ShopRite, H Mart supermarkets ask customers to jump through hoops

At ShopRite's Can Can Sale, 8-ounce cans of Glade Spray are 99 cents each, compared to 19-ounce cans of Lysol Disinfectant Spray for $3.99, below.

The Can Can Sale price for Lysol matches the $15.99 Costco Wholesale charges for a 4-pack, but this week Costco is offering an instant coupon of $4, lowering the price to $11.99.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

ShopRite has a great deal on 15.5-ounce cans of organic beans for 77 cents each, but you'll have to buy 10 to get that low price.

The organic beans, which are made with water and a little sea salt, normally are $1 each. 

Welcome to ShopRite's Can Can Sale, which I shopped at the Paramus store on Wednesday, picking up Organic Black, Pinto, Kidney, Garbanzo and Cannellini Beans.

For a one-dish meal, I add organic beans, organic diced tomatoes, and water or chicken broth to organic brown rice or organic quinoa, and prepare them in an electric cooker.

Progresso Soups are $1.08 in 18.5-ounce cans, a discount of 97 cents, but you can't lower the price by buying 10 cans.

At the Can Can Sale, Adirondack Seltzer is a better buy by the ounce in liter bottles, above, than in cans, below, but you'll need a calculator to figure that out.

Botticelli Pasta Sauces from Italy in 24-ounce jars are half-price at the Paramus ShopRite ($1.99), including a meatless Bolognese Sauce, left. The vodka sauce is one of the few without heavy cream.

I prepared a pound of Luigi Vitelli-brand Organic Whole Wheat Fusilli ($1.25 at ShopRite) in the Vegan Friendly Bolognese Sauce, which substitutes soy for meat. Next time, I'll add a little red wine while heating up the sauce and use a half-pound of pasta.

A addictive Korean seaweed roll known as kimbap was $6.79 at H Mart in Englewood, where the price of such prepared side dishes and snacks has risen dramatically in the past year.

H Mart rebates are not cash

The Korean supermarket chain known as H Mart offers customers a Smart Savings Card similar to ShopRite's Price Plus Club Card.

To qualify for sales and specials at both stores, customers must use their loyalty cards.

But, unlike the ShopRite card, the Smart Savings Card also is a rebate card, entitling the customers to 1% back on their purchases.

There's a big hoop to jump through, however.

You don't get the rebate until you spend $1,000, and when you receive the $10 certificate, you have to use all of it to buy more food at H Mart.

On Saturday, at the Fort Lee H Mart, I picked up two $10 rebate certificates, then purchased fresh whole whiting ($4.99 a pound), and a head of red leaf lettuce ($1.29) for a total of $18.26.

When I gave the cashier the two $10 certificates, she informed me she couldn't give me change. 

I had to use one $10 certificate and a credit card for the $8.26 balance.

At the Englewood H Mart on Tuesday, I bought fresh Chinese Broccoli and Chinese Eggplant, both on sale; and a Seaweed Roll for a total of $9.94, and paid with the second $10 certificate.

Again, the cashier said she couldn't give me the change. I ate the 6 cents difference.

I added a little sea salt and brushed Chinese Eggplant slices with sesame oil as they grilled on the stove top until the flesh turned creamy.

I washed and seasoned, then cooked Chinese Broccoli in chicken broth and sake in a covered pot. I brought the liquid to a boil first, then cooked the broccoli for less than 5 minutes, softening the thick stems.

H Mart eggplant and broccoli over organic quinoa prepared with organic diced tomatoes, whole garlic cloves and olive oil in an electric rice cooker. The organic quinoa, diced tomatoes and California garlic were from Costco Wholesale.

Details

The Paramus ShopRite is at 224 Route 4 east, but also is accessible from Spring Valley Avenue.

The Fort Lee H Mart is in the Linwood Plaza shopping center on Fletcher Avenue, and the Englewood H Mart is at 25 Lafayette Ave.

