Farmed v. wild red snapper; takeout from Seafood Gourmet in Maywood

This bone-in steak from a large, wild-caught red snapper we bought at H Mart in Englewood was prepared with caramel, sweet peppers, onion and garlic.

Editor's note: We love fresh fish -- prepared at home, in restaurants or as takeout. Here is a report on some of our recent meals.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Little did I know the two whole wild-caught red snappers I bought at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro last October would be the last.

The next time I looked for them, I found two red fish labeled "Snapper," farmed in Costa Rica, and they weren't even scaled.

And there was nothing on the label about whether they were raised with antibiotics or treated with preservatives.

The texture and taste of the farmed fish paled in comparison to a firm, flaky, wild red snapper. What a mistake, I thought.

My only comfort was in knowing even farmed fish is good for the heart and the brain, and far better for me than meat or poultry.

Snapped it up

This past Sunday, my wife bought a wild-caught red snapper weighing more than 2 pounds from H Mart in Englewood ($7.99 a pound).

She cut the fish into three parts (head, steak and tail portion); and prepared them with Grace-brand Browning (caramel), sweet peppers, onion and garlic.

I took the steak, and ate it with a salad and a glass of wine. Delicious.

So, my advice when buying whole fish or fillets: Go wild.

A takeout container from Seafood Gourmet in Maywood held one of last week's specials: Grilled Wild Thai Salmon.

I plated the wild-caught king salmon, Thai chili bok choy and jasmine rice, and gently reheated them.

Seafood Gourmet

I've enjoyed every meal I've eaten in the small restaurant behind the fish market at Seafood Gourmet in downtown Maywood.

But the fresh seafood prepared by an adventurous chef is so popular it is often difficult to get a dinner reservation there.

That's when we decided to follow a friend's advice and order takeout from a menu and weekly specials listed online.

Lunch portions

Seafood Gourmet allows to you to order lunch portions from the takeout menu that cost less than dinner, and we found them satisfying, even if you don't finish with a salad.

And the specials listed online often cost less than the same dish served in the dining room.

Late Saturday afternoon, we ordered three lunch portions:

A special of Grilled Thai Wild Salmon ($15); Shrimp Parmigiana over Linguine ($13.99), a house specialty; and Sole Francese with sauteed spinach, both fish and greens made with garlic and oil, not butter ($12.99).

We also ordered a quart of the Soup du Jour, a tomato-based Maryland Crab Chowder ($10).

Rare problem

About 10 minutes after I called, I remembered I forgot to tell the woman who took the order I like my wild salmon prepared medium rare.

But when I called back, she said the cook usually prepares salmon medium, and I said that would be OK.

We enjoyed our takeout, which was ready for pickup in 25 minutes.

As I was paying with a credit card, the cook's helper, wearing plastic gloves, grabbed a couple of fresh fillets from the display case in the market, and returned to the kitchen.

When I got home, I found the king salmon had been cooked through. Though juicy, the fish would have been better if prepared medium rare.

We also found the crab chowder too salty to eat. We exchanged the uneaten portion on Tuesday for a quart of lobster bisque at no charge.

Details

Seafood Gourmet, 103 W. Pleasant Ave., Maywood; 201-843-8558.

Web site: Fresh fish for here or to go

On Wednesday afternoon, a complete takeout dinner from Jerry's Gourmet & More, 410 S. Dean St. in Englewood, included a skin-on fillet of orata with sweet peppers, linguine in clam sauce with zucchini, and vegetable dumplings, above. A kale salad also was included, below.

Another Meal To Go from Jerry's included a large fillet of sea trout, above. Complete takeout dinners are $7.99 or $5.99 after 4 p.m., if there are any left. After 4 on Wednesday afternoon, I found three at the lower price.

A pesto-accented egg-white omelet stuffed with smoked wild Alaskan sockeye salmon, which is available at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro, but not at the Costco Business Center in Hackensack. I had it for breakfast with leftover Asian greens and boiled Kabocha squash.

Wild king salmon swims my way at Seafood Gourmet in Maywood

Wild King Salmon with a Strawberry-Lime Salsa and Couscous, above and below, at Seafood Gourmet in Maywood, where dinner reservations are a must.

