Two ShopRites have the same owner, but are far different for shoppers

On Tuesday at the ShopRite in Englewood, five 1-liter bottles of Adirondack Seltzer (Original and flavored) were on sale for $2 during the Can Can Sale, above. But 12-can packages of the same seltzer, below, had a missing price sign and didn't appear to be part of the promotion, as they were at the Paramus ShopRite.

I stopped buying liter bottles of Adirondack Seltzer after I found they can lose their fizz even if unopened.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

When I had an appointment in Englewood on Tuesday, I stopped at the ShopRite to take advantage of the second week of the 2017 Can Can Sale.

I not only found the store is one huge construction site, but that one of my favorite items -- 12-can packs of Adirondack Lemon Lime Seltzer -- weren't part of the promotion, as they are at the Paramus ShopRite I usually patronize.

But I bought a non-Can Can Sale item, a 3-pound bag of Organic Sweet Potatoes ($3.99), for 50 cents less than at Trader Joe's in Paramus.

ShopRites in Englewood, Paramus and Rochelle Park are owned and operated by Glass Gardens Inc., one of the 50 retailers in a cooperative that includes Wakefern Food Corp., the stores' merchandising and distribution arm.

Glass Gardens Inc. owns a total of 11 ShopRites, most of them in the Garden State.

ShopRites are considered the low-price leaders among supermarkets in New Jersey, but they only occasionally undercut Costco Wholesale, which offers far less selection. 

For example, at the Paramus ShopRite on Thursday, KIND fruit-and-nut snack bars were $1 each if you bought 10, compared to about $1.06 each for a box of 18 at Costco.

Organic Sweet Potatoes at the Englewood ShopRite are a better buy than at Trader Joe's in Paramus.

Season-brand Sardines in Pure Olive Oil are on sale at both the Englewood and Parmaus ShopRites for 99 cents a can with a store card. 

ShopRite's Luigi Vitelli-brand Organic Whole Wheat Pasta from Italy no longer holds a price advantage over Organic Whole Wheat Pastas sold by Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market. At ShopRite, the price went up to $1.50 from $1.29 for a 1-pound package. 

At Whole Foods Market, 1-pound boxes of Organic Whole Wheat Pasta from Italy in a variety of shapes are $1.49 each. Whole wheat pastas, brown rice and quinoa contain heart-healthy whole grains.

I was tempted by this jar of Puttanesca Sauce, imported from Italy by ShopRite, until I saw that it contains added sugar. Trader Joe's sells a Puttanesca Sauce without added sugar for $2.99 (25 ounces), a dollar less than ShopRite's version.

A new aisle, complete with new refrigerated cases like the ones installed in the Paramus store, at the Englewood ShopRite. An employee said the Englewood expansion and renovation still is a year away from completion.

Part of the Englewood store's produce section.

Three new aisles at the ShopRite in Englewood opened about a month ago, above, but work continues, below.

Pearls-brand pitted California olives are a better buy during the Can Can Sale than ShopRite's own pitted black olives.

At ShopRite, Goya-brand Mango Nectar contains a maximum of 35% mango juice, plus added sugar, above and below.

Whole Foods Market carries Ceres-brand 100% Juice -- from pears and mangoes grown in South Africa -- without added sugar, and I was able to find a liter container on sale for $2.50 at the Closter Whole Foods.

At Seafood Gourmet in Maywood, fresh wild fish is everywhere you look

On the way to the dining room at Seafood Gourmet, the fish market and restaurant in Maywood, customers on Saturday passed a display of wild-caught coho salmon and other fresh fish on a bed of ice, above; and shelves of prepared seafood, including Penne with Shrimp, Broccoli and Garlic & Oil, and Hickory Smoked Trout, below.

Editor's note: This post was revised to correct the day I visited Seafood Gourmet. It was Saturday, not Thursday, as I wrote originally.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

If you love fresh wild-caught seafood, you'll find a home at Seafood Gourmet, the fish market and restaurant on Maywood's bustling main street.

For our late lunch on Saturday, both me and my wife chose dishes with wild shrimp -- the only kind served in the 38-seat dining room behind the market.

