2009 NASFT Fancy Food Show

Images and Text by Rachel Nash Perlow

I’m going to start this entry by showing  you my favorite picture from this year’s Fancy Food Show:

This is from the mushroom display at D’Artagnan’s very large booth. Feel free to make it your monitor wallpaper, I did. :)  D’Artagnan is very proud of the fresh produce they offer, which is more than just mushrooms, as you can see when we took our tour of their Newark, NJ, facility back in April 2009.

Click the link to see the many other vendors I visited at the 2009 Fancy Food Show.

NJ Dining: Green Door Cafe

Green Door Cafe
1 Highwood Avenue, Tenafly NJ
(201) 567-8226

Green Door Cafe’s Storefront in downtown Tenafly, NJ.

As a few of you may be aware, I am a resident of the sleepy hamlet of Tenafly, which is situated on the northeast side of Bergen County, adjoining the towns of Cresskill, Bergenfield and Englewood. Tenafly, while being a wonderful residential neighborhood, has a bit of an unfortunate reputation of being the town that eats restaurants.

One of the restaurants that recently got the axe was Blockheads, an outpost of a NYC-based burrito chain. So I was rather surprised this week as I was driving by its former location to find Green Door Cafe, a self described “Doorway to real food” which only serves “proteins which are antibiotic and hormone free or organic” and produce that is “organic or locally farmed seasonally. We restrict our purchases to foods raised naturally without the use of chemical pesticides or fertilizers.”

I was expecting the place to be owned by a bunch of hippies wearing hemp clothing. What I wasn’t prepared for was being greeted by the former owner of Blockheads when I went in, Leon Bell. “Hey! Jason! The Off The Broiler Guy!”

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

NJ Dining: Shish! at Whole Foods, Paramus

Shish! at Whole Foods Market
2701 Bergen Mall, Paramus NJ
(201) 226-1244

Other locations: Tribeca, NYC

The new Shish! stand at Whole Foods’s new Paramus. New Jersey location serves Middle-Eastern kebabs and mezze with an organic twist.

I recently had a chance to try the new Shish! middle eastern food stand at the brand new Whole Foods market in the recently revamped Bergen Mall, accompanied by former Bergen Record staff writer and experienced foodie Victor Sasson, who recently has started blogging about healthy and chemical-free shopping options in New Jersey. Victor is a Syrian Jew by birth, with a very discerning palate, and has an even greater level of experience with Middle Eastern food than I do, so I was interested in seeing his reactions to the food there.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Updates 6/15/09: Christian Albin, Tenafly Farmers Market, Adonisa’s, Victor Sasson

Chef Christian Albin, who passed away this last weekend at the age of 61. Albin was the long-time Executive Chef of The Four Seasons, pictured here in his marvelous kitchen in October of 2006.

Grilled Squid over Greek Salad at Adonisa’s in Fort Lee

Tri-Color Beet Bundle from Yuno’s Farm at the Tenafly Farmers Market

Victor Sasson and I lunch at Whole Foods’ SHISH! shwarma/falafel joint and discuss his love of Middle Eastern food and his new mission to help you find the best chemical and hormone-free shopping options in Northern New Jersey.

Podcast: Victor Sasson’s “Do You Really Know What You’re Eating?”

Victor Sasson’s Do You Really Know What You’re Eating? Blog has a focused mission on finding the best chemical and additive-free meat, fish and produce in Northern New Jersey.

When most people retire, they play golf, they go to the Senior Center, they join Facebook and post pictures of their grandchildren, they crochet, or they do various things that don’t involve actual work. Not Victor Sasson.

I’ve known Victor for a number of years, and before he retired from a long career as a professional journalist only about a year ago, he was a food writer  for the Bergen Record. Now, like a travelling culinary rogue, he hunts down the very best places to buy groceries and meat and fish and all sorts of things in Northern New Jersey for you to cook at home, with a focus on natural, organic,  hormone and chemical-free foods. Victor has only been blogging since late March, but he’s already amassed over 50 posts on various shopping venues in the local Bergen County/North Jersey area. It’s going to take me a while to catch up.

I recently had a chance to meet up with Victor over lunch at Whole Foods in Paramus’  Bergen Mall. Click Here to listen to Victor and I talk about the changing New Jersey restaurant scene, and his love for Middle Eastern and Korean cuisines.

Off The Broiler Podcast: Victor Sasson

Victor may be retired, but he’s definitely not tired — definitely check out his blog.

