Dinner at Bocconi is another reason I don't have to leave Hackensack

Half of a lobster and shrimp with pasta at Bocconi Restaurant in Hackensack.

A half-portion of a chopped salad with bay scallops and avocado.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

We had another great meal on Saturday night at Bocconi Restaurant in Hackensack.

Best of all, we grabbed a bottle of red wine and only had to drive 5 minutes to get to the moderately priced Italian-American BYO.

Bocconi is on Essex Street, next door to another new favorite, Fire Pit, a Portuguese barbecue restaurant.

They share a small L-shaped parking lot that was full when we arrived, but we found a space across the street in the lot of a medical arts building with Starbucks Coffee and Cosi on the ground floor. 

Seafood, salad and pasta

We ordered a salad to share and two entrees, all with seafood, and my wife took home leftovers from her dish, Half Lobster with Clams, Mussels and Pasta in red or white sauce ($23.95).

She asked the kitchen to hold the clams and mussels in favor of shrimp, and had her spaghetti in a white-wine sauce.

My entree was fork-tender Blackened Tuna with a Cherry Tomato and Cucumber Salad ($19.95). 

The wild-caught tuna was cooked more than I requested, but remained moist and delicious under a coating of black pepper.

We started by sharing a tasty chopped Green Salad with Bay Scallops and Avocado ($12.95).

Despite the slight misstep with the tuna, Chef Mario Amon, a native of Ecuador, does a beautiful job with seafood, pasta and salads.

A blackened ahi tuna steak was served with a crunchy salad of cucumbers and cherry tomatoes.

Bocconi is a BYO that adds balsamic vinegar and grated cheese to the extra-virgin olive oil served with crusty bread.

A mural on one wall of the 50-seat restaurant.

At Bocconi, you can usually find a table for dinner without a reservation on weekends, but may not find one of the six regular and two handicapped spaces in the small parking lot.

Two Hackensack favorites, Fire Pit Barbecue and Bocconi Pasta Pronto & More.

Why leave Hackensack?

Adding Bocconi Restaurant and Fire Pit Barbecue to our list of perennial favorites -- Lotus Cafe, Wondee's Fine Thai Food and Noodles, and Rosa Mexicano -- could mean we might never have to leave Hackensack to dine out.

Bocconi Restaurant, 363 Essex St., Hackensack; 201-342-3888. Web site: bocconifood.com

Try a nice piece of fish at Sanducci's Trattoria

Tilapia Francese at Santucci's Trattoria in River Edge can be made without butter. The lunch entree comes with a generous, nicely dressed salad, below; coffee and a free refill.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss lunch at Santucci's Trattoria in River Edge, a recipe for Spaghetti with Garlicky Bread Crumbs and Anchovies, a quinoa salad, a rare visit to Stop & Shop in Teaneck, and signs of life in a Hackensack building that once housed a Korean bakery.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

One of my friends wanted antipasto for lunch. The other one was in the mood for a chicken parm sandwich. And I felt like a nice piece of fish.

We all got we wanted today at Sanducci's Trattoria in River Edge.

The menu offered only two farmed fish -- tilapia and salmon.

I chose the tilapia and was impressed with the large, fresh-tasting fillet and how beautifully it flaked, as well as the sauteed vegetables and the size of the well-dressed salad ($12.95).

My friend loved his gooey Chicken Parmigiana Hero ($7.50), and took home half for dinner.

And the other friend was delighted with his Antipasto Plate ($8.95).

The Antipasto Plate at Sanducci's Trattoria.

The chicken in the Chicken Parmigiana Hero is hidden under a blanket of melted cheese.

Tables and booths are available on the restaurant's first level. The people in the family photos on the dining room walls look like they could be your relatives.

Casual service

Lunch service today was casual, even though the dining room was far from full.

The waiter brought my salad first, and my friends weren't served their sandwich and antipasto until I finished and was ready for my fish entree.

