Chakra

[dumpling]

There's a new place named Chakra on Rt 4 just as at 208 in the vicinity of the Garden State Plaza. The place that used to be there was called Bisque, I think. It purports to serve "New American cuisine". Has anyone tried it yet?

[Rosie]

It will open Jan. 30.

[Phil Ward]

Soft opening soon, wine list is supposed to be complete and orders placed for delivery next week. They gutted the inside and have some very dramatic design ideas that really look great and some could be controversial. Chef is supposed to be very good. Don't mob the place as all "new" ventures need time to work out the wrinkles.

Phil

[fatcatbrew]

After visiting the website, chakrarestaurant.com, I am intrigued. I am going to be daring and give this place a try on its opening night, Friday 1/30.

Let's hope this place has better luck than Bisque

[menton1]

This place is also apparently well-funded; lots of advertising going on, newspaper, radio, and even pop-up ads on the web!

I guess advertising sells-- the new place Harvest Bistro in Closter looks a lot more promising than Chakra, but no one here seems interested in Harvest. Advertising gives instant credibility.

[Rosie]

We were at Chakra this week for a pre-opening dinner and this place will be "hot." More info to come on Table Hopping With Rosie in a few weeks. Very good food and fabulous decor.

[menton1]

Wow, so in addition to print ads, electronic media, press releases, and ads on the internet, they are also doing pre-opening parties for the press and influential people in NJ--

Sounds just a little too slick, makes me a little queasy about the place.

I'm more disposed toward places opened on a shoestring, where the owner really cares about his/her food and his/her customers....

[Rosie]

Wow, so in addition to print ads, electronic media, press releases, and ads on the internet, they are also doing pre-opening parties for the press and influential people in NJ--

Sounds just a little too slick, makes me a little queasy about the place.

I'm more disposed toward places opened on a shoestring, where the owner really cares about his/her food and his/her customers....

I was invited because the owners DO care about the food and customers. I was there so that the staff could practice and work the kinks out so that the paying public can have better service and food. Not slick at all--just good business men. Pre opening dinners are not unusual. And even small mom/pop restaurants will have pre-opening parties for family and friends.

[Hank]

Absolutely correct, Rosie. Kitchen staff usually come with a reputation and or resume but waitstaff can easily BS their way into a job and can kill your dining experience. I will never forget being invited by a now very famous restaurant in NY to a pre-opening and our waiter did not have a clue about wine service, and much less about food service. Needless to say when we went back as paying customers more than half of the waitstaff had been replaced. So there is nothing "slick" about weeding out potential problems with non paying clients who can identify them and let ownership know but rather very good business sense.

[fatcatbrew]

BUMMER! I JUST GOT THE CALL. CHAKRA'S GRAND OPENING IS BEING POSTPONED UNTIL FEBRUARY 9, 2003.

THEY TOLD ME THEY HAD A WATER MAIN BREAK - HMMMMM

[Rosie]

With the tempertures we have been having I am not surprised that a pipe broke/froze.

[fatcatbrew]

Chakra's revised Grand Opening was Monday, February 9th. I have reservations for dinner tommorow night. I am excited to try this restaurant.

[Rosie]

And we exicitedly await your report. A story will be on Table Hopping With Rosie 2/11.

[fatcatbrew]

Last night I dined at Chakra for the first time. After a mildly annoying reservation snafu, we were whisked off to the lounge to enjoy a pre-dinner cocktail. And what wonderful cocktails we had. The list of interesting concoctions was long and made it difficult to choose. On the way to the bar you get your first glimpse of the decor, which is very nice. Lots of warm colors, brick, candles everywhere, chairs with large pillows, larger tables seperated with airy fabrics. We certainly didn't feel like we were in Paramus anymore.

My husband's menu choices were slightly less adventurous than mine. His meals were good, however, nothing we hadn't had in other restaurants. I enjoyed my meal immensely. All in all, we had a very nice experience. When I was leaving for the evening, the hostess gave me a branch of orchids to bring home. I have the feeling that this place will do very well. We will definately return - and I feel this place would be a great place to go with friends in lieu of just the two of us.

My only complaint was the service. I know Chakra is brand new so I am sure it will improve. There is a tremendous amount of people working at this restaurant. However, no one had a personality. In a place that exudes warmth and energy from the decor, music, atmosphere, the people that worked there were the opposite. Everything seemed extremely rehearsed and robotic.

[Rosie]

Story here for the week of 2/11.

http://www.njmonthly.com/rosie/rnews.html

Thanks for your report fatcatbrew.

[tommy]

this is my new favorite restaurant. had an excellent meal here tonite. the place shows a lot of promise. i just hope they head in the right direction. more to follow...

Edited February 19, 2004 by tommy (log)

[Rosie]

OK--we believe you but what did you have there? Place is beautiful--huh?

[Susan]

When I tried to open Table Hopping with Rosie for the week of 2/11, the week of 2/18 came up. I would like to read the story on Chakra. How can I get to the week of 2/11? Thanks.

[Rosie]

Susan--YOU HAVE TO READ "TABLE HOPPING WITH ROSIE" EVERY WEEK!!!!

I'll e-mail the story to you.

[tommy]

We decided to stop in to check out this place on the way to La Cambusa in Fairlawn, which we figured would all turn into a trip to China 46 anyway. Well, we were wrong. The second I walked into Chakra I knew I was going to like the place. We were greeted by two friendly hostesses, and walked to the bar, as we stated that we were just going to have a drink.

