We're starting to empty the freezer

Sweet potatoes on a stove-top grill.

In our third day without power, we've started to cook food from our freezer.

Breakfast this morning was lobster bisque from Costco Wholesale with added langostino tails.

We also shared Denver Eggs and Whole Wheat French Toast from the hot breakfast bar at Whole Foods Market in Paramus.

On Wednesday, we drove to Palisades Park for dinner out at So Gong Dong, our favorite Korean soft-tofu restaurant.

On the way home from Whole Foods today, I saw a 2-block-long line of cars at a Shell station in Maywood, presumably drivers who didn't bother filling up before Hurricane Sandy hit on Monday.

New York Public Radio is calling the hurricane "Super Storm Sandy."

Spicy fried chicken comes at a high price

A takeout order of 10 Wings of Fire from BBQ Chicken & Beer.

The storefront on busy Anderson Avenue in Cliffside Park.

Editor's note: Korean food usually is of great value, because of the rice and side dishes included in the price. But that's not the case with takeout fried chicken.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

BBQ Chicken & Beer in Cliffside Park is another place we stopped patronizing after I gave up poultry and meat.

The Korean fried chicken restaurant was a favorite of my teenage son, who dares chefs to make his food as spicy as possible.

On Saturday night, we had soft-tofu stew in Palisades Park, then drove to Cliffside for a takeout order of Wings of Fire, prepared in extra-virgin olive oil. 

The spice isn't the only great thing about Korean fried chicken. The pieces are extra crispy because they are fried twice.

But Korean fried chicken has never been a great value, and BBQ Chicken & Beer drove home the point by charging about $1 for each of the 10 wings in my son's order.

Our order totaled $9.58.

Earlier, for $10 at So Gong Dong in Palisades Park, each of us had an entire dinner -- soft-tofu stew, a stone bowl of white rice, a fresh egg to cook in the bubbling broth and four great side dishes, including two kimchis and fresh, seasoned bean sprouts (118 Broad Ave., Second Floor; 201-313-5550).

The shabby interior in Cliffside Park includes worn table tops and chipped wall paint.

At BBQ Chicken & Beer, we waited 15-20 minutes for the takeout order, prompting my son to say service had improved over the 30-minute waits when we had dinner at the restaurant.

My son noted the menu now offers non-meat options, such as salad and a Korean fish-cake stew.

But he soaked in the worn table tops, chipped wall paint and the really loud American hip-hop music, and said he wouldn't want to eat there again.

The Cliffside Park restaurant is part of a global chain, but headquarters seems to have lost track of this outpost.

The bored, young Korean man who took our order didn't give us a warm feeling, either. He seemed more interested in the music selection than in anything else.

We recalled one dinner there when water leaked from the ceiling into pails.

I did like the frosty mugs of some of the coldest beer I've had in a restaurant, so maybe this place should market itself as a bar with fried chicken on the side. 

Look for other Korean fried-chicken places, including Boom Boom Chicken in Fort Lee, Bon Chon Chicken in Leonia and Peck Peck Chicken in Teaneck.

However, I don't believe any of these places use naturally raised birds.

Details

BBQ Chicken & Beer, 555 Anderson Ave., Cliffside Park; 201-840-8421. 

More Korean food

A $5.99 lunch box at H Mart in Englewood.

We've had Maine lobsters for $4.49 a pound from H Mart in Little Ferry two Sundays in a row, but after driving my son to Englewood today, I stopped at the H Mart in that town.

A sign said the half-price sale was on through today, but there were no lobsters in the tank.

In another tank, I saw live fluke and farmed tilapia, and on ice, fresh, wild-caught tilapia from Taiwan for only $1.99 a pound.

I decided to buy Sanford-brand frozen green-lipped mussels from New Zealand for dinner tonight (2 pounds for $7.99), and a package of seaweed, vegetable and rice rolls called kimbap with Korean pickles and sliced jalapeno ($4.99).

I also saw 1-pound packages of Campari tomatoes for 99 cents with an H Mart store card, but passed on them so I could eat several big tomatoes from my garden.

Details

H Mart, 25 Lafayette Ave., Englewood; 201-871-8822.

Are New York prices always higher?

A Trader Joe's in lower Manhattan sells fruit by the piece.

Would you pay 79 cents for an orange, even if it's organic?

This seaweed snack weighs far more than the same product sold in Korean markets.

This sliced Yogurt Cheese costs the same in the Manhattan and Paramus stores.