I was in the mood for pasta, but got pulled this way and that by the lunch specials, including day boat sea scallops, a fritto misto; and a char-grilled trio of wild salmon, shrimp and octopus.

I picked a fourth special, Shrimp Santorini -- crunchy sauteed jumbo shrimp finished in a light plum tomato sauce, served over whole-wheat pasta and topped with feta cheese ($15).

A side salad, normally $3, was included.

My wife had Ceasar Salad with Shrimp ($12),  from the regular menu, and there was no charge for her cup of Lobster Bisque.

We also ordered takeout, Sole Stuffed with Lobster, an entree that came with rice and steamed vegetables ($16).

Fresh wild seafood, imaginative preparation, moderate prices and good service make every meal there a pleasure.

In northern New Jersey, only the sinfully expensive Legal Sea Foods in Paramus can match the quality of Seafood Gourmet. 

The whole-wheat pasta used in Shrimp Santorini was good, but organic whole-wheat pasta from Italy, such as the Luigi Vitelli brand sold at ShopRite, would be better.

Caesar Salad with Shrimp.

We shared a side of Sauteed Spinach ($5).

A side salad and a cup of Lobster Bisque were included.

The Lunch Specials menu on Saturday.

Seating is at tables for two or four, and when we walked into the dining room at 3:30 on Saturday afternoon with a half-bottle of red wine, most of them were occupied.

Seafood Gourmet is a BYO.

Details

Seafood Gourmet Fish Market & Restaurant, 103 W. Pleasant Ave., Maywood; 1-201-843-8558. Closed Sundays.

BYO, free street parking, reservations recommended for dinner, especially on weekends.

Website: The Restaurant at Seafood Gourmet

Know what's in your bottled sauce when making penne with sardines

Luigi Vitelli-brand Organic Whole Wheat Penne with Victoria Marinara Sauce, skinless-and-boneless sardines, anchovies and cherry tomatoes.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The half-dozen ingredients in Victoria Marinara Sauce invite you to improvise.

I often add extra-virgin olive oil, a few ounces of red wine, drained and rinsed anchovies, and seasonings, including powdered garlic, ground black pepper, red-pepper flakes and dried Italian herbs.

Then, I thicken the sauce with three or four cans of heart-healthy sardines with their oil that I mash with a fork first, plus fresh cherry tomatoes, and fresh mint and basil from my garden.

Even if you leave a few ounces of marinara in the 40-ounce bottle with which to poach eggs, you'll have plenty of sauce for 1 pound of Luigi Vitelli-brand Organic Whole Wheat Penne from Italy or other shape of organic whole wheat pasta.

Cooking times, salt

ShopRite, Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's, all in Paramus, stock 1-pound packages of organic whole wheat pasta in various shapes ($1.29 or $1.49).

Not all of the cooking times listed on the packages are reliable, and I've found Whole Foods' imported whole wheat pasta cooks up al dente in much less time than listed, especially the shells.

No need to add salt to the water; there is plenty of sodium in bottled sauces, as well as in anchovies and sardines.

Victoria doesn't add sugar to its sauce, but it's getting harder and harder to find other brands without the sweetener. 

I even saw one brand with butter as the second ingredient after tomatoes.

Two organic eggs poached in leftover Victoria Marinara Sauce with grated cheese and smoked wild salmon, above. I ate them for breakfast over leftover organic whole wheat penne with sardines, below.

The ingredients listed on the front label of Victoria White Linen Marinara Sauce, sold by Costco Wholesale, differ slightly from the version sold in supermarkets. No added sugar is a big draw.

ShopRite in Paramus had a sale this week on Classico Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce without added sugar in 24-ounce jars ($1.49 each), but only reading the ingredients label would tell you the Traditional Sweet Basil, right, has added sugar.

You'll also find added sugar in all of these other Classico Pasta Sauces.

When I read the label on Bongiovi Pasta Sauce, also sold at the Paramus ShopRite, I was shocked to see butter as the second ingredient after Italian tomatoes.

At Jerry's Gourmet & More, 410 S. Dean St. in Englewood, I found another take on pasta with sardines in this restaurant-quality Meal To Go, below.