The place is enormous. It’s like an airplane hangar. There are candles all over the place, and the theme is definitely “asian”. It reminded us of Tao in NYC, but without the 50 foot Buddha.

They have a bunch of those fancy-type drinks at the bar, all for about 11 bucks. By “fancy-type”, I mean a bunch of martinis, and things of that nature. There seemed to be about 3 beers on tap, and I’m sure more in bottles. The wines by the glass were decent enough. probably about 10 in total. I overheard the bartender say that they have dom perignon by the glass. Something tells me he was wrong.

After looking over the menu, I knew I wanted to eat there. It read well, and it’s the type of thing that I like.

Overview of dishes:

An amuse was brought out soon after we were seated (or perhaps after we ordered). It was a small bit of goat cheese, fried, and served with a drizzle of a “shallot reduction”. I would have fully expected a sweet port type of reduction, but this reduction wasn’t sweet. In fact, it was more beefy than anything. Quite a nice change of pace from the expected.

Chakra green salad with soy/miso dressing

This salad was a bit sweet, or so thought mrs. Tommy. I thought it was just right. I will say that I like my dressing a bit more acidic. Nothing exceptional, but it’s only a salad.

Grilled baby octopus Served with oven dried tomatoes, smoked onion, over greens.

The octopus cut like butter. It was the most tender octopus I’ve ever had. I was really blown away by it. the oven roasted tomatoes were great. They had some char, and the sprigs of rosemary on top were all but a part of the tomato half. Loved it. the smoked onion blew me away. I’m by no means versed in the art of smoking. In fact, I don’t even like smoked foods very much. That said, my impression of this dish is probably naïve and ignorant. However, this onion was freaking incredible. I’ve never eaten something that had so much “smoke” to it. it was as if I was eating a forest fire (in a good way). Again, perhaps I’ll be told that this was clearly an inappropriate use of smoke, and that it should never be so overwhelming. Well I don’t care. This was a good onion.

I’m not sure how it all fit together for this particular dish, but I ended up treating it as three different dishes.

Filet Mignon with cumin, chanterelles, cippolinis, red wine reduction, and chimichurri.

From a conceptual standpoint, this dish, as it reads on the menu, has no reason to exist. It makes little sense in my mind to pair cumin with a red wine reduction with chimichurri. I think the saving grace was the fact that the chimichurri was not like any chimichurri I’ve ever had. It was more of a chopped tomato and garlic condiment, served on the side. Bizarre. I didn’t “get it”. the filet, however, was cooked perfectly to m/r, and the cumin spicing was subtle. The meat seemed top-notch, and cut like butter.

Dry aged New York Strip

We were on a steak bender for some reason. This was odd, as the rest of the menu seemed really interesting. But, I left the house, after posting about bourdain’s old place Les Halles, and knew I wanted steak frites. This was the closest I could come to realizing that craving.

The steak was cooked perfectly to m/r, and served with a tall cone of “haystack potatoes”, which are like potato sticks, and an herb salad. I love herb salads, so this was a nice addition.

Generally speaking, I don’t order steak anywhere but a steakhouse. This exception worked out pretty well, though.

The service was really friendly and relatively efficient considering this was the first week or so the place had been open. Even the runner was pleasant and eager to please. However, wine went unpoured during dinner. At that price-point, I hope they sort that out. Not that I mind pouring my own wine (in fact I prefer it, as I know how much I want in my glass), but I think the staff should be more proactive.

A few random notes:

The place is super dark. If you can’t see well, you won’t be reading the menu. I’m assuming they’re going for a younger, “hipper” crowd than the other upscale places in the area. I don’t expect to see much crossover btwn Chakra and the Ho-Ho-Kus Inn. now that i think about it, it was *too* dark. i like to see my food, as i find the visual aspect of dishes very exciting. it's almost a shame that you can't see the dishes, as the kitchen clearly puts some time into presentation.

Valet parking annoys the shit out of me. However, I think that it’s a plus here, as the parking lot will surely fill up.

We both got the feeling that this place was more about style than about substance. Time will tell. However, I’m guessing that it’ll soon be a shell of what it once was, or could have been, a victim of wanting to be hip rather than good. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

Edited February 20, 2004 by tommy (log)

[NJ2FLA]

Tommy..

Can you give me (us) some idea about the prices for some of the items on the menu?

Thanks!

[fatcatbrew]

I am going back tonight with a group. I reserved a large booth which has lots of pillows and fabrics that seperate the tables. I am looking forward to trying more of their menu offerings.

For information on the menu (without prices) go to their website: www.chakrarestaurant.com

[tommy]

Tommy..

Can you give me (us) some idea about the prices for some of the items on the menu?

Thanks!

ah. i thought the prices were on the website, but they're not.

my dinner of 2 apps 2 entrees 2 glasses of prosecco and a reasonbly priced bottle of wine was about 150 before tip. i think the steaks were the most expensive things on the menu. the pastas are less than 20 iirc. bottom line: it's not cheap. it's pretty clear this place is burning through money. i wonder how long the "flowers for the ladies" routine upon exit will last.

Edited February 20, 2004 by tommy (log)

[Rosie]

Flowers for the ladies???? Do tell. What kind of flower? What do the men get? Don't tell me a lady with a flower!

[tommy]

Flowers for the ladies???? Do tell. What kind of flower? What do the men get? Don't tell me a lady with a flower!

on the way out, they hand the ladies a few white flowers (not sure of what kind) in one of those self-contained water-filled test tube looking things. i got to give the coat check girl a dollar, and the valet guy 2. i would have preferred the flowers.