Whole Foods: New Nooks and Aisles in a New Store
Wegmans: Dazzling Choices for Daring Palates
McCaffrey’s: Saving Kids from ‘Vegetable Medley’
SuperFresh: Slim Pickins for a Speedy Supper
Corrections or additions?
These articles by Kathleen McGinn Spring, E. E. Whiting, Richard
K. Rein, and Barbara Fox were prepared for the October 20, 2004 issue
of
U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Dinner for Two, Aisle 10
Let’s face it, some of us have been feeding our families "fast food"
for decades. My adult children, who are now foodies and "slow food"
fans, remember many a family meal at Burger King, and the Oscar Mayer
jingle ("If I were an Oscar Meyer wiener, then, you would be in love
with me") has a sacred place in family lore, because hot dogs were our
standard Sunday meal. No leisurely Sunday pot roast for us. Just get
home from church, feed as quickly as possible, then collapse.
When we moved to Princeton, home of no drive-through fast food places,
I literally went through withdrawal but soon learned to substitute
pizza, Chinese takeout, and sushi for Whoppers and fries.
In the intervening years my definition of fast food changed, as my
nest emptied and my arteries hardened. I began to spend lots of time
squinting at the small print on food labels looking for the words
"hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated" so as not to ingest any of
the dreaded trans fats.
Today my definition of "fast food" includes something I can buy,
prepare, and serve on autopilot in 20 minutes or less, 30 minutes if
you count going into the store to get it: Rotisserie chicken plus
frozen peas. Frozen shrimp, boiled, with frozen peas. Fresh fish
fillets and frozen peas. Spaghetti with bottled sauce, no peas. You
get the idea. It’s not gourmet but my husband likes peas and, unlike
lima beans, they cook quickly.
For more sophisticated options, I bypass the rotisserie chickens and
hover near the prepared food bins at the supermarket. The word "hover"
is correct, because there is no menu here. You have to cruise up and
down in front of the glass cases to decide. If each item is labeled
you have to scrunch down to read the label, and if it’s not, you may
have to ask about the ingredients. Butter? Margarine? Olive oil?
The successful purchase of a tasty take-out meal is not as challenging
as concocting Beef Wellington, but it’s no slam dunk either. What will
go with what? And how much to buy? If your eyes are bigger than your
family’s stomach, you will end up with a smidgen of this, a smidgen of
that, in little boxes that coagulate in the back of the fridge.
Along with several other U.S. 1 staffers, I set out to find some
"home-style" meals from the area’s largest super markets.
Acknowledging that restaurants and specialty food stores offer
delicious alternatives far beyond those found in supermarket, we have
confined our reporting to grocery stores for the purpose of this
story.
We went to McCaffrey’s and Wild Oats in Princeton, SuperFresh in
Plainsboro, Acme in Princeton Junction, Whole Foods at Windsor Green,
Wegmans at Nassau Park, and Shop Rite at the Mercer Mall. Sometimes we
"dined in," i.e. ate in the dining areas that the markets provide, and
sometimes we brought it home.
Top Of Page
Wild Oats: Healthy and Tasty
Wild Oats has long been my standard on-the-way home stop, a small
store, so I can zip in and zip out and not walk too far. Wild Oats
also passes the healthy test for heart diets. Unlike McCaffrey’s, it
labels the ingredients of the dishes, and it sells no food with trans
fats, so I can be sure I’m not buying the dreaded hydrogenated oils.
Over the years I have seen a big improvement in the taste of the
prepared food here. It’s not easy to cook food that is both healthy
and tasty, but now I have a quite a few favorites.
Wild Oats soups are delicious, not too salty. I talked to a young man
who works at Princeton University’s Engineering Quad in the checkout
line (his meal was salad, chicken noodle soup, and a big cookie) who
noted that Wawa’s soup was cheaper, "just over $1," he said, but "this
is more convenient. And it’s organic."
An attractive dining area fronts on Nassau Street, and my husband and
I have enjoyed soup and sandwiches there. The deli makes sandwiches to
order and you can order carrots juiced while you wait. You are on the
honor system to pay for your food before you eat it. Even when nobody
else is there, this is a cozy nook, with uber-health literature to
read while you eat and – the true sign of a real community – a
bulletin board festooned with business cards and flyers.
The nook is equipped with a microwave and toaster, but I draw the line
there. If I am going to have to heat my own food, I might as well go
home.