While I ate salad, they ate bread, and the waiter happily brought a second basket.

There is limited parking in front, and from the rear lot, you have to take an elevator to the restaurant's second level, then walk down stairs to the main dining room.

The restaurant shares an entrance with a preschool, which explains the mothers and one father I saw picking up their children and strapping them in for the ride home.

Sanducci's offers a buffet lunch for $11.95 Mondays through Fridays, above and below.

Sanducci's Trattoria, 620 Kinderkamack Road, River Edge; 201-599-0600. BYO, parking lot in rear.

Web site: The lunch buffet is back

Pasta recipe needs tweaking

My version of Spaghetti with Garlicky Bread Crumbs and Anchovies from The New York Times has more oil, garlic, parsley, red pepper flakes and hot pasta water than called for.

I also used organic whole wheat spaghetti from Italy I buy at Whole Foods Market.

More liquid?

Pasta swallows handfuls of parsley and baby spinach, and tends to need far more liquid then you think.

Tonight, I prepared a recipe for Spaghetti with Garlicky Bread Crumbs and Anchovies from The New York Times' Dining section.

I used the two egg yolks called for, though I think 1 pound of pasta could stand more, but tripled the 6 cloves of garlic, and used more parsley, extra-virgin olive oil and hot pasta water.

I had hot sauce on hand, but not fish sauce.

I also used capers from a jar in the back of my refrigerator I usually forget is there, and a little shredded Asiago Cheese.

I ate the first portion without the recommended salt, black pepper and lemon juice, but added them to the second, and they improved the dish, especially the fresh lime juice I used.

Organic whole wheat shells from Whole Foods Market with extra-virgin olive oil, baby spinach, chopped garlic, grated Pecorino Romano Cheese and a teaspoon or two of Costco Wholesale's prepared Basil Pesto.

Leftover cooked organic quinoa from Costco Wholesale was easily turned into a crunchy salad with diced scallion, skin-on cucumber, sweet pepper, onion and apple. The dressing is red-wine vinegar, fresh lime juice and extra-virgin olive oil.

After I ate half the quinoa salad for breakfast on Tuesday, I topped the remainder with two organic eggs from Costco Wholesale, above.

Stop & Shop in Teaneck

I needed bread crumbs and parsley for The Times recipe, and didn't want to go out of my way, so stopped at Stop & Shop in Teaneck on the way home.

Stop & Shop is best known for a full line of naturally raised and organic food labeled Nature's Promise and found on almost every shelf and in every refrigerated case.

But prices are generally higher than at ShopRite and other stores.

For example, I saw a 13.25-ounce box of whole wheat spaghetti for $1.59, compared to a full pound of organic whole wheat spaghetti from Whole Foods Market for $1.39.

Two 40-ounce jars of Victoria Marinara were on sale for $10, but I bought them at Costco Wholesale for $8.39 last November and for under $7 when they were on sale.

Half-gallons of Stop & Shop Lactose-Free Milk were $3.99 each, compared to $3.49 for ShopRite's store brand.

The spaghetti recipe was good with the Rienzi Italian Style Bread Crumbs (made with corn syrup, unfortunately) I found at Stop & Shop, but next time, I'll see if I can get  much better ones at Balthazar Bakery in Englewood, where I buy crusty baguettes. 

The signs for a Korean dumpling restaurant remain on a Main Street building across the street from Sears in Hackensack, but the place never opened. Now, a sign says Upsy Daisy will be opening soon, below. A Shilla Korean Bakery operated there at one time.

Upsy Daisy will serve lactose-free ice cream, coffee and other items.

I'll always remember Sandy

For breakfast on the last of five days without power in Hurricane Sandy's wake, I warmed up grilled sweet potatoes and an omelet with pesto, even though I had made them the day before and, without refrigeration, left them out in a covered pan all night.

Using a battery powered lantern, we grilled sweet potatoes, above, and used liquid egg whites to make omelets on our gas stove, below. We could light the stove with a match.

