H-Mart, the Korean supermarket chain also known as Han Ah Reum, is working on a fourth store in Bergen County. It will be in the former Kings Super Market site on Linwood Avenue in Fort Lee.
Other H-Marts are in Ridgefield, Englewood and Little Ferry.
When I bought too much pasta for a party I was catering, I returned the unopened boxes to A&P. When bought one too many boxes of kosher salt for brining some turkeys for work, I brought it back to ShopRite. I even remember returning a jar of Peanut Butter & Co. peanut butter to Whole Foods because I'd picked up the wrong one by mistake.
Don't try any of that at Fairway Market in Paramus.
The Zagat New York City Food Lover's Guide landed on my desk the other day. It showcases only the really good shops, markets and food sources -- almost nobody gets a quality score beneath 20 -- and is a handy tool for day-trippers and those who actually shop there.
A few New Jersey suppliers made the cut, including:
Given my lousy dining experience on vacations (save for the Captain Visger House bed & breakfast in Alexandria Bay, N.Y., whose locally-souced breakfasts were outstanding), it's probably no surprise that it was a relief to get back to Jersey this week.
But my appreciation for the road we traveled is finally starting to show, thanks to some really great edible souvenirs. What have you been picking up in your summer travels?
Farmers' market season moves into full throttle this week; most will be open by Sunday, including the first in Hawthorne. Tenafly also has a new marketthis year, run by Davy Hughes, who runs the Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan.
Here's a list of where you can find the markets:
Strange but true: Bologna sales have increased 124 percent at A&P supermarkets, the company said today.
Maybe not so strange after all. It's a recession. Bologna is cheap.
But some advice: If you're going to resort to bologna, make it good bologna. Make it small-batch bologna, made regularly at these local pork stores:
I love how Whole Foods Market in Paramus highlights products from the region with little "LOCAL" flags. They're everywhere.
Or maybe not. Some notes from my last visit:
The dry-aging case at Prime & Beyond in Fort Lee, which was featured in Marketplace this week. A dim, dank room of beef and funk.
Oh, what a place.
The opening of North Jersey's first Fairway Market on Wednesday was a mob scene, with customers eager to get a look at the New York market's cheese selection, fresh produce and $4.99-per-pound filet mignon. Have a look.
What were your first impressions? Here are Kevin DeMarrais' first thoughts.
BILL PITCHER is an editor in the Features department of The Record and Herald News and previously was a freelance food writer and restaurant reviewer. He was born in New York's Hudson Valley and was raised in the southern Adirondacks.
E-mail: pitcher@northjersey.com
ELISA UNG has been the restaurant reviewer and dining columnist for The Record since 2007. She's a native of Southern California and a graduate of the University of Southern California, and she spent eight years writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
E-mail: ung@northjersey.com
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