The hot bar has four choices and, along with the salad bar, it is
$5.99 a pound. Almost everything in the prepared food case is $5.99 or
$6.99 a pound, though entrees are higher.
On this occasion we bought two four-ounce pieces of grilled and
seasoned chicken breast (at $9.95 a pound this cost $4.20), small
servings of Punjabi cabbage and asiago pasta (green linguini with
cheese and pine nuts), plus full servings of blackened grilled
vegetables, including portabello mushrooms, carrots, and asparagus.
The store has its own bakery case of tarts and tortes that pass the
healthy test because they are made with butter, but our favorite is a
$4.95 packaged round cake in apple or berry flavors. Find it under the
bagel shelf.
In a store that caters to vegans, Wild Oats takes tofu seriously. One
shopper waxed enthusiastic about the mock egg salad. One of our
favorite dinners is the Wild Oats prepared salmon, which we eat cold,
plus the Wild Oats red potato salad and two plastic bags of baby
spinach that I throw in the pot at home. And, of course, the
rotisserie chickens, which cost $4.99 for a half, $8.99 for a whole.
You can’t just pop Wild Oats dishes into the microwave when you get
home because they are made of corn and will disintegrate. Shopping
"green" can be inconvenient but it sure is healthy.
Wild Oats Community Market, 255 Nassau Street, Princeton 08540.
609-924-4993; fax, 609-497-9198. Open weekdays and Saturday from 7:30
a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Top Of Page
Whole Foods: New Nooks and Aisles in a New Store
Whole Foods, the new girl in town, is holding court – as in food court
– at Windsor Green Shopping Center on Route 1 South. After several
visits I am still finding my way around and discovering new nooks and
aisles. On my last visit I found the short cut to the take-out section
– the door on the far left, where Zany Brainy used to be. It lets you
bypass the serious shoppers with their long lists. You pick up a cute
little cart, a hand basket on wheels that is less cumbersome than the
big carts, and you can really zip around, piling up goodies to take
home.
Virtually all the prepared food is on this side. The exceptions are
the seafood chowders ($2.99 for 12 ounces), peeled shrimp ($9.99 a
pound in various flavor, the olive bar, and the roasted chickens that
come in four flavors ($1.75 per pound or $7.94 for a whole).
On the prepared food side are other soups (avocado/corn was terrific,
8 ounces $2.79), a long salad bar at $6.99 a pound (with intriguing
entrees like shrimp pasta, southwest beef salad, and chili with tofu),
a long hot bar also at $6.99 a pound (with seafood Newburg pot pie,
Cuban pork loin, chicken vindaloo, naan, and tofu curry among the more
exotic dishes). Also you will find a bakery, long cases with items to
heat up when you get home, a sushi station, and sandwiches. (They
don’t make sandwiches to order here – you choose from a nice variety.)
We’ve had some really delicious food from here, and the rectangular
brick oven pizza priced at $6.99 per pound (the servers cut off
however many inches you need) is addictive. It’s also worth trekking
down to the chowder aisle, where on one visit we eavesdropped on the
chowder chef and a foodie discussing whether the shrimp gumbo ($2.99
for 8 ounces) needed more okra. (I decided to keep mum about my
opinion – that no dish can have too little of that disgusting
vegetable).
Twice we’ve enjoyed consuming our meal in the dining areas by the big
windows at the front of the store. We figured – why let it get cold –
and then have to heat it again. The booths and tables are clean, there
are flowers on the table, and you can bring your salad to the table in
a nice salad bowl, not those flimsy plastic boxes. The coffee bar and
the ice cream stand are conveniently near the checkout stands, quickie
versions of the regular ones.
Caution: It is easy to overspend on a per-pound meal here. On our last
trip to the salad and hot bars, the bill was $21 with a shared drink.
Even if your eyes aren’t bigger than your stomach, you won’t know what
your cost is until you get to the checkout counter, and then it’s too
late.
Tip: for food that is ladled out to you from behind a counter, don’t
worry about the size of the container, think in terms of spoonfuls,
one per person.
On one occasion the Whole Food takeout was not a success – and for a
surprising reason. On this workday evening I left the office at 6:30
p.m., hungry and late, and headed for the chef’s station in the far
corner determined to make this simple and quick by buying platters.
The choices were turkey breast, salmon, and pork, all nicely seasoned,
plus prime rib of beef. An entree and two sides was $7.95, with the
prime rib costing $12.95. Delicious, I thought, ordering the beef and
the pork from the obliging, friendly chef. But both kinds of potatoes
were laced with cheese, which isn’t on our diets, so I chose from what
remained – roasted vegetables, carrots, wild rice with fruit, and
apple crisp. The total was $21 plus tax.
