A North Jersey-style food run

Image by John Walker via Flickr

We found a well-stocked store on our visit to Alstede Farms in Chester.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

An Israeli cheese maker, a farm store as American as cherry pie and a Lebanese chef were among the elements of a food-filled afternoon on a sunny but blustery day in northern New Jersey.

Our excursion on Saturday took us from Bergen County to two farms and on our return, to a restaurant and bakery in Paterson's Middle Eastern bazaar -- a round-trip of about 100 miles.

I'll have to find a route with more two-lane blacktop on our next visit to Valley Shepherd Creamery, a sheep-and-goat dairy that makes and sells artisan cheese and a lot of other food in Long Valley, a lovely little town with antique stores and restaurants.

We started out on Route 80 west, headed south on Route 206 and drove two-lane roads past horse and produce farms until we reached the dairy.

As usual, cheese maker Eran Wajswol was busy in the back of the cozy retail store, dubbed the Sheep Shoppe, "making cheese."

There were only a few other customers in the store as I looked over the sheep's-milk cheese, yogurt, ravioli and other products in the cold case, and my wife and son sampled a semi-soft goat cheese.

Some of the cave-aged cheeses are $24 a pound, so I bought only a quarter-pound of Oldwick Shepherd cheddar and a third-of-a-pound of a parmagian-romano style cheese called Hunterdon. 

We also picked up four plain ewegurts ($2 each), a walnut-raisin baguette ($3.29) and that Crotin goat cheese ($5), which my 13-year-old son loved.

Valley Shepherd Creamery, 50 Fairmount Road, 

Long Valley, N.J.; 908-876-3200, call for hours.

Alstede Farms in Chester 

We've taken hay-wagon rides and visited the pumpkin path at Alstede Farms, but we were happy with shopping in the store on Saturday.

There was more fresh produce than I expected, probably grown in hot houses, including beefsteak tomatoes, red cabbage, arugula, dandelion and other greens. Coffee and hot soup were available, too.

We took home a large tomato, a head of red cabbage and a homemade cherry pie ($13.99). My son asked for a large cone of farm-made rum-raisin ice cream and raved it was the best he's ever had ($5.99). I needed a pick-me-up cup of black coffee ($1).

Alstede Farms, 84 Route 24, Chester; 908-879-7189.

Early dinner in South Paterson

Our first stop in Paterson was Fattal's Bakery, where the Al-Shark Moroccan sardines are only 99 cents a can, in spicy or regular oil. I picked up 14 cans of the spicy, plus yogurt drink ($1.49) and a mixture of olives ($2.99 a pound).

I love Fattal's Syrian bread, but didn't buy any, because I am cutting down on all bread and losing weight as a result.

For dinner, I couldn't decide on whether to go to our favorite, Aleppo Restaurant on Main Street, or La Ziza, a Lebanese place on the Paterson border we've tried several times despite the availability of hookah smoking.

It was early, about 3 in the afternoon, so we chose La Ziza, knowing there would be few other customers and little smoke to contend with.  

But we've probably had our last meal there after we were overcharged, the credit-card machine ran out of paper and the adjusted bill included a 15% tip on the original, inflated total.

That's a shame, because the food was as good as ever: 

Cold grape leaves stuffed with rice and vegetables ($5.95); cumin-flavored hummus ($4.50); lentil soup with fresh lemon ($2.95); a tart, finely chopped Lebanese salad ($6.95); and meat arayes, a toasted pocket-bread sandwich of seasoned meat ($5.50).

Only the overly sweet La Ziza lemonade disappointed ($2.95 each).

 In addition, we ordered one entree, fried, whole whiting with rice ($12.95), and asked the waiter to hold the greasy fried bread usually served with the three fish.

During our meal, customers at only two other tables were smoking water pipes, and they were nowhere near us. 

When I looked over the itemized bill, I noticed we were charged for an appetizer we didn't order. I called the waiter over and pointed that out to him and later, my son and wife said he "smirked," and they thought that meant he overcharged us on purpose.

Although the smoke was hardly noticeable, except for the sweetish smell, the air-conditioning was turned on as the staff, including the female chef, hunted for more paper for the credit-card machine. That took forever, and I had to put on my jacket because it was so cold in the place.

I paid the adjusted bill, but noticed only later the tip hadn't been adjusted downward. 

This morning, I joked with my wife: "Do you know where the restaurant that overcharged us is located?" 

"Crooks Avenue." 

Fattal's Syrian Bakery, 975-77 Main St., Paterson; 973-742-7125.