I paid the same price in Paramus for this excellent extra-virgin olive oil.

At the charming Cafe Cluny in Manhattan, a cup of coffee will set you back $4, plus tax. 

Have you seen an intelligent discussion -- on TV or in newspaper food pages -- comparing restaurant prices in North Jersey and Manhattan?

You'd think the city's presumably higher labor, food, rental, insurance and transportation costs would translate into much higher prices than across the river in Bergen County.

But prices in Manhattan restaurants appear to be competitive, and in some cases lower.

Liquor profits

One reason is that most city restaurants can rely on big profits from ridiculously marking up wine and beer, a luxury not afforded a large number of BYOs in North Jersey.

City restaurants offering naturally grown or raised food on their menus also far outnumber their counterparts here.

Again, liquor profits allow them to buy and serve higher quality food.

Another factor is the number of times a restaurant can turn over its tables each night.

A Manhattan restaurant, in the course of the day, can seat 5, 10, 15 or more customers at the same table, while a place in Bergen County is lucky to turn over a table 5 times. 

Food-market prices

At the Whole Foods Markets in SoHo and Columbus Circle, prepared food is sold for $8.49 a pound -- 50 cents more than in the Paramus market.

But I was surprised to find several items I buy at the Paramus Trader Joe's -- including extra-virgin olive oil and sliced yogurt cheese -- are being sold for the same prices in the Trader Joe's on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan (Chelsea).

Table service

Great service also is more common in Manhattan, as we experienced last December at Lupa, an osteria from Chef Mario Batali, though a slow kitchen and small portions detracted from the experience.

I've had nothing but great service during Manhattan's winter and summer Restaurant Weeks, when a 3-course lunch is knocked down to $24.07, from about $45 on the a la carte menu. 

Service can be the undoing of a North Jersey restaurant, though some of our favorite ethnic BYOs still manage be attentive and deliver orders quickly.

Three that come to mind are Wondee's and Lotus Cafe in Hackensack, and So Gong Dong in Palisades Park.

Food photos from Woodbridge to the West Side of Manhattan

Lactose Free Milk at Wegmans Food Market is 10 cents more than at ShopRite.

Wegmans has one of the lowest prices on bananas, but doesn't beat Costco Wholesale.

At nearly 140,000 square feet, Wegmans in Woodbridge seems to go on and on.

Wegmans offers enough prepared food to feed an army. 

Fresh, wild-caught fish fetch some of the highest prices around.

Wegmans Organic Chicken. Drumsticks are $2.99 a pound.

Canned vegetables are 49 cents each.

Premium blended orange juice is only $1.99 for a 64-ounce half-gallon.

Wegmans cheese, dried fruit and nuts would make a great dessert.

A Japanese family enjoying lunch at Mitsuwa Marketplace in Edgewater.

One of the stands in the food court of the Japanese supermarket.

Dishes offered at the Whole Foods Market in Manhattan's Time Warner Center.

At a Gourmet Garage near Lincoln Center, Chilean Sea Bass is $28.99 a pound.

Despite the price, Golden Pineapples sold out, but the sign stayed behind.

Gourmet Garage charges $4.99 for 5 ounces of Earthbound Farm Spring Mix. At Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, customers get a 16-ounce package for the same price.

A new dish at So Gong Dong in Palisades Park is Vegetable Bibimbap served on a stone plate. Season to taste with Korean red-pepper paste or gochujang from a squeeze bottle.

Steam rising from the signature soft-tofu stew, which comes with a stone bowl of white rice. All entrees are served with four side dishes, including two kimchis.

At So Gong Dong, bibimbap also comes with ground beef or with squid, but other restaurants serve the dish topped with a raw or fried egg.

The Palisades Park ShopRite is the only supermarket I know with a big tropical-fish tank.

Fishing for an honest retailer

At a Korean soft-tofu restaurant, you get a fresh egg to crack into the bubbling beef broth, and a half-dozen or more complimentary side dishes or panchan, above and below.

Editor's note: A Consumer Reports investigation questions the honesty of seafood retailers. Today's bill of fare also includes a new tofu restaurant in Palisades Park, and more on Costco produce.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

A Consumer Reports investigation on the mislabeling or employee misidentification of fish is based on samples purchased at retail, but Costco Wholesale is conspicuously absent.

Seafood was purchased in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut at Whole Foods Markets, including the Edgewater store; Wegman's, A&P, and Red Lobster Restaurants in Paramus and Scardale, N.Y.