The hurricane hit on Oct. 29 and we got power back on  Nov. 3, but Internet, TV and our land-line telephone weren't restored for another two days.

A tree fell in Brooklyn (President Street).

A restorative meal of sushi at Baumgart's in Englewood.

Fried oysters, above, and mussels, below, at Legal Sea Foods in Paramus.

North Woodland Street in Englewood.

The one gas line I waited on in Teaneck was only a half-block long.

There's nothing like a great salad to give you a nutritional lift.

I celebrated the return of electricity and my birthday on Nov. 4 with a lavish, four-course seafood meal at Marea on Central Park South in Manhattan, which showed few outward signs of the hurricane that flooded parts of the island.

The Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Subway riders got updates on the restoration of service.

Dinner for one on Central Park South.

In Hackensack, a tree landed on the hood of a car.

Revisiting an old Colombian favorite in Hackensack

Image by *L*u*z*A* via Flickr

The photographer says: "Colombia. The only risk is wanting to stay."

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I haven't visited Villa de Colombia in Hackensack for many year, and I'm not sure why. 

The food is tasty, portions are generous and prices for almost everything are reasonable.

Its Web site says the restaurant opened in 1992 with seating for 20 and expanded in 1997 to two rooms with 90 seats. It also boasts of having the best Hispanic cuisine and seafood kitchen in Bergen County.

That certainly seemed true with the whole fried tilapia we ordered as one of our two entrees ($17). 

The fish was delicious -- crispy outside and moist inside. It was served with sliced avocado over salad, and smashed and fried green plantains called tostones.

Tostones are one of my 13-year-old son's favorite foods, so we also ordered them as a side dish ($3). 

We started with small bowls of tasty fish soup with potato and root vegetables ($2.75 each). 

My wife and son drank batidos or shakes of mango and gunabana ($2.83 each).

Bacon-wrapped shrimp

My wife and I shared the fish, and my son ordered an entree listed as Villacol -- skirt steak paired with six bacon-wrapped shrimp and served with mashed potatoes ($17). 

My son asked for rice and beans instead of the potatoes, but they were brought in addition to the potatoes.

He's been ordering a lot of food when we eat out, and not finishing it. 

As he looked at the Villa de Colombia menu, he said we should return to try every single item, but he didn't like how the fish soup smelled and he hardly made a dent in the steak or mashed potatoes with his entree. 

When I got the itemized bill, I saw we were charged $4 for rice and beans, and nothing for the side of tostones. 

Beer in paper cup

I had asked for Colombian beer, thinking it was served in bottles, but got draft beer in a paper cup for $4, which I think is high. 

Service is good, though we got our soups first, then had to wait a few minutes for place settings, including a soup spoon and an arepa or small corn cake.

We will return to try other dishes. Villa de Colombia outshines most of the other Colombian places in North Jersey. 

The dining rooms are pleasantly decorated with framed posters from the Museo del Oro in Bogota, Colombia. Tablecloths are covered by glass. 

The restaurant is on quite Mercer Street, on the same block as Miyoshi Japanese Restaurant, another long-time presence downtown.

Villa de Colombia, 12 W. Mercer St., Hackensack; 201-343-3399.  

Restaurant adds 15% gratuity to checks of $30 or more, before tax.

See: Welcome to Villa de Colombia on the Web

Does this sign make any sense?

Image via Wikipedia

Should the visually impaired be driving in the first place?

From your car, you can read a small sign on the drive-up ATM at Main Street and Euclid Avenue in Hackensack:

"This ATM offers audio assistance

for the visually impaired."

Chew on that.

Our first and last visit to Smashburger at the mall in Hackensack

Image by Average Jane via Flickr

The interior of a Smashburger.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I won't let my wife take our teenage son to Burger King or McDonald's, and I pride myself on never having eaten one of their low-quality hamburgers.

So, on Friday night, I offered to take them to a new Smashburger outlet in Hackensack's former Riverside Square mall.