La Ziza Restaurant, 341 Crooks Ave., Clifton; 973-772-2700.

Shopping, dining and cooking notes

Image by myovencanbeabitch via Flickr

I expected the Korean supermarket in Little Ferry to be busier than it was when I visited Sunday afternoon in search of tofu, soy protein and other meat substitutes. There were a half-dozen stations set up to provide free samples of fat udon noodles in broth (photo), Chilean sea bass, cold green tea with ginseng, dumplings, rice-and-pork sausage and mochi ice cream.

I found three kinds of soft or firm fried tofu ideal for stir fries ($1.29 to $1.49), two heads of fresh spinach (79 cents each), 20 pounds of California-grown rice ($17.99), and prepared Alaskan pollack with hot and sweet peppers ($4.99).


For dinner last night, I blanched a head of the spinach from H Mart and cooked it briefly in extra-virgin olive oil with garlic powder, black pepper, and salt. Our main dish was pasta -- big shells from Italy I get at ShopRite with spaghetti sauce from Fairway and added soy meatballs and Tofurky-brand Italian sausage, both from Whole Foods Market. I liked the meatballs better than the sausage, but guests were fooled altogether -- two thought they were eating meat.


On Saturday night, I took my wife and son to La Ziza, the new Lebanese restaurant on Crooks Avenue in Clifton (Crooks divides that city from South Paterson). I had eaten there alone a few weeks ago, and liked the food, despite the presence of hookah smokers in the dining room.

We ordered appetizers and one entree, fried whole whiting with rice. On March 28, my first visit, I received four whole fish for $12.95. The price has stayed the same, but this time, there were only three fish on the platter

We enjoyed the warm grape leaves stuffed with rice, fatoush salad, warm whole and mashed fava beans (ful), arayes (melted cheese in pocket bread)  and curlicue La Ziza french fries. But the muhammara was coarse and bland, missing the essential, zingy Aleppo red pepper. The fruity smoke from water pipes was noticeable but not a problem. The restaurant allows the use of hookahs in an upstairs dining room as well.


I just got off the phone with Tony, an inspector at the Clifton Health Department. He explained La Ziza has a license that allows hookah smoking, because the same owner operated the restaurant  before 2004 (as Al Assayad) -- when a smoking ban went into effect. Tony also noted smoking is allowed if it brings in 15% or more of a restaurant's revenue, as the water pipes evidently do.


This morning, I warned the leftover fava beans, prepared an egg-white omelet with Aleppo pepper and ate them with warm Lebanese pocket bread and hummus. Delicious.

At La Ziza Restaurant in Clifton

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

La Ziza is a Lebanese restaurant near the Paterson Farmers' Market that opened recently in the space once occupied by Al Assayad.

Unfortunately, the use of a hookah (photo) is allowed in the dining room, a concession to smokers that drove me away from the old place.

Luckily, only a few other tables were occupied while I had dinner last night, and I didn't find the fruity smoke a problem. I asked Jamal, the waiter, if smoking the water pipe improved the appetite, and he said he didn't think so.


I watched people at the next table as they ate, then smoked a little and then returned to eating. I still don't get it.


At the old place, to get away from the smoking, we asked to be seated on the second floor. But the service was poor, because the waiter had to run up and down the stairs.


Fortunately, the food at La Ziza is good enough to persuade me to return with my wife and son.


After I placed my order, I got the usual plate of pickles and olives, and warm, chewy pocket bread, which, as is the custom at Arabic restaurants, is microwaved in the plastic bag (with a small opening).


I enjoyed a fatoush salad ($6.95), which combines romaine lettuce with cucumbers, tomato, onion and fried bread chunks in a lemony dressing that includes powdered sumac. I wasn't sure whether it was sumac, because it lacked the sourness of the sumac used in the za'atar thyme mixture.
 
I ordered the fried whiting listed on the menu ($12.95), and received a platter of rice with fried bread sandwiching four whole fish, each about seven to eight inches long. They had been quickly fried, leaving a crunchy tail and head and moist flesh along the bone. Wonderful. I ate two fish there and the rest for dinner tonight at home.


Strong, smooth Arabic coffee came in a small pot ($2), enough for two cups.


This would be a terrific place for maza, the meal of small plates chosen from the appetizers, such as fava beans and spicy potatoes, to name just two of the meatless items. But carnivores will find plenty of meat throughout the menu.

La Ziza Restaurant, 341 Crooks Ave., Clifton
(Crooks Avenue divides Paterson and Clifton);
973-772-2700.

For an update on La Ziza, see North Jersey-style food run