Magazine staffers who served as mystery shoppers bought a wide variety of fish from 55 stores and restaurants in the fall of 2010, including five "big-box stores," but Costco is not named in the article.

Costco is a major seafood retailer of fish fillets, both fresh and frozen, farmed and wild-caught; large farmed shrimp, sea scallops, crab, lobster tails and other items. 

The story is in the December 2011 issue of Consumer Reports magazine. It ran under these headlines:

"Mystery Fish"

"The label said red snapper, the lab said baloney"

In New Jersey

We ordered red snapper at Amici Family Restaurant in Bergenfield, and got a tough, sinewy fillet. We asked the waitress to check with the cook, and she quoted him as saying it was red snapper. 

We never returned.

The magazine said none of the 22 "red snappers" it bought at 18 markets "could be positively identified as such."

When dining out, I always order seafood and we get whole fish, if it's available. We're always pleased with the choices at Wondee's, a Thai restaurant in Hackensack with relatively low prices on fish and other seafood.

When dining in, we split our seafood purchases between H Mart, a chain of Korean supermarkets in North Jersey, and Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

At H Mart, we usually buy whole fish, which are labeled with country of origin and whether they are farmed or wild. 

Costco's labeling of fish is better than most other retailers, judging from Consumer Reports, which says cod labels don't have to specify whether the fish is from the Atlantic Ocean, where the cod population is low, or the more abundant and sustainable schools in the Pacific Ocean.

The cod fillets I've purchased at Costco have all been labeled "True Pacific Cod." 

New tofu restaurant

If you put the word "tofu" in the name of your Korean restaurant, make sure you do a good job on your signature dish.

We were a little disappointed with the soft-tofu stews we were served on Sunday evening at K.J. Tofu House in Palisades Park, but liked the other food we tried and the unusual number of free side dishes.

The restaurant has been open about two months in the space formerly occupied by the Soft Tofu Restaurant. We were told K.J. Tofu House has separate owners.

The modern interior has black-stone table tops, some with electric grills, and there is jazz playing on the sound system. A banner in the window advertises a $6.95 breakfast.

K.J. Tofu House has a traditional, full Korean menu, plus a dozen different soft-tofu stews, including curry, ham and cheese, and "intestines." Most are $8.95 at lunch and $10.95 at dinner.

But along with the soft tofu stew, you get rice, an egg and 10 free side dishes at dinner, including two small, whole fish. So Gong Dong, our favorite tofu house, serves only four side dishes for $9.99.

At K.J. Tofu House, my wife ordered a pork soft-tofu stew ($10.95) and I ordered a combination meal pairing two large, broiled mackerel fillets and a small seafood tofu stew ($21.95).

After we placed our order, a server brought over the 10 side dishes, including spicy and white cabbage kimchis, tiny shrimp, potato salad, greens, and pickled jalapeno slices. Then, the entrees arrived, accompanied by two hot stone bowls of white rice.

Clearly, we had ordered too much food.

The kitchen mixed up our orders, making my wife's tofu stew spicier than mine, and my smaller stone bowl of stew didn't contain any seafood. But the mackerel was some of the best I've had, and the side dishes were terrific, ensuring a return visit.

The staff is eager to please, and we were asked how we liked the food twice. When a server didn't seem to be around to take our order, the woman behind the register ran out to write it down.

Cups of a sweet drink came with the check.

K.J. Tofu House, 268 Broad Ave., Palisades Park; 201-363-0700. Open 7 days from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. BYO.

Korean pears

My wife picked up a package of three large Korean pears for $6.79 today at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, compared to the $6.99 I paid at H Mart in Little Ferry.

A 10-pound bag of Earthbound Farm Organic Carrots was $6.99; a 1-pound package of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix was $4.79; a 3-pound bag of "thoroughly washed" Eat Smart Broccoli Florets was $4.99; six heads of Andy Boy Romaine lettuce were $3.99, and a 5-pound bag of limes was $5.99.

A 1-pound package of Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon was $15.39. 

Though it has more sodium in a 2-ounce serving than Kirkland Signature's Imported Smoked Salmon, it also tastes better and its thicker slices have more body than its farmed cousin.  

New tofu house seeks foothold

 

Image via Wikipedia
You can poach an egg in the bubbling soft-tofu stew.

The banner in the window of a new restaurant in Palisades Park beckoned as we drove down Broad Avenue on Saturday evening toward our favorite soft-tofu house, So Gong Dong.