Is the quality of the beef at Smashburger any better than at the low-rent places? It's hard to tell, because the word "beef" doesn't appear anywhere on the wall menu, just the lower-case smashburger repeated numerous times. 

But on the soft-drink cups, you'll read:

"Smash means we literally smash 100% Angus beef at a high temperature to sear in all the juicy burger goodness, and our seasoning blend and fresh toppings take our burgers over the top."

Is Smashburger saying it uses Certified Angus Beef, a brand from cattle that are raised conventionally on grain, antibiotics and growth hormones? That's the same beef used by Chef Bobby Flay at his so-called Burger Palace in Paramus.

Both my wife and son ordered a one-third pound "Classic Smashburger," with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion and "smash sauce," on an egg bun, and they loved it ($4.99). 

My 13-year-old son said it was the best burger he's ever had. Fries and drinks were extra.

A friend's child had a Kids Smash Dog, a Best's beef hot dog ($3.99). 

If you don't eat meat

I don't eat meat, so I could have ordered a Caesar Salad, the only one on the menu without chicken or bacon. But I decided to try the Veggie Frites ($2.99) and Sweet Potato Fries ($1.99), which supposedly are seasoned with rosemary, garlic and olive oil.

I got some fried asparagus and carrot sticks, but none of the green beans listed on the menu, and the portion seemed small for the price. 

The paper they were served on was slicked with frying oil. The sweet potato fries were delicious, but the rosemary and garlic eluded me.

(I got two comments on this post, saying the potatoes and veggies are fried with beef tallow. Here is one: "All their fried veggies and fries are fried in beef tallow. They really should say on menu. So, in fact, you'll be eating beef like it or not.")

You have to wait in a corral to give your order to a cashier -- called a host -- and after you pay, you place a numbered sign on your table, so a waiter can bring you your food. It isn't a long wait.

You don't get plastic utensils unless you ask for them. When I went to get my no-charge seltzer from the drink machine, I could see into the kitchen, but no one was smashing anything against the grill.

When you are waiting in line, there is a lot on the menu to digest. I don't know if my wife and son saw that they could add many items to their burgers, including a fried egg or chili or potato, pepper and onion.

I paid with a credit card, and was surprised to see a tip line on my receipt. There was also a tip receptacle with dollar bills on the counter near the register where Anthony took my order. The entire meal cost about $25. I didn't leave a tip. 

And there is no place for your coat or hat, so I sat in a booth with mine on while I ate.

Fuddruckers

I once loved going to Fuddruckers in Paramus for a naturally raised ostrich burger or a fish sandwich, both offered in place of conventional beef burgers. 

I loved the sliced jalapenos I could pile on my sandwich, and the wine and beer I could order. They even once offered baked potatoes in place of fries. To me, that is a great cook-to-order hamburger place.

Next time my wife and son want a hamburger, we'll try Five Guys in Hackensack, unless they insist on going back to Smashburger.

Smashburger, Store No. 1101, 390 Hackensack Ave., Hackensack, in The Shops at Riverside; 201-343-1488.

The tomatoes are coming!

Image via Wikipedia

We haven't had much luck growing produce in our back yard since we moved to Hackensack in August 2007.


We planted peach and black-fig trees a couple of years ago. We got some figs, but squirrels ate all the peaches before they ripened. In the spring, I put a net over the peach tree, and now the unripened peaches are falling off.

We bought a greenhouse from Costco last year, but we had trouble assembling it, and then a nor'easter blew it down. (Costco gave us a full refund after I returned all the pieces to the Hackensack store.)


But we're doing much better with cucumbers -- long, curly ones a foot or more long -- and now tomatoes. I've been enjoying three or four dozen small, ripe cherry tomatoes this week, dusted with za'atar thyme mixture for breakfast, added to leftover Thai fried rice from Wondee's in Hackensack and cut up to supplement bottled pasta sauce for tonight's dinner.

