Choripan, a popular Argentinian grill restaurant, reopens in Hackensack

Choripan Rodizio reopened about a month ago at 10 Sussex St. in Hackensack, a little over a block from the original location on the ground floor of a Main Street building destroyed in a fire on April 26, 2015.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Choripan Rodizio in Hackensack appealed to both meat eaters and salad lovers before the grill restaurant was destroyed in a fire nearly 16 months ago.

Now, the popular Argentinian steak house is back in business at 10 Sussex St., near the Bergen County Courthouse.

A woman who was unlocking the front door about 20 minutes before today's 11:30 a.m. lunch service explained the restaurant reopened about a month ago, but the owners haven't been able to update their website.

One of the restaurant windows calls Choripan an Argentinian steakhouse, which also offers empanadas and pasta, the last reflecting heavy Italian immigration to the South American country. 

Open 7 days

I picked up a copy of the lunch menu, which is served from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Five salads are listed, four of them for $6.95 each; and All You Can Eat Rodizio with two side dishes runs $20. 

Choripan, a grilled Argentinian-style sausage sandwich, is $10.

The Choripan Burger is served with french fries and includes bacon, egg and American cheese, also $10.

Details

Choripan Rodizio, 10 Sussex St., Hackensack; 201-880-7941. BYO, open 7 days from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. A parking lot is behind the restaurant.

See: 

You can easily skip the meat

A welcome sign of renewal

At an Argentinian grill restaurant, you can easily skip the meat

With the flash of a waiter's knife carving wood-fired meat at your table, Choripan Rodizio in Hackensack appears to be serious about bringing customers the experience of eating at an Argentinian grill restaurant.

However, my teenage son complained everything he tried was too chewy, too salty or too dry, and he left a lot of meat on his plate.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

We loved the salads, pasta and steak on our first visit to Choripan Rodizio in Hackensack.

But when we returned to celebrate a birthday with the signature all-you-can-eat, Argentinian-style meat feast, all I heard was complaints.

I haven't eaten meat or poultry for more than 3 years. I'm perfectly happy with Choripan's wonderful soups and salads.

Estrachatella, a fantastic soup of spinach with beaten eggs in chicken broth.

My teenage son, on the other hand, is a dedicated carnivore, and I recall how much he wanted to try the all-you-can-eat rodizio we saw at Casa Nova Grill in Newark last year.

This past Tuesday, his birthday, we were among the first customers at Choripan, and I asked about the $15 rodizio special I had seen advertised in Premiere Savings magazine -- a 50% discount.

For $15 a person, we were planning to order the all-you-can eat meal, with two side dishes, for my son, wife and mother-in-law, but the waiter said no such special is offered on Tuesdays.

I should have brought the page from the Spring 2013 issue of the magazine with me.

Plan B was for my son to have the all-you-can-eat meal, and the rest of us to order a la carte.

Remolacha, Huevo y Chaucas is a salad of beets, string beans and boiled egg in the house vinaigrette dressing, above. Espinaca, Peras, Nueces y Roqueford is a fresh spinach salad with pears, walnuts and blue cheese in a balsamic dressing, below. 

We started with two wonderful salads to share -- one with beets and the other with fresh spinach as the main ingredients ($8.25 and $8.50, respectively).

I followed with a spinach-egg-drop soup, one of the great dishes Italians immigrants brought to Argentina ($6).

The waiter began coming over to the table with a long, sharp knife and skewers of chicken, sausage, beef, pork and turkey bacon that had been rotated over a wood fire in the open kitchen.

The aroma could take you back to the caveman era.

My son started eating, but didn't seem that enthusiastic. He certainly didn't seem intent on setting a new record for meat consumption at one meal.

Two side dishes come with the all-you-can-eat rodizio. My son finished the tasty rice and beans, and took home the crisp, skin-on french fries.

I asked him what was wrong, and he said the meat he tried was "too chewy." Then, he described the other portions as "too dry" or "too salty."

My wife ordered the same pasta dish she had the last time, Linguine A La Vodka with shrimp ($14.50), and my mother-in-law had Grilled Salmon served with sauteed spinach ($17.75).

They also ordered Chicken Noodle Soup ($5.50).

Linguine A La Vodka with jumbo shrimp, above, and Grilled Salmon, below.

The salmon had some sort of breading on top that wasn't described on the menu, and the fresh spinach appeared to have been sauteed in lots of butter, also not mentioned on the menu.

My mother-in-law complained the dish had "too much grease," referring to the butter and breading.