I plated and reheated all but the Cucumber Salad with Feta Cheese. The complete dinners are reduced to $5.99 after 4 p.m., if there are any left.

Jerry's also had small jars of fruit with Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, and the apricot and plums I bought would pair nicely with the Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese I buy at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro.

Home cooking: Pulling together great ingredients from my favorite stores

For a snack at home, I layered smoked wild Alaskan salmon, reduced-fat Swiss cheese, Dijon mustard and sliced California black figs on Swedish crispbread, topping them with fresh mint leaves from my garden.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Swedish Food Market at IKEA in Paramus stocks a lot of bottled herring with way too much salt and fruit drinks with too much added sugar.

But the simple Swedish crispbread is irresistible: 

These crunchy disks -- each about 3 inches across -- invite you to layer cheese, smoked salmon and fresh figs on them for a midday snack.

Or, you can top them with sliced cheese, organic greens and tuna salad dressed with Dijon mustard, lime juice and ground cumin.

IKEA sells two kinds -- Rye Crispbread and Multigrain Crispbread, both made in Finland -- in 8.8-ounce packages for $2.99 each.

I rely on Costco Wholesale in Teterboro for smoked wild Alaskan salmon ($14.89 per pound), reduced-fat sliced Jarlsberg Swiss Cheese (2 pounds for only $6.69 with an instant coupon last week), and Dijon mustard.

I picked up a pound of California Black Figs for $3.99 at Trader Joe's in Paramus, but had to refrigerate them to prevent spoilage.

I baked a pan of Fresh Wild Coho Salmon from Costco Wholesale in Teterboro with fresh spinach, organic diced tomatoes, pitted black olives, grated cheese, olive oil (on the spinach), fresh lime juice (on the fish) and fresh herbs from my garden.

I cut up the fillet, cooked the pieces skin-side down on a stove-top grill for 4 minutes, then placed them on the spinach. The pan spent another 7 minutes in a preheated 400-degree oven. The organic diced tomatoes were cooked separately with red wine and seasonings, and were added along with the chopped herbs when the pan was removed from the oven.

Fresh wild salmon

If the past is any guide, fresh wild salmon will be available at Costco in Teterboro for another month or so.

Last week, my wife found a Fresh Wild Coho Salmon Fillet instead of the sockeye we've been buying since June ($9.99 a pound).

Meanwhile, I went to the Costco Business Center in Hackensack for a 1-pound package of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix ($4.89), the world's best-tasting salad.

The price fluctuates, and earlier this year, Costco was selling it for only $4.29 a pound, compared to $6.99 in most supermarkets.

When buying the salad, select packages that have little or no condensation to avoid the greens rotting before their use-by date, which is printed on the front label.

No dinner is complete without a salad and a glass of red wine.

A salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix with cherry tomatoes from our garden and kernels shaved off an ear of sweet Jersey corn, dressed simply with extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The Organic Spring Mix has a new label, but the triple-washed greens are as delicious as ever. Earthbound Farm added the words "grown without GMOs," "a blend of tender baby greens" and "a versatile classic" to new label. See the ingredients, below.

The Earthbound Farm label on the back or bottom of the package.

Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix can go straight from the container onto a plate or into a bowl. Here, I added cucumbers and our cherry tomatoes. Three large hothouse cucumbers from Costco Wholesale were $3.49.

I also like the Spring Mix from Olivia's Organics, but even on sale at H Mart in Little Ferry (5 ounces for $1.99), you'll pay more per ounce than at Costco for a 1-pound tub of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix.

With Kirkland Signature 100% Liquid Egg Whites from Costco, you can eat an omelet or frittata every day and not worry about cholesterol. Six 16-ounce cartons were $8.79.

At H Mart in Little Ferry on Sunday, Baby Mustard Greens, above, were on sale for 78 cents a pound; and Chinese Eggplant, below, were 99 cents a pound.

I grilled the eggplant slices on the stove top with spray oil and a little salt.