Actually, the big numbers on the sign at a new soft-tofu restaurant were all I could understand: $6.95. The rest of the sign was in Korean.


Does that mean soft-tofu stew, rice, fresh egg and side dishes cost only $6.95, compared to $9.99 at So Gong Dong and the affiliated So Kong Dong in Fort Lee?


The restaurant opened recently in the same space as Soft Tofu Restaurant, which served a varied Korean menu before it closed last year. Are these the same owners? Have they just remodeled? 


Are they using an introductory low price to gain a foothold just a couple of blocks away from the popular So Gong Dong?


I ate in the Soft Tofu Restaurant a few times, but when I took my family there, they were unhappy with the tofu stew's lack of red pepper, even though my wife and son asked for it extra spicy and sent it back to the kitchen for replacements. I had a comforting stew with a whole spring chicken.


On Saturday, we were very happy with our meal at So Gong Dong, which specializes in soft tofu -- available in 10 varieties -- and offers only a limited number of other dishes.


In addition to four soft-tofu stews, we ordered a seafood pancake ($11.99) for me and sliced, prime-beef bulgogi barbecue for the meat eaters in my family ($14.99).


The soft-tofu stew comes in a stone bowl with a second stone bowl of steamed rice, a fresh egg and four side dishes: spicy cabbage and cucumber kimchis, bean sprouts and raw squid in a really spicy sauce. 


They are brought to the table after you order your main dishes and usually are replenished without prompting.


Poach an egg


I cracked two small eggs into my bubbling oyster stew, and a few minutes later, broke a perfectly poached yolk over my steamed rice and ate them together with a spoon -- a terrific taste combination.


For the first time, I asked for my "more spicy" stew to be made with hot water instead of beef broth, and I couldn't tell the difference.


This is a family restaurant, with mostly Korean customers and a scattering of Japanese, Chinese and American loyalists sitting around a great comfort food.


 At the next table, a dozen adults and children speaking Chinese placed their order in English, ordering their stews "little spicy" or "not spicy."


All the prices on the place-mat menu are rounded up one cent on the bill: $10 for a complete soft-tofu meal, $12 for the pancake and $15 for the prime beef slices, but tax is included.


So Gong Dong, 118 Broad Ave., Second Floor, Palisades Park; 
201-313-5550. BYO. Credit cards accepted.
Free parking on side streets.


Related articles

• Kimchi is the star of a Korean meal for 10 (doyoureallyknowwhatyoureeating.blogspot.com)
• Costco's accent is becoming more pronounced (doyoureallyknowwhatyoureeating.blogspot.com)

Do we really need restaurants?

Image via Wikipedia
Parmigiano Reggiano is an aged, part skim-milk cheese from Italy that goes great with crisp apples and other fruit, but try to find it served that way in a restaurant.

Editor's note: Why go out to eat in restaurants when you can dine like a king at home? Today, I also discuss further Can Can Sale adventures at ShopRite.

I had a wonderful Italian dinner on Monday night -- small shrimp and unusually tender squid in a fra diavolo sauce, vegetable frittata, shell pasta with tuna, stuffed mushroom, eggplant caponata and a nice, four-green salad  -- and drank a full-bodied Italian red wine with it.


My wife and mother-in-law ate baked fillet of sole and my son had barbecued chicken wings, all with similar side dishes.


My dessert: crisp apple sections paired with Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. They had ice cream. And we enjoyed all of this in the comfort of our own home.


Why go out?


When I think of our recent restaurant experiences, I wish we could eat like this every night and never leave the house.


That morning, I stopped by Jerry's Gourmet and More in Englewood, and picked up four Meals To Go at a mere $7.99 each -- less than the cost of a restaurant appetizer.


We could have a different meal from Jerry's every night or order takeout delivered to our door from our favorite places.


Then, we wouldn't have to go out and sit in a drafty dining room, as we did recently in settings as diverse as Nanoosh, a casual, organic Middle Eastern restaurant at a mall in Paramus, and Lupa Osteria Romana, a popular Manhattan trattoria where a skimpy meal for three cost more than $100 -- without wine.


Routine gouging


And I wouldn't have to pay $5.50 for a bottle of light beer, $10 to $12 for a glass of wine or $2.95 for a cup of lukewarm coffee.


We long ago started trying to reproduce at home some of our favorite dining-out meals, such as Korean barbecue, which my son refers to as "cook on the table."