Other H Marts are in Little Ferry and Ridgefield. All of the Korean markets have counters offering fresh fish and other seafood at low prices. 

Can you imagine worse service?

Image by the justified sinner via Flickr
A cup of coffee at the shiny Chit Chat Diner in Hackensack was my first and last there. It might as well as look like this.

Editor's note: We had two vastly different restaurant experiences on Friday. Today, I also discuss continued confusion caused by ShopRite's Can Can Sale, which enters a second week on Sunday.

I had a cup of coffee at the glitzy Chit Chat Diner in Hackensack on Friday and learned a valuable lesson on where not to meet for a bite to eat.


Here is a little history from the diner's Web site:

"The Chit-Chat Diner was opened on January of 2009.  Our recent renovation has yielded us a Classic American joint in a more chic setting.  Our goal is to provide an upscale meal and setting with an affordable price in a comfortable atmosphere."

Conspicuous by its absence is any mention of service.


I'm on diet and ordered only black coffee after the waiter said the diner didn't have 2% milk, only skim. My friend wanted a slice of pie with ice cream, and tea.


Another server poured cold water for us, and then he and the waiter seemed to disappear. A heavyset waitress with a bored expression took their place and was serving people in the next booth.


My friend asked her to refill his small tea cup (with its used tea bag). She returned with his cup only half-full, and ignored my empty coffee cup.


I tried to get her attention as she walked past a few minutes later, but she apparently didn't hear me or didn't want to hear me.


The bill was just under $10, including $1.75 each for the beverages. My friend was upset and left only a $1 tip (a standard 15% tip would have been $1.50), and we complained to the hostess, who was at the register as we left.


I've driven past the Chit Chat on Essex Street since it was renovated three years ago, and have wondered whether I should take my family there for dinner there. Now, forget about it.


I've been meeting a friend at the Suburban Diner on Route 17 in Paramus, and even when it is packed, the service is far superior to what we experienced at the Chit Chat, which was mostly empty during our visit.


Filling Japanese meal


On Friday night, we met friends at Yuki Japanese Restaurant, a popular BYO in Montvale, for a delicious meal.


The other couple brought a bottle of wine and we also drank hot green tea with our appetizers of shrimp and vegetable tempura ($6.95), and a California roll ($4.95). Service was excellent.


Our entree was nabe (the word for "pot") -- lobster, fish and clams; tofu, vegetables; and slippery, translucent noodles in a tasty broth, served in a pot placed on a table burner, with bowls of white and brown rice ($24). 


The menu wasn't clear on whether the entree was for one or two, so I asked for nabe for two, and we were charged $48. Next time, I'll order one nabe and another entree, such as the cooked yellow tail fish that was available on Friday night.


The shrimp and vegetable tempura was beautifully fried and grease-less, good down to the crunchy shrimp tail. We also enjoyed the California roll, which is the only roll my wife will eat, because she doesn't like raw fish.


The other couple had large platters of tuna sushi and rolls, including broiled eel. We split the bill, which totaled $50 a couple, plus tax and tip. 


Though the family running the restaurant don't appear to be Japanese, we were happy with our first meal there and plan to return.


Yuki Japanese Restaurant, 208 Kinderkamack Road 
(at Grand Avenue), Montvale; 201-391-9877. 
BYO. Entrance off rear parking lot.


Can Can confusion


The Can Can Sale at ShopRite starts a second week on Sunday, but confusion remains on minimum purchases needed to get the lowest sale price.


The flier that came with the newspaper today contains a Super Coupon for Progresso Soup at 10 for $10.88. Nowhere on the coupon or the flier does it say the customer must purchase 10 to get the price of about $1.09 each, compared to the sale price of $1.25.


This week, a Bergen County woman said the Paramus ShopRite refused to sell her fewer than 10 cans of Progresso Soup for the lower price. The store was fined. A new Super Coupon was supposed to reflect the "Must Buy 10" rule.


Customers must use their Price Plus Club store card to qualify for Can Can sale prices.