A fat slab of wild-caught king salmon on ice was displayed in the market's refrigerated case. Each king, the biggest salmon, can weigh 50 pounds or more.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

At Seafood Gourmet in Maywood, a popular fish market-restaurant, you can often find your dinner chilling on plenty of ice in a case you pass on the way to the 38-seat dining room.

And so it was on Thursday night, but I foolishly went there without a reservation to celebrate a special occasion with my son.

We were told the wait was an hour, but luckily, a man was just finishing his meal at a table with two stools in the market, and offered it to us.

I sat with my back to a tank of live lobsters ($14.99 a pound).

I ordered Wild King Salmon with Couscous ($28.99), and my son chose a pan-fried whole Red Snapper with rice and fresh spinach sauteed with garlic ($24.99).

I also asked for a side dish of spinach with garlic, and the generous portion was only $4.95. Seltzer and soda with refills were $1.80 each.

A cup of Manhattan Clam Chowder came with my meal. My son had a bowl of Lobster Bisque.

Salmon and strawberries?

I wasn't sure about the strawberry salsa listed with a special of wild king salmon, and thought it might be too sweet, so the waitress offered to serve it on the side.

Two cups of salsa were on the plate -- one pureed and one roughly chopped with scallions and cucumber -- and they worked beautifully to complement the richness of the fatty salmon.

I'm sorry to say I don't know the name of the chef who is responsible for the imaginatively prepared fish I've enjoyed at Seafood Gourmet in the past few years. 

The fish market opened in 1988, and the restaurant was added about a decade ago.

A large portion of fresh spinach with garlic.

Catches of the Day were listed on a board on the wall above our small, round table.

Seafood Gourmet is a BYO.

Fresh seafood salads for sale in the market.

Details

Seafood Gourmet, 103 W. Pleasant Ave.; 201-843-8558. Open for lunch and dinner. Closed Sundays. Free street parking, BYO. With only 38 seats, reservations are recommended for dinner.

Web site: Your dinner is waiting on ice

Those succulent crabs are finally giving up their meat

Soft Shell Crab Florentine was a lunch special on Friday at Seafood Gourmet, the wonderful fish market-restaurant hybrid in Maywood.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Seafood lovers have so much to celebrate year-round, but especially now when all of those juicy crabs come out of their shells.

The warm-weather crustaceans answer the prayers of crab lovers, who usually are frustrated by all of the work needed to extract the tasty morsels of meat.

Leave it to humans to swoop in when the crabs are the most vulnerable as they shed their shells in order to grow in size and get fitted with a new set of armor.

The result is great eating and, since every part of the soft shell is edible, no fuss, muss or waste. 

We had lunch on Friday at Seafood Gourmet, the Maywood fish market-restaurant with a kitchen that prepares soft-shell crabs from simple to sophisticated, as it does for all seafood.

Juicy, pan-seared soft-shell crabs with steamed vegetables.

Two preparations

We both wanted to have Soft Shell Crab Florentine, a lunch special, but I decided to try simple, pan-seared crabs with steamed vegetables ($15.99 each).

My wife loved her three crabs, which were layered with sauteed spinach, sun-dried tomato, corn and capers, and I agreed, judging from the few forkfuls I stole.

My three crabs were juicy and, with the vegetables, kept me satisfied until dinner.

My wife drank lemonade ($1.95 with refills), but I wasn't charged for two glasses of seltzer with a wedge of lemon.

Before we left, I asked and was told the soft-shell crab season lasts until September or October.

Fresh, uncooked soft-shell crabs were $6.99 each on Friday in Seafood Gourmet's market.

The dining room seats 38 at tables for two and four. Reservations are recommended for dinner, especially on the weekends.

Seafood Gourmet, 103 W. Pleasant Ave., Maywood; 201-843-8558. Closed Sundays. BYO, free street parking.

Web site: Where seafood is king

Heaven on earth for lovers of fresh seafood

A big portion of Wild Salmon over Warm Orzo Salad at Seafood Gourmet.

I'm racking my brain to remember why I allowed nearly two years to pass before returning for another great meal at Seafood Gourmet in Maywood.

The market-restaurant's limited seating and the need to make a reservation on the weekends have something to do with it. 

Last weekend, I called too late for a table for 4.

