More all-you-can-eat sushi comes to Hackensack

All-you-can eat sushi is $29 per person at Oyishi Sushi in downtown Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Oyishi Sushi is at the opposite end of the size scale from Port of Call, the "mega" buffet restaurant that opened this year in the Home Depot Shopping Center in Hackensack.

But the idea is the same: All the raw fish you can eat for a set price.

At Oyishi Sushi, in downtown Hackensack, all-you-can-eat sushi is $29 per person.

But the small restaurant also serves lunch specials for $10 to $15, including sushi-sashimi combinations, and such other dishes as seaweed salad, dumplings, shumai and miso soup.

I spoke with Jesse Jiang, a Chinese-American, who said Oyishi Sushi opened last week.

Lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and dinner hours are 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Closed Sundays.

Super Rico, a Colombian fast-food restaurant, once occupied the space, which is next to Greek Island Grill.


Oyishi Sushi, 75 Main St., Hackensack; 201-546-8655. BYO. Metered parking until 6 p.m., except Sundays. 

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 

One town's hit-and-miss food scene

A painting inside Boomerangs on Main Street in Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

If you want to find a good restaurant on Hackensack's Main Street, you'll have to ask one of the many lawyers who have offices along the street or jurors who spill out of the nearby courthouse in search of lunch.

I've seen lots of articles recently in the local daily newspaper about grand plans to revive the street, but hardly anything on the many changes in the food scene during and after the recession.

A rodizio steakhouse is slated to replace a low-quality Chinese buffet restaurant.

 

Hookah Paradise and DiMaria's Deli are across the street.

Main Street's strength is affordable ethnic food: Two Thai restaurants, two Indian restaurants, Cuban,  Colombian, Ecuadorian, Greek, Turkish, Jamaican and others I am sure I've overlooked.

Main Dish replaced Naturally Good, a onetime favorite of employees at The Record.

Main Dish and Wondee's Thai restaurant have parking in the rear.

  

In mid-July, I had a wonderful meal at Casual Habana Cafe at 125 Main St., and discovered the interior of the BYO had been completely renovated.

Several blocks north, Casual Habana is planning to open a catering business on Main Street, across from the Johnson Public Library.

Pollos Mario is a Colombian restaurant that has prospered on Main Street.

A recent addition is Super Rico -- Colombian fast food.

I'm eager to try a Caribbean and soul food restaurant called Boomerangs at 136 Main St. -- on the other side of the street from the Cuban restaurant. 

It replaced Mangos Restaurant about 2 years ago.

Boomerang retained the front counter and rear bi-level dining rooms of Mangos, with the kitchen in the middle. 

The takeout menu lists Boomerangs' Famous Jerk Chicken ($12), Curry Goat ($10 and $12) and other Jamaican dishes. 

But it also offers steamed Tilapia with Coconut Sauce ($13) for customers looking for a break from fried food. 

Super Rico opened at 75 Main St. next to Greek Island Grill, where I've had a couple of good meals.

But the Colombian fast-food place offers only a few items for non-meat eaters. 

Across from Super Rico, an outpost of a well-known Italian deli is planned.

Being close to the Bergen County Courthouse doesn't guarantee success.

For many years, John's Coffee Shop operated just off Main Street, but its successor failed even though it's opposite Courthouse Plaza and near the courthouse itself.

This Main Street tavern echoes with ghosts of the many newspaper workers who held their going-away parties there before The Record left Hackensack for Woodland Park.

Most of the changes in the food scene appear to be on the blocks nearest the imposing, century old Bergen County Courthouse.

Farther up Main, toward the face-lifted Sears building, Wondee's Fine Thai Food & Noodles, a BYO at 296 Main St., has served me and my family one great meal after another.

Wondee's, opened in 1997, is celebrating 15 years in Hackensack.

Aladdin, a pricey Middle Eastern restaurant with live music and belly dancing at 382 Main St., is another success.

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