NJ Dining: Tenafly Farmers Market

Tenafly Farmers Market
Open June 7  thru November 21, Sundays 9am-2pm

Web Site: http://www.tenaflyfarmersmarket.com

The Tenafly Farmers Market had its grand opening June 7, 2009. The Market will run on Sundays 9am-2pm all through the summer and into November.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

New York Dining: Fire + Ice

Fire + Ice
Level 4, Palisades Center Mall, West Nyack NY

Web Site: http://www.fire-ice.com

I usually go out of my way to avoid mall food — this goes without saying in that I go out of my way to avoid malls in general, because I hate the entire experience of having to fight for parking spaces and then schlepping around and being exposed to screaming kids and families that look and behave more like throwbacks to their Cro-Magnon ancestors rather than modern humans.

More often than not, the food in most shopping malls is more expensive than what you can get at a regular local restaurant or diner and of considerably less quality. I also hate the gimmicky-ness of most mall restaurants.

But sometimes it’s unavoidable that you have to eat in a mall, particularly if it’s a timing issue, such as when you want to go see a movie, which are increasingly becoming attached to large shopping complexes.

Recently I had a chance to eat at Fire + Ice, one of the newest additions to the Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack, which sports an AMC theater multiplex as well as a SONY IMAX.  While I wouldn’t call Fire & Ice a destination dining location, if you’re going to be heading out to a movie, it’s not only one of the most reasonably priced venues at the mall but it can also be a relatively healthy place to eat, as well as an entertaining experience.

Get your pan-cultural Teppanyaki here. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Fun with COSTCO Frozen Scallops, Hong Kong Style

Welcome to the recession folks. That means all of us should be mindful of how we spend our money, and that means for some of us a lot less dining out.

But eating at home doesn’t have to be boring. You don’t even have to sacrifice on quality, “Luxury” ingredients that would otherwise cost you an arm and a leg at a restaurant to eat. You just need to think about buying in bulk and doing a lot of meal planning.

One of my favorite things to eat is jumbo sea scallops. At a decent restaurant, particularly if they are using high-quality dry pack scallops, you can expect to pay between $18.00 and up for an entree with five or six of these guys in them. At a quality fishmonger fresh dry pack sea scallops command a hefty price.

But COSTCO has them frozen, and if you buy a large bag of them the price becomes much more economical per portion. You can eat them over a couple of weeks or even longer, if you have the ability to re-seal the bag with a home vacuum sealer. I also like COSTCO’s shrimp, they are of exceptionally high quality for frozen product, and when COSTCO has their “Seafood Roadshow” events every month, they are even cheaper than the regular discounted COSTCO price.

Oyster Sauce Glazed Pan-Seared Sea Scallops with Spicy XO Vegetables and Nasi Kuning Brown Rice.

Click on “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Half-Guilt Turkey Cubano

Turkey Cubano made with Toufayan Low-Carb Sandwich Wrap, leftover Pavochon, Pickles, Low-Fat Swiss Cheese, and Hot Vinegar Peppers with a side of Boriqua Slaw. Click on the photo to enlarge.

Every Thanksgiving I look forward to the Turkey Leftover sandwiches — but this year, as we made Pavochon, I decided to raise the Turkey Sandwich to the next level: The Half-Guilt Cubano.

A legit Sandwich Cubano has to be made with roast pork — but if you’ve got leftover Pavochon, you’ve got the next best thing. Simply get yourself a low-carb sandwich wrap, set down a layer of Pavochon, sliced pickles, low-fat Swiss Cheese, a couple of vinegar hot peppers and you’re ready to go. If you just have regular leftover roast turkey, make some of Daisy’s Wet Adobo and use it as a condiment on the plain turkey. Wrap it up and smash it flat, grab your non-stick frying pan, and coat with a small amount of olive oil. Fry on medium heat for 3 minutes per side until heated through and the wrap gets nice and crispy.

I like these so much I may be making Pavochon full-time.

A Jew-yorican Thanksgiving

This is by far the most colorful Thanksgiving plate I’ve ever seen.

So after visiting Guavate, Rachel and I knew that we had to try making Pavochon ourselves, the real Puerto Rican way. This year, it happened that Thanksgiving was only going to be 4 of us — my in-laws and the two of us, so we were assigned to doing the cooking. So if we were in charge, we decided why not mix it up and do it Puerto Rican style?

Click to read the rest of this post on Daisy Martinez’s Boriqua Blog.