She would have preferred the fish without breading, and the spinach sauteed in olive oil.  

I plan to return to the restaurant with the $15 rodizio special ad, and ask for a credit or refund.


Choripan Rodizio, 72 Main St., Hackensack; 201-880-4832. BYO, metered street parking before 6 p.m., except Sundays. Closed Mondays.

Argentinian grill restaurant is a welcome sign of renewal in Hackensack

Choripan Rodizio, a new restaurant on Main Street in Hackensack, is a temple of grilled meat, but non-meat eaters will find great salads and a limited seafood selection.

Steaks and other grilled items are available a la carte or as all you can eat -- $30 for adults and $20 for children under 12 after 3:30 p.m., with two side dishes.

The brick walls remind me of Habana Casual Cafe, a great Cuban restaurant on the next block, and both restaurants are BYOs.

Thanks to a huge number of Argentines with Italian ancestry, Choripan Rodizio also serves pasta, pizza and other traditional Argentine-Italian dishes.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Nearly all of our favorite restaurants are Asian -- Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese -- but we were looking for a change of pace on  Saturday.

We decided to drive downtown to Choripan Rodizio, a new Argentinian grill restaurant that opened about 11 weeks ago, making its block one of the nicest on Main Street.

The owner is Pablo Spadavecchia, a native of Argentina who said that he and his business partner wanted to open their first restaurant in Hoboken, but decided "to take a chance on Hackensack."

The restaurant's name is a combination of chorizo and pan -- choripan is an Argentinian-style sausage sandwich, and it's served here on Italian bread with french fries or a salad ($9 t0 $10.50).

Steak, pork, sausage and other meats are grilled over wood charcoal.

Three of us began our meal with complimentary bruschetta, then shared two large, wonderful salads, Beets, String Beans and Boiled Egg ($8.25) and Fresh Spinach, Pears, Walnuts and Blue Cheese ($8.50).

You can hear the crunch of the bruschetta.

Fresh beets and string beans go into this beautiful salad.

We loved the big leaves of fresh spinach and a light touch with the balsamic dressing.

My entree was breaded Fillet of Sole Oreganata with sauteed vegetables and mashed potatoes or french fries ($18.75), but I asked the waiter if I could get sauteed spinach instead of the potatoes, and the fish was served on top of the spinach. Nice.

My wife had Linguini and Shrimp in Vodka Sauce ($16) -- a delicious dish with firm pasta. And my mother-in-law ordered the Grilled Sirloin Strip Steak with a side of mashed potatoes ($19).

The vegetables with my sole appeared to have been sauteed with butter, which I try to avoid. That should be noted on the menu.

Plump shrimp and a homemade vodka sauce pleased my fussy wife.

The sirloin strip steak came medium-well, as ordered, with a small bowl of garlic-and-parsley chimichurri sauce.

My mother-in-law loved the carrots in the mashed potatoes, and that inspired me to mash skin-on sweet potatoes and carrots with extra-virgin olive oil for dinner at home on Sunday night.

None of us were able to finish our entrees, and we took home the leftovers.

That night, my ravenous teenage son raided the fridge, ate the steak and linguine, then ordered a delivery of takeout Chinese food.

Early dinner

We had arrived around 5 p.m. on Saturday, and got a table easily, but the restaurant soon filled up with families and friends who had made reservations.

Adults soon uncorked their bottles of red wine, and the place resounded with lively music and the hubub of families enjoying good food around the dinner table.

Three TVs on the wall showed Argentinian soccer, but the sound was turned off.

We had a few minor complaints. Even before the place filled up, we had to wait for our salads and I had to ask to get my water glass refilled.

Our table for 4 was too small to handle the two big salad platters and our plates, so we decided to give back a basket of bread.

A server brought the steak, but not the other entrees, and my mother-in-law's side dish of mashed potatoes didn't follow until 5 minutes later.  

We also had to wait for the bill.  

And although Choripan has a large menu, a couple of items are missing: whole chicken and whole fish roasted over wood.

Choripan is a welcome addition in an area that offers a variety of ethnic food.

The restaurant, at Bridge Street, is diagonally across from Pollos Mario. Greek Island Grill and Super Rico, a Colombian fast-food cafe, are across Main Street.

Next door, M&P Biancamano's of Hoboken, a deli famed for its fresh mozzarella, has finally opened. 


Choripan Rodizio, 72 Main St., Hackensack; 201-880-4832. Closed Mondays, BYO; metered street parking until 6 p.m., except Sundays.


Web site: Charcoal-grilled meat isn't the only draw