When I got home I discovered, alas, that each dish was so "complex"
(to borrow a foodie word) that they didn’t "work together." Too many
warring flavors. Next time I’ll pick just one dish, let it be the
star, and add the ubiquitous frozen peas.
– Barbara Fox
Whole Foods, 3495 Route 1 South, The Shops at Windsor Green, Princeton
08540. 609-799-2919; fax, 609-799-2918. Open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Top Of Page
Wegmans: Dazzling Choices for Daring Palates
Freeze Wegmans take-out department, preserve it for study, and
anthropologists would gain tremendous insight into 21st century
suburban life. Such variety! Such wealth! Such ignorance of the basics
of cooking! Surely, this is the preserve of busy, demanding people
with wide-ranging tastes, but little time to prepare – let alone grow
or capture – their own food.
Set completely apart from the far more pedestrian aisles of cereal
boxes and canned prunes, Wegmans’ take-out section is a visual
delight. A knockout from the start, the section continues to evolve. A
relatively extensive selection of Indian dishes, in their own separate
hot serving station, sits near the huge Chinese food station. A
dessert case stands between check-out counters specially designed to
serve take-out and eat-in customers, and there is even a cookie bar.
The choices are dazzling.
The first fast dinner option that is likely to grab shoppers’
attention is staffed by a trio of employees in chef’s garb. Straight
ahead of anyone entering by the separate take-out door, it features
full dinners. Entrees sit front and center, keeping warm in gleaming
serving dishes. The format involves choosing an entree and two side
dishes, which revolve with the seasons. Up now is Oktoberfest, and all
but one dinner (cold smoked salmon at $11.99) is German. Choices
include chicken schnitzel, German wurst, herb roast pork with red
cabbage, and sauerbraten. The first two are priced at $9.99 and the
second two at $10.99. Side dishes include apple and red cabbage salad,
carrots and beets, German potato salad, and autumn vegetables. Three
kinds of soup in three sizes are also available at this station.
The full dinner option takes all thinking out of dinner preparation.
Served in a sturdy black plastic plate with compartments for each meal
component, the dinner can easily be taken home for microwaving, or
carried upstairs to be eaten while it’s still hot. Two gentleman in
dark gray suits chose the roast pork option on a recent Wednesday
evening, and were given substantial portions. Instead of taking the
elevator to the second floor dining room, they walked the few steps to
Wegmans attached liquor store for a meal accompaniment before heading
to the parking lot with their fully-assembled dinner.
For those willing to mix and match on their own, staggering choices
await right around the corner. Whether a family’s food preferences run
to light vegetarian or hearty home style, fish or meat, fried or
broiled, there truly is something for everyone. Gorgeous thin potato
pancakes, the size of a 78 record, are $2.99. Asian tofu, extra firm
in chin sauce, is $6.49 a pound. Mushroom strudel, made of wild
mushrooms, spinach, and herbs, with an Asiago-dusted crust, is $5.98 a
pound.
There is more, much, much more. And all of it comes with instructions
for home re-heating. Each and every dish is labeled with a suggested
oven or microwave time. For chicken French, it’s "microwave on high
for 2-3 minutes," and for the fried chicken, it’s "10-20 minutes in a
325 degree oven."
Okay, so you know how long to cook it, but how about assistance in
deciding how much to buy? Wegmans gives you that too, and throws in
help with the math. Lobster salad is $29.99 a pound, and a helpful
sign indicates that three ounces, a single serving, would come to
$5.62. Choose the grilled colossal sea scallops, which could not
possibly look more fabulous, at $18.99 a pound,a three ounce serving
is $3.56.
As if all of this help is not enough, the supermarket provides even
more guidance in its "Meals Made Easy" signage. While the cooking
instructions and single serving pricing are a big help, one has to
wonder if it isn’t a tad depressing to have to refer to a large sign
to determine that a meal possibility exists in a pairing of meat loaf
with mashed potatoes and green beans. Are we really that fried after a
day at work?
Well, maybe so.
No matter. If anyone needs help in assembling the evening meal,
Wegmans is here to assist. There is a substantial sushi counter, a
long salad bar full of fresh fruits, vegetables, and grain dishes in
all their varieties, a hot wing bar, a pizza station (now with thin
crust pizza in addition to the doughy stuff the Rochester, New
York-based store offered when it opened), and a popular hoagie shop.