For years, we ate what is essentially mystery meat in Korean restaurants before I started buying Nature's Reserve free-range, grass-fed Australian beef at ShopRite, sliced it thin and placed it in a freezer bag with Korean marinade.


Now, we cook this fun Korean meal on a stove-top grill at home and wrap the beef in red-lettuce leaves with spicy bean paste, garlic, rice and kimchi -- just as we did in restaurants.


We don't have to tip or rush because other people are waiting for our table. And a cold beer, which goes great with Korean food, is as close as the refrigerator.


Made to order


I don't know any Italian-American restaurants in North Jersey that serve whole-wheat pasta with a red sauce and sardines, one of our favorite meals at home.


Or would be willing to add a half-pound of fresh spinach to wilt and mix with a pound of pasta with garlic, oil and anchovies.


By eating at home, we can enjoy antibiotic-free poultry and meat, grass-fed lamb and wild-caught salmon -- fresh, frozen or smoked. Our salads are usually made with organic greens. 


For dessert, there are always a few kinds of cheese in the refrigerator to have with fruit and organic black tea.  


At Lupa in Manhattan, the menu tells customers all poultry and meat are from Heritage Foods USA, a network of farms and ranches where animals are raised naturally and not pumped full  of growth hormones to get them to market as fast as possible.


Silent menus


In North Jersey, most restaurant menus are silent on the origin of the poultry, beef and pork served in their dining rooms or the owners cut corners to maximize profits.


Celebrity Chef Bobby Flay's so-called Hamburger Palace in Paramus uses Certified Angus Beef, which is raised conventionally with harmful additives. Flay could buy a more expensive natural line of Certified Angus Beef free of antibiotics or growth hormones, but doesn't.


Restaurant owners seeking maximum profit at the expense of their customers' health are aided by restaurant critics who don't bother to ask about the origin or quality of the food they sample and promote in their reviews.


If reviewers paid for their own meals -- instead of spending their employers' money -- they might pay more attention to the quality of the food they're served and produce critiques that are more consumer-oriented.


When we ate at Lupa, we loved the service. Still, I felt like having wine, but refused to pay $12 for a single glass when I could buy an entire bottle for less.


You can't eat paint


Why go to Sear House, a steakhouse in Closter, where the brothers who own the place claim they spent $5 million to renovate, then served a critic "smelly" tuna sushi and an ordinary, fatty rib-eye for $45? 


Yet, the reviewer still gave the place 3 stars out of a possible 4.


We liked Amici Family Restaurant in Bergenfield until the night we were served a tough, sinewy piece of fish the menu said was red snapper. When we asked, the waitress relayed the chef's insistence it was red snapper.


We won't return.


And if you believe what you read in the newspaper, why go to a restaurant where owners think you're complaining about the food to get a free meal?


Places we love


It would be difficult to kick the restaurant habit altogether, even though we usually eat out only once a week and do takeout on another night. And in retirement, I enjoy meeting friends for breakfast or lunch out.


At Rosa Mexicano, a fine-dining mall restaurant in Hackensack, I had the  wonderful, made-from-scratch fish tacos for lunch on Tuesday and a friend chose the Enchiladas Suizas. The entrees included several side dishes and terrific salsas.


We had to order a la carte, because the fish tacos and his chicken enchiladas weren't included in a $16.50, two-course lunch special. But the two light beers he drank cost $11 and the bill came to $54 and change with tip and tax.


And there are places we've been going to for years we'd have a hard time living without, such as Wondee's and Lotus Cafe in Hackensack, and So Gong Dong in Palisades Park.


Wondee's is a Thai restaurant with terrific prices for whole fish, which you can get steamed and covered with a spicy blend of chili and garlic. (In fact, a whole fish at Wondee's is only a few dollars more than the fish tacos at Rosa Mexicano.) 


Lotus Cafe specializes in big Chinese meals, such as the 11-course Formosa Banquet for Ten at about $31 per person, including tip and tax. And So Gong Dong serves a healthy meal of Korean soft-tofu stew, kimchi and other comfort foods for $10.


All are BYOs, and all are unpretentious, welcoming places where families gather for a good meal at prices that won't break the bank.


I can Can Can


We continue to shop the Can Can Sale at ShopRite with mixed results.


My wife went to the Englewood ShopRite for more Adirondack seltzer and Airwick air freshener, then wiped out any savings with the purchase of Cortizone-10 hydrocortisone cream for $8.27.