Miss Mac takes a break

Image by Unlisted Sightings via Flickr

After nearly 20 years of running one of the best Jamaican restaurants in North Jersey, Parlet McLeod has bowed out and leased the Hackensack business to another operator. She also has stopped baking her wedding cakes, which contained fruit soaked in Jamaican overprooof rum for three months.


Not far away from the former Mac West Indian Restaurant on Central Avenue, a new Trinidadian restaurant has opened in what was once the home of Laurel Restaurant, but the new owner's awning and sign are not up yet. I went searching for Kaskadoo on Saturday morning, but didn't have the address, and my hunger pangs drove me to eat breakfast at what is now Maxx Caribbean Cuisine.


I sat at the counter of Maxx and ordered cabbage and salt fish, with boiled green banana and fried dumplings, and the woman who served me gave me the news about McLeod, who was known to one and all in the Jamaican community as Miss Mac. She opened Mac West Indian in 1991 and operated it with her son Junior, leasing it out in January. My breakfast was $7 with two cups of coffee and tax.


On the way home, I stopped at Laurel Restaurant to pick up a menu and discovered that it was now Kaskadoo (named for a fish). I returned for dinner with my wife. We had a large stewed king-fish dinner ($12) and a shrimp roti ($8) with side dishes, but the food was served warm, not hot, after a long delay.


The food in Trinidad, as in Jamaica, is influenced by the many Asian Indians who have lived there, so my wife's side dishes included chickpeas and potato with a hint of curry. Roti is an unleavened bread or pancake with various fillings, such as shrimp, vegetables and so forth, but Kaskadoo serves its roti deconstructed. 


My side dishes were spinach rice, macaroni pie and stewed pumpkin.

Kaskadoo's menu lists intriguing items, including a breakfast bake 'n shark, an entree of pelau and a side dish called bodhi, so more exploration might be in order. I just wish the service was faster and the food hotter.

Maxx Caribbean Cuisine, 207 Central Ave., Hackensack; 

201-343-6443

Kaskadoo Trinidadian Cuisine, 189 Central Ave.,

Hackensack; 201-343-4305.

(Photo: A mouth-watering restaurant sign.)

A taste of the islands

Image by wayneandwax via Flickr

My wife and son didn't return from Jamaica empty handed. Her luggage contained nearly a dozen small fish that had been escoveitched, a spicy preparation that made a great dinner tonight with yellow rice, large butter beans with tomato and a green salad.

My mother-in-law fried the fish and then doused them in vinegar with hot pepper, pimiento, onion and carrot (photo). They were wrapped in aluminum foil.

I had business Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack, and tried to return home for lunch.

But it was pouring Tuesday, so I ducked into John's Coffee Shop on Sussex Street, near the courthouse, and ate lukewarm vegetarian pea soup and an egg-white Spanish omelet flecked with black bits from the grill. The original owner, who served judges and lawyers for decades, sold the place, and the new owner -- well, let's just say I won't be returning.

Here is a link with a recipe for those small fish my wife brought home: Jamaican fish recipe

A big bonus for eating out

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I just received a rebate check for more than $270 from my True Earnings American Express Card, the same one I use at Costco. When I visit the warehouse store in Hackensack today, I'll use the check to pay for my purchases -- likely under $100 -- and will receive the balance in cash. (Photo shows new Costco in Manhattan).

The True Earnings card returns 3% when you use it to pay for a restaurant meal and 2% for travel expenses, such as airline tickets. There is no annual fee.


About half of my $270 is from restaurant meals and take-out. I would also get an additional 1% for Costco purchases, but usually use the Blue Cash Card from American Express because it returns another quarter of a percent, plus 5% back on supermarket (ShopRite, not Costco) , gasoline and pharmacy purchases after you've charged $6,500 with that card.

My Costco Executive Membership costs $100 a year, but a 2% Costco rebate on purchases easily covers the fee every year. Good, often great, food at decent prices, plus cash back. What more could you want?