There are also cases full of meat or fish and vegetable pairings in
microwave dishes. But the most active area of the take-out section,
night after night, is the Chinese food section.
That is where I ended up. Yes, I considered the schnitzel and eyed the
tandoori tofu. With the first chill of fall in the air, I gave the
meatloaf and mashed potatoes the once over. But in the end, I joined
the moms and kids ("Watch what you’re putting on your plate! They
weigh it!"), and the couples fresh from work – a weary-looking bunch,
I must say – and circled the Chinese hot station.
I settled on salt and pepper mussels, shrimp in black bean sauce,
chicken and broccoli, lemon chicken, steamed ginger fish, and ribs.
And then I nipped over to the Indian food station for some tandoori
chicken.
At first I arranged food on a plastic plate with four compartments,
but an employee told me that the plates don’t have covers; apparently
they are only for in-store diners. So, I divided up the meals in white
styrofoam containers. I am happy with lukewarm food, but the spouse
insists on piping hot dinners, and popped everything into the
microwave. He quickly pronounced the mussels "excellent" and the
ginger fish "to die for." The ribs were fine too, as was the shrimp.
The $18.75 take-out dinner yielded substantial leftovers – more than
enough for another dinner.
Will the anthropologists be able to tell that, despite all the rushing
around, we are deeply grateful for a lifestyle that affords us the
luxury of choice, the fun of sampling food from other cultures
(mangled though our interpretations might be), and the ease of having
someone else do the cooking?
Wegmans, 240 Nassau Park Boulevard. 609-919-9300; fax, 609-919-9393.
Open daily, 6 a.m. to midnight. Hot foods are open until 9 p.m., (10
p.m. on Saturdays, chef’s station until 8:30 p.m. (9 on Saturdays).
– Kathleen McGinn Spring
Top Of Page
Acme: Chicken in a Bag
The Acme on Princeton Hightstown Road obviously knows that consumers
are keen on the convenience of carting home a ready-to-eat dinner, but
the store, far smaller than the supermarkets now being built, was just
not designed for elaborate take-out or for in-store dining.
A poster behind the store’s deli counter features snappy depictions of
chefs on the move and reads "Easy on the Go Dining!" But the only sign
of such a service is a collection of brown shopping bags that sit
ready to be filled with a chicken dinner. The "Carry Out Cuisine"
features a picture of a cartoon chef, whose body is a clock, and whose
motion full speed ahead. The carry out dinner offered consists of
eight pieces of fried chicken, a big serving of potato logs, and an
eight-pack of little soft rolls. The price is $8.99.
While gourmet take-out dinners is not on this Acme’s menu, the
conveniently-located store does cater to anyone looking for a pleasant
breakfast spot – or a rest during a hectic day. The Starbucks outlet
at the front of the store serves up the upscale coffee, along with a
selection of pastries. There are four tables inside (in the shadow of
a big display of Krispy Kreme donuts) and four tables outside next to
the seasonal flowers.
Acme Markets, 64 Princeton-Hightstown Road, Princeton Junction 08550.
609-452-2354; fax, 609-452-1421. Open daily Monday through Saturday
from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday. Rotisserie
chickens located next to the salad bar, which closes at 7 p.m.
Top Of Page
McCaffrey’s: Saving Kids from ‘Vegetable Medley’
If you think that gourmet supermarket takeout is the salvation solely
of busy professional couples think again: Here is the saga of a single
father and his two young male children, saved from the dreary routine
of bachelor cooking by the takeout section at McCaffrey’s at Princeton
Shopping Center.
But before we sing the praises of the supermarket fare, consider the
dreariness of that Bachelors III cuisine. It’s not a pretty picture.
One time, shortly after my entry into the single father pool, I found
myself in a small group of cheery housewives, all waiting for their
children at Community Park Elementary School in Princeton. The
housewives were engrossed in conversation. I – as the out-of-place
single father – invisible on the sideline. Just for fun, I cleared my
throat and attempted to enter the conversation:
"I just had an idea," I announced to the group. "Why don’t we all
bring in our favorite recipes and collect them in a Community Park
recipe book. We could sell it as a fundraiser." The cheery housewives
turned silent. A few looked the other way. You could feel these
seasoned domestic engineers considering this concept: What’s he going
to contribute – microwave macaroni and cheese, hot dogs and canned
baked beans?