I returned the 2-ounce tube for a refund today and managed to find a 1-ounce ShopRite-brand tube of the same anti-itch cream for $2.99, the last one on the shelf. My wife said there weren't any when she shopped.


Today, I also picked up a half-gallon of Smart Balance Fat-Free Lactose-Free Milk with Omega 3 for $1.99 or half-price, compared to $3.39 for the ShopRite brand.


Bottles of VO5 shampoo were 88 cents each, but a can of Progresso soup was $1.25. I bought five of the former, none of the latter.


At last year's Can Can Sale, Progresso soups were $1.19 a can or 10 for $10 with a coupon and store card. 

Gamasot Restaurant in Fort Lee

Image via Wikipedia

One of our favorite meals is spicy Korean soft-tofu stew with steamed rice and side dishes. At $10 or less -- including tax -- soft tofu is not only delicious, it's good for you, too. And it's a welcome alternative during our meatless pledge.

On Saturday night, we tried the new kid on the block -- Gamasot (Korean for iron pot). The full price for a soft-tofu meal here is $9 -- $1 less than So Gong Dong, our favorite, in Palisades Park. When we've tried soft tofu elsewhere in the past, we couldn't get it as spicy as we wanted.

Gamasot offers a range of spiciness, as do most places, but didn't take us seriously and delivered three stews with seafood that fell a bit short on the heat scale. Yet, these stews were bubbling so furiously when brought to the table, the two fresh eggs I cracked into mine became hard boiled, rather than soft, which tastes great broken over the rice.

The stone bowl with the steamed rice seemed a little smaller than at So Gong Dong, but we liked the side dishes -- cabbage kimchi brought to the table in a special bowl and cut with scissors, and cucumber and radish kimchis, plus bean sprouts and sliced hot peppers in a sweetish sauce. The entire meal was terrific and we plan to return. (Photo: Typical Korean side dishes.)

Another specialty at Gamasot is milky ox-bone soup, which the greeter said is cooked for 24 hours and served a number of ways. Korean barbecue also is available. The restaurant is housed in an enclosed, two-level  shopping mall with parking underneath, but some stores are vacant, and Korean restaurants have come and gone over the years.

Gamasot Restaurant, 1550 Lemoine Ave., 
First Level, Fort Lee; 201-242-1155


So Gong Dong, 118 Broad Ave., Second Floor,
Palisades Park; 201-313-5550.

At $9.99, this meal remains a bargain

Image via Wikipedia

Soft -tofu stew.

I'm not sure how it happened, but Korean soft tofu has become my son's favorite meal to eat out. When he was asked where he wanted to go for his birthday last weekend, he immediately directed me to our favorite tofu house in Palisades Park, the second-floor restaurant called So Gong Dong.

I have been eating soft tofu for more than 10 years and like it spicy. The tofu stew, steamed rice and free side dishes are enough for me, but my son likes to order dumplings or beef barbecue, too. Three years ago, So Gong Dong charged $7.99 for the tofu stew and six side dishes. Today, the meal is $9.99 (including tax), but only four side dishes are served. Still, this meal gives us a feeling of well being and we consider it a bargain. Ten varieties are available, including plain, oyster, beef and pork.

It's a great introduction to Korean food, because you can order it four ways, from "no spice" to "more spicy." Koreans call it sundubu tchigae and it's healthy and filling. First, you get the side dishes: crunchy cabbage kimchi, cucumber kimchi, bean sprouts and raw squid in a spicy red sauce. They are replenished without prompting. The tofu stew arrives at the table in a stone bowl, bubbling furiously, hot enough to cook the raw egg you're given to break into it. A second hot stone bowl is filled with steamed white rice.

Some people spoon the rice into a smaller bowl and then cover it with tofu stew. Others dip a spoonful of rice into the reddish broth or alternate the bland rice with the spicy stew. You can empty the stone bowl with rice and loosen the stuff that sticks to the bottom with tea or you can empty the bowl and peel off the toasted remainder. There is no right or wrong way to eat the meal.

Look around. The other customers seem happy. You often see families or couples enjoying themselves.  You'll know the married couples when you see the man reading the newspaper during the meal. When you get the bill, the $9.99 is rounded up to $10, but no tax is added. The other prices, such as $7.99 for dumpings, also are rounded up a penny.

So Gong Dong, 118 Broad Ave.,
Second Floor, Palisades Park; 201-313-8900.