First report on Port of Call buffet in Hackensack

Port of Call, an all-you-can-eat Asian buffet restaurant in Hackensack with 400 seats, opened on Wednesday.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

A restaurant owner who had dinner at Port of Call, the new all-you-can-eat Asian buffet restaurant in Hackensack, says he prefers another seafood buffet in Little Ferry.

He also said he doesn't see how the new restaurant -- the biggest in Hackensack -- can survive with its high rent and no liquor license.

He said he had dinner there about 5 p.m. on Wednesday, the first day Port of Call opened, and didn't see many other customers or that much food laid out.

The restaurant offers "American fusion and sushi," and claims to serve more than 200 items a day, including beef, pasta, cooked seafood, raw bar and salads.

Serves sashimi

One thing he likes is that Port of Call serves sashimi, raw fish without rice, in addition to sushi and sushi rolls (with rice).

The restaurant owner says he prefers Minado, a "Japanese Seafood Buffet Restaurant" in Little Ferry, with all-you-can-eat dinners ranging from $29.95 to $31.95, higher than Port of Call's introductory prices.

Minado, at 1 Liberty Road, is opposite H Mart in Little Ferry.

He believes Port of Call is paying about $30,000 a month is rent at the Home Depot Shopping Center, 450 Hackensack Ave. in Hackensack, and cannot rely on high profits from selling beer, wine and liquor.

Some tunas should only be eaten raw

 After my bad experience cooking bluefin tuna yesterday, I've decided that some tunas are suited only for eating as sushi and sashimi. See earlier post, "Pushing and shoving for giant bluefin tuna."

And in view of dwindling supplies, I may swear off eating the sushi, too. See the following link on rejection of a proposed fishing ban:
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8362168.stm

 
Not only was cooking the giant tuna's collar a mess, I don't like the smell of the oil that came out of the fish in great abundance. Now I have a container of leftover, cooked fish I'm not sure I want to eat, because of the way it smells. This was nothing like the small, grilled collar of yellow tail, or hamachi, I have tried in Japanese restaurants. I've never seen cooked bluefin tuna on a menu, perhaps because it is too expensive.

Michael, the narrator during Sunday's "cutting performance" at Mitsuwa Marketplace in Edgewater, said he is a commercial fisherman who catches bluefin tuna with rod and reel, and enjoys a raw meal of it two or three times a week, without concern about mercury. But he seems to have incomplete knowledge about mercury in fish, believing the deeper the fish swims, the greater the mercury, when most experts say the biggeest fish have the most mercury, which is said to be especially harmful to young women and children. He said he believes swordfish has more mercury than giant bluefin tuna.

He called the species giant bluefin tuna, while others refer to it as Atlantic bluefin tuna.

Pushing and shoving for giant bluefin tuna

Image via Wikipedia

Hundreds of Mitsuwa Marketplace customers watched in awe today as more than a dozen workers reduced a giant bluefin tuna caught off the coast of Spain to sushi and small blocks of sashimi.

The narrator, a Long Island commercial fisherman named Michael, said the dressed fish -- minus head, tail and innards -- weighed 680 pounds, the largest ever at the Edgewater Japanese supermarket's annual "cutting performances." The total weight was around 1,000 pounds.

Michael is clearly fascinated with this magnificent creature and he pointed out how the giant tuna can retract its fins into "pockets" for further streamlining. This tuna was caught by rod and reel as it was gorging itself  in preparation for migration to warmer waters, so it was near its maximum weight. It was then bled and immersed in icy water before being flown to the U.S.

They grow so large, the Japanese refer to them as "swimming buffalo," he said.

Michael said giant bluefin tuna -- the biggest tuna species --  contain beneficial Omega-7 fatty acids and that pieces of oh-toro, well-marbled belly meat, are sold in Manhattan sushi restaurants for $12 to $16 a piece. At last year's performance, the oh-toro cost about $60 a pound and I bought a quarter pound  for about $15. The price this year was $62.99 a pound, and I had to take more than a half pound for about $33.


As the fish was being cut into smaller pieces, weighed, labeled and wrapped, people in the crowd started pressing forward and reaching over others for packages from individual workers, signaling a breakdown of the system where people lined up to make purchases. I even saw one worker give free, unwrapped fish to people he seemed to know. Michael said that on Saturday, when two giant bluefin tunas were cut up, he witnessed a shoving match between two men.

Also this year, one section of the tuna's large collar was offered for sale, and I grabbed it for $30. They gave it to me in a large garbage bag with a price label affixed. The piece was about 21 inches long and weighed close to 9 pounds, but when I got it home, it didn't fit into my pan. I roasted it for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees and I've never seen fish give up so much oil, which dripped onto the bottom of the oven and started smoking.

I ate some of the medium- to dark-red flesh raw before putting the collar into the oven. When cooked, it was a little easier to remove the meat and I harvested about two pounds. The kitchen was a mess, with oil and bits of fish, cartilage and skin all over the place. Buying the collar turned out to be a mistake. Luckily, the harried cashier rang it up for 30 cents, instead of $30.

Is your sushi fresh or frozen?

Bluefin-tuna sushi, front, and cooked eel at Hiura in Fort Lee (2013).

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor


You might be surprised to learn the pristine slice of fish that melts in your mouth at a good sushi parlor had been frozen, along with all the other raw fish you eat.

Consumer Reports On Health urges sushi- and shashimi-lovers to "make sure that the fish was frozen before serving, because that kills the parasites sometimes found in fish. (The Food and Drug Administration requires restaurants to take that step, though enforcement can be lax.)"

It says you should prepare sushi at home only using frozen fish.

In other words, it is illegal for a U.S. restaurant to serve fish raw unless it has been frozen first. The publication echoed an article about sushi I read in 2004 in The New York Times' Dining In/Dining Out section, "Sushi Fresh from the Deep ... the Deep Freeze."

The June 2009 Consumer Reports newsletter also says consumers "should choose pieces made with low-mercury fish, such as salmon or shrimp," though doesn't mention that the vast majority of salmon served as sushi is artificially colored farmed fish. 

Tuna and mercury

Tuna, also a popular fish for sushi, has a high mercury content.

I try to limit my raw tuna consumption to the once-a-year carving of giant (frozen) bluefin tunas at Mitsuwa Marketplace, the Japanese supermarket in Edgewater. 

Last year, I purchased a quarter of a pound of the best belly meat ($60 a pound) and enjoyed seven slices of meltingly beautiful, marbled fish at home.

I like raw fluke and other "white" fish as sushi and sashimi. 

Hiura Restaurant

My favorite Japanese restaurant for sushi is Hiura in Fort Lee, a small, family run BYO. Though expensive, the sushi, sashimi, sea urchin, fish eggs and cooked dishes have never disappointed.

If you are going to buy sushi at the supermarket, H Marts in Englewood, Little Ferry and Ridgefield have their own sushi sections and a fourth market from the Korean chain is slated to take over the space once occupied by Kings in Fort Lee. 

Avoid the stuff sold in ShopRite. The sushi at the new Whole Foods Market in Paramus is excellent, but prices are high, compared with H Mart.