Finally one of them responded: She didn’t actually have any recipes,
she explained, noting that most busy women today improvise, cooking up
a meal based on what’s in the fridge or pantry, how much time they
have, and who will be at home to eat it. With that the cookbook idea –
and the conversation – was dead.
Truth to tell we at Bachelors III, as I refer to my two boys and
myself, do slightly better than Stauffer’s mac and cheese. But even a
steady diet of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole wheat pasta, and
low-fat meat and poultry is still a steady and soon boring diet. And
so, on a night when we might have come back from our weekly shopping
expedition to a dinner of baked chicken breast and Dad’s famous
vegetable medley (steamed carrots, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, onions,
and whatever, served with nonfat sour cream), we instead finished our
supermarket visit at the gourmet takeout counter. Here’s what was on
the Bachelors III menu that night:
Shrimp scampi (at $15.99 a pound, we didn’t buy a huge amount, but
enough to satisfy one 12-year-old plus give both the other bachelors a
taste). Cost: $3.84.
Linguine with clam sauce (a big hit, since my idea of pasta is just
plain pasta, spiced up by a little olive oil or Cardini’s Caesar
dressing). $2.50.
Broccoli and penne (we eat enough broccoli to keep the elder George
Bush far away, so the tasty penne was another hit at Bachelors III).
$1.64.
Lima beans and prosciutto (I have been threatening to replace the
Brussel sprouts on our regular menu with lima beans, so this was a
good taste test. I liked them. Neither of the boys would touch them).
$3.15.
Carrots and asparagus tips (every once in a while I try to cook
asparagus and I can’t get it right – this was right). $1.80.
Sliced turkey breast (at $9.99 a pound, I had a hard time buying the
one thing that I could have cooked at home at a fraction of the price.
But the 10-year-old, the fussy eater who has literally pushed certain
types of chocolate away from his mouth, wanted to make sure there was
at least one thing that he would like.) $3.
Macaroni and cheese and chicken wings (the choice of the 10-year-old,
naturally, who gave the McCaffrey rendition of the mac & cheese the
same rating he used to give Stouffer’s – he cleaned his plate) $3.89.
Other choices in this section, called the self serve hot bar, all
priced at an economical $4.99 a pound, include breaded chicken breast,
potatoes au gratin, sausage and peppers, fried flounder, salisbury
steak, and chicken diablo – nothing you would ever find in the
Bachelors III recipe book. Elsewhere in the store, meals-to-go include
meatloaf with green beans and cheddar-baked potato, $5.24; Bourbon BBQ
flank steak with green beans and Spanish rice, $9.79; chicken with
apples and sage, plus green beans and rice, $6.39; Cobb salad, $4.91;
and a family entree, turkey with stuffing and gravy, priced at $9.92
for 1.4 pounds.
So for a grand total of $19.82 – plus beverages that we already had on
hand – Bachelors III had more than enough food for a midweek dinner
that had to be over quickly enough for homework and a dose of the
baseball playoffs.
And I brought the leftovers into the office for lunch the next day – I
was even able to re-use the containers. That’s a plus for bachelor
cooks, who are more likely to find a matching pair of socks than a
Tupperware top that actually fits the Tupperware container.
Would we go back again to the supermarket takeout counter? Not every
night and maybe not even every week. But you bet that it will take its
place alongside the traditional restaurant options that are available
to families with pre-teen children. And if anyone ever asks me to
participate in a working parents’ cookbook, I will surely have a
recipe to share – provided the supermarket shares it with me.
– Richard K. Rein
McCaffrey’s, 301 North Harrison Street, Princeton Shopping Center.
609-683-1600. Open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and
from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m on Sunday.
Top Of Page
SuperFresh: Slim Pickins for a Speedy Supper
Harried commuters flying off Exit 8A at 80 miles an hour and wanting
to slide into the SuperFresh at Schalks Crossing Road in Plainsboro
for a premium "homemade" supper will be stopped in their tracks at the
slim pickings, at least at 6:30 p.m. on one recent Tuesday. The store
has the obligatory Four Ss: salad, soup, sandwiches, and sushi plus a
purported pasta bar but this hungry hunter saw precious little of any.
The salad bar was ordinary in its offerings of lettuces, fake seafood
salad, tuna, pasta salad, marinated tomatoes, chickpeas, green veggies
and assorted other edibles. However, the offerings were tired looking
and dry, the impression being that no one came by very often to
freshen the containers. While there were kettles for two soup
offerings, there was only one available by the time I arrived.