At ShopRite, my wife picked up a carton of Barilla Whole Grain Spaghetti made with 100% whole wheat, which I prepared with olive oil, fresh garlic, cherry tomatoes from our garden and homemade pesto. But the package was a couple of ounces shy of a pound and cost more than the 1-pound package of Luigi Vitelli-brand Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti, which ShopRite also sells ($1.29). The cooked organic spaghetti feels better in your mouth, too.

When you buy six bottles of wine with prices ending in "9" at Total Wine & More in River Edge, you get an additional 10% off. I purchased six bottles of Shiraz, Pinot Noir, Cabernet and Carmenere for an average of under $7 each, plus tax.

Details

For fresh wild salmon and fresh fish from Iceland, smoked wild Alaskan salmon, Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, fresh organic spinach, Dijon mustard and so many other great ingredients at great prices:

Costco Wholesale, 2 Teterboro Landing Drive, Teterboro; and Costco Wholesale Business Center, 80 S. River St., Hackensack.

For California Black Figs, organic sweet potatoes, organic whole wheat pasta; Green Plant, a 100% fruit and green food juice blend with no added sugar, and antibiotic- and preservative-free beef hot dogs and bacon:

Trader Joe's, 404 Route 17 north, Paramus.

For cans of pitted black olives, conventional sweet potatoes, grass-fed Australian beef, lactose-free milk and Luigi Vitelli-brand Organic Whole Wheat Pasta:

ShopRite, 224 Route 4 east at Forest Avenue, Paramus. 

For a large variety of Asian greens, fresh fruit, fresh whole fish for as little as $1.99 a pound and prepared Korean food:

H Mart, 260 Bergen Turnpike, Little Ferry; go for the low prices and ignore the shabby entrance and drab interior of this large supermarket.

For crispbread; frozen meatballs, including a vegetarian version; and other food from Scandinavia:

Swedish Food Market at IKEA, 100 IKEA Drive, Paramus. 

For inexpensive red wine:

Total Wine & More, 135 Kinderkamack Road, River Edge.

Confused customers trying to adapt to changes at ShopRite in Paramus

At the ShopRite in Paramus, shelving has been replaced with new refrigerated cases for milk, yogurt, cheese and other dairy products, as well as orange juice and ice cream. Half-gallons of ShopRite Lactose Free Milk are $2.99 each.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

ShopRite in Paramus has customers searching for such familiar products as lactose-free milk.

The store at 224 Route 4 east just finished replacing aisles of refrigerated shelving with refrigerated cases, and in the process, moved the store brand of lactose-free milk and many other dairy products.

This morning, I heard two customers say they were "totally confused."

Another annoyance is that the doors on the cases are inconvenient for left-handed people like me, but that's nothing new.

I stop at the Paramus store once or twice a week on the way home from the gym to shop for a limited number of items.

I continue to spend most of my food dollars at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro and the Costco Business Center in Hackensack, where, by the way, the food court still has not reopened.

Even for large sizes, the Paramus ShopRite usually can't match Costco's prices.

I saw a 40-bottle pack of Poland Springs Spring Water for $6.99 at ShopRite or $2 more than at Costco.

Another change apparent in the front of the Paramus store is that shoppers are greeted by a display of cookies instead of Golden Pineapples and other fruit.

Like the smaller, more expensive Campari Tomatoes sold at Costco Wholesale, Big Taste Tomatoes are grown in hothouses in Mexico. At the Paramus ShopRite, 1-pound packages were on sale today for 99 cents each. I haven't tried them yet to see if they rival the Campari Tomato.

A 3-pound bag of Organic Sweet Potatoes is $5.99 or about $2 a pound, but organic baby yams and sweet potatoes are $3.99 a pound, below. I found a 3-pound bag of conventional sweet potatoes on another shelf for $2.99.

Yams are starchier than sweet potatoes.

A new item is Newman's Own for the Common Good organic pasta sauces. Instead, I purchased two 44-ounce jars of Classico Tomato & Basil pasta sauce with no added sugar, on sale for a total of $6.19 (about $3.10 each). A pound of Luigi Vitelli Organic Whole Wheat Pasta from Italy is now $1.29, up four cents, but still a better buy than similar products from Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market.