But on Saturday, other family members were away,  and I had no trouble walking in a little after 5 p.m. and getting a table for 1 in the small dining room, which seats about 40.

On my last visit in December 2010, I ordered wild salmon from the specials menu, and I did the same this time, lured by the Dijon Horseradish Sauce and Warm Orzo Salad ($23.99).

The fresh salmon fillet was pan-seared to medium, and literally melted in my mouth. 

"Gourmet" in the restaurant's name is no exaggeration, given the quality of the fish.

The entree was prepared with imagination, the portion was generous and it was sold at a fair price.

The wild salmon, cooked medium, was an extraordinary piece of fresh fish.

My entree included soup or salad, and I chose the latter. But I wanted to try a cup of the Seafood Corn Chowder, also listed on the specials menu ($2.95).

I'm glad I did, and I liked the light broth and fresh pieces of fish so much I ordered a bowl to go ($4.75).

The Seafood Corn Chowder was filled with fresh fish.

My entree included a salad with a balsamic dressing on the side.

To find a greater variety of fresh fish, you'd probably have to go to the more expensive Legal Sea Foods at the mall in Paramus, and good luck getting a parking space on the weekend.

The regular menu for The Restaurant at Seafood Gourmet lists a dozen or more complete fish dinners, simply broiled or grilled.

And Seafood Gourmet is a BYO where I enjoyed a couple of glasses of my own sauvignon blanc from New Zealand with dinner.

I always seem to order from the specials menu. In 2010, my wild salmon came with crab risotto and  fresh asparagus, a beautifully balanced meal.

The dining room was renovated about 2 years ago.

The front of the house is a fish market.

Great fish awaits behind the simple storefront.

The Restaurant at Seafood Gourmet, 103 W. Pleasant Ave., Maywood; 201-843-8558.

BYO, free street parking. Lunch 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and dinner from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Closed Sundays.

Web site: Fresh fish since 1988

Dinner with salad bar for only $9.95

Tomatoes and onions cover bluefish at The Coach House in Hackensack.

A plate of salad, included in the price of the entree.

When I visited The Coach House in Hackensack last May, I made the mistake of ordering the salad bar with a large bowl of soup for $11.50.

I found myself trying to eat more than I had planned to make it pay off.

This time, I ordered an entree of fresh fish for $9.95, and the salad bar was free.

I tried to make a reservation on Saturday for a table at Seafood Gourmet in Maywood, but the small dining area behind the fish market was fully booked.

I still wanted fresh, wild-caught fish, and The Coach House always has several kinds.


Bluefish calls to me


When we walked in, I saw Bluefish Mediterranean listed among the blackboard specials for $9.95.

And I was told the bluefish was prepared to order.

The dish also was listed on the daily printed menu with 1 side dish, but when I ordered, the waitress said I could choose 2.

The fillet was moist and covered with tomato and onion, and I loved my sides of sauteed baby spinach and cooked carrots.

Two side dishes came with my entree of bluefish.

A second plate of free salad.

The salad bar, rear, is near one of the dining areas at The Coach House.

 
I declined an offer of garlic bread, and no bread basket was placed on the table.

I did order a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, and was pleasantly surprised at the price for the California wine, $5.75.

My wife and mother-in-law ordered Chicken Francaise ($11.95) and Shrimp Francaise ($14.25) over rice, and the salad bar was included in their meals, too. 

They took about half of their entrees and rice home.

Four people ordering bluefish or another $9.95 entree, and the free salad bar, could eat for $50, including tip and tax.

The Coach House seats about 220, and it wasn't necessary to make a reservation. 

We were seated immediately, and there were a number of empty tables between 6:30 and 7:30 on Saturday evening.

Chicken Francaise and Shrimp Francaise, below.

I am not comparing The Coach House to The Restaurant at Seafood Gourmet, a BYO known for its fresh and imaginatively prepared fish.

But the diner, which offers fresh seafood and reasonable prices, is a welcome alternative when the popular Maywood market-restaurant is full.


The Coach House Diner & Restaurant, 55 Route 4 east, Hackensack; 201-488-4999. Open 24 hours.

Seafood Gourmet, 103 W. Pleasant Ave., Maywood; 201-843-8558.