or even northern New Jersey.

Most of the concerts we saw lasted 90 minutes to 2 hours, exclusive of intermissions

Our favorite this year -- jazz singer Gregory Porter and his quartet on June 29 -- cost only $54.25 Canadian per ticket or about $38 U.S.

We paid only $68.75 Canadian to see jazz singer Emilie-Claire Barlow backed by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, which was augmented by her own quintet (her first name is pronounced "Emily").

Barlow, a talented singer and scatter,  performed Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joni Mitchell and original songs, and many of them were in French as a concession to the predominantly French-speaking audience.

And three tickets to hear jazz piano prodigy Joey Alexander, who turned 13 on June 25, cost a total of only $125.70 Canadian.

Still top festival

This was our fourth annual trip to the Montreal bash, which is widely recognized as the best jazz festival in the world.

Improvements this year include a free grandstand -- with all but 10 seats available on a first-come, first-served basis -- from where we saw and heard English jazz and pop singer Jamie Cullum.

Cullum, backed by a Montreal-based big band, dazzled the thousands of fans who jammed the plaza for his free 2-hour show with his boundless energy and great voice.

And Montreal still ranks as one of the best cities in the world to dine out.

We enjoyed sharing a big salad and two wood-oven pizzas, including this one with fresh arugula, pesto and sliced tomatoes on Wednesday at Il Focolaio in downtown Montreal. That was just one of the great lunches we had during the International Jazz Festival.

Next: Restaurant Manitoba,

 Baton Rouge,

 Pizza Il Focolaio and Brasserie T!