The pasta bar advertised hot entrees of several varieties of noodle
dishes but it had been closed long before I drove up and the bar was
cold and dark. Near the deli was a sign offering "handmade"
sandwiches. I briefly considered what the alternative was to hands,
but decided I didn’t want to pursue that line of thinking on an empty
stomach. A couple of pre-made hoagies were in the cooler but again
they looked pretty peaked. The sushi was standard fare -nothing to
catch my fancy there.
The ultimate disappointment was no rotisserie chicken, staple of
suburban supper tables. After an hour and a half’s odyssey along the
NJ Turnpike dodging Hummers hungry for my tasty little Acura, not
finding Old Reliable was a serious blow. Was I so late that the rest
of America was snugly tucking into fresh salad and pasta long before I
exited the highway and the store managers assumed there would be no
further wayfarers?
SuperFresh does indeed have fine produce and an excellent fish and
meat department. Doing weekly shopping is efficient, for the most
part. The range of staples and international foods is ample and
growing. All the ingredients are there for gourmet meals. Many dinner
parties have been provisioned from there but the sense is that
take-home meals are not part of their marketing plan, despite the
peripatetic population that drives by its doors daily.
At the end of a long day and a longer commute, having the option of
faking a meal that would make Mom proud is attractive. The option of
battling Route 1 traffic to Wegmans and back is not. Looks like cereal
again tonight.
– E.E. Whiting
Super Fresh, 10 Schalks Crossing Road, Plainsboro Plaza. 609-378-0226.
Open daily 24 hours. New closing time of 3 p.m. for the steam table
and Chinese food, and the salad bar closes at 7 p.m.
Top Of Page
ShopRite: Upscale and Kosher
The new ShopRite in the Mercer Mall has built itself a unique
supermarket take-out niche – at least one that is unique in our area.
At the front of the store there is a large Kosher department. Yes,
other stores offer Kosher products, but the ShopRite Kosher section
includes a good selection of ready-to-eat, fully assembled dinners –
many of them Chinese.
Included in take-out offerings are roasted potatoes, buffalo wings,
sweet and sour chicken, and lemon pepper chicken breast with rice.
Prices are low, with most dishes coming in under $6. In addition,
there are lots of kinds of knishes and bourekas – and seven different
varieties of kugel.
Walking from the Kosher counter way, way back to the main take-out
area in the back of the store entails a delightful walk through
ShopRite’s impressive international aisles. Shelf after shelf is
devoted to Chinese, Mexican, and Polish food – as well as more Kosher
food, both in boxes and cans and in freezer cases. It is a reminder of
the rich variety we enjoy in central New Jersey, not only in food, but
also in our neighbors.
After reaching the back of the store, hang left for the majority of
take-out areas. There is a large Chinese section – Wok Empire – a
pizza station, and sushi. A signature ShopRite section is called
"Caribbean Grill." It features everything from three-packs of
cheeseburgers ($3.99) to pan seared chicken breast in chive supreme
sauce ($7.99). Other selections include turkey London broil au jus
($7.40), Cajun shrimp ($14.99 a pound), and crabmeat stuffed chicken
($6.99).
Another popular ShopRite take-out section features grilled ribeye
steaks sizzling in a hot station alongside "fixings," including
sauteed mushrooms, onions, creamed spinach, and strips of bacon. Also
in this area are a variety of hot dishes, including chicken Parmesan,
sausage with peppers, top beef sirloin with gravy, braised beef short
ribs, lobster mashed potatoes, and basmati rice. The format is load
what you will into microwave dishes at a cost of $6.59 a pound.
In store dining is also an option. There is a small eating area right
next to the take out area.
While many of ShopRite’s dinner options are geared for downhome-type
eating, the store is full of upscale surprises. I counted 11 different
kinds of mozzarella balls in one of its cold bars, and a nearby
section, called the Mediterranean Bar, is chock full of stuffed grape
leaves, seven-grain salad, wheat berry orzo, and the like.
This is a fun supermarket to explore, but there is a caveat for those
exhausted souls in search of a quick, hot meal after a long day at the
office. When I stopped by at 7:20 p.m., the Wok Empire was totally
closed up (it closes at 6 p.m.), and the other hot food stations were
obviously slowing down, with only a few items left.
– Kathleen McGinn Spring
ShopRite of Lawrenceville, Mercer Mall, Lawrenceville 08648.
609-275-8555; Open daily from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m.
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