Daruma

[Jason Perlow]

45 N. Dean Street

Englewood NJ 07631

201-567-9600

Rachel and I had a very nice meal at Daruma, a brand new sushi place on Dean Street, next to Tapas de Espana (also a very good place, which we had mothers day dinner at yesterday).

Ownership is Taiwanese/Chinese, with one of the main sushi chefs being Japanese (Hiro-san). We had the privelege of being their first customers this evening. Its a very attractive restaurant and has traditional sushi bar seating, tatami as well as regular tables to sit at. Service is -very- attentive.

The sushi style is self admittedly "contemporary japanese" and some of their dishes are copied directly from the menu at Nobu in NYC, such as the "New Style Sashimi" and "Sake Black Cod". There's a nice selection of fancy sushi rolls and a la carte standard nigiri's and makis, in addition to chirashi and sashimi platters.

Started off with a beef tataki, which was very thinly sliced rare/barely seared beef in an acidic/citrus marinade of sorts, with thin lemon slices and bonito shavings. Very good.

Rachel ordered a chirashi sushi platter which had a nice variety of fresh sashimi fish on top of a furikake-seasoned bed of rice, fish was clean and of very good quality.

I had a "White Dragon Roll" which is their spin on a spider roll, which is soft shell crab along with spicy tuna and avocado and I think one other kind of fish, wrapped up in a white seaweed. Very Good. I liked this better than a standard spider roll because it didnt have any of that cloying sweet sauce.

I also had a "crunchy spicy tuna" which was like your typical spicy tuna roll but had crunchy tempura bits outside. Nice, but not quite as spicy as I would have liked it.

Also had a Baby Futomaki which was your standard futo, but well executed.

Towards the end we were still hungry so we ordered more appetizers -- "harumaki" was their take on a shrimp spring roll, outsides are nicely fried and crisp, inside was a mixture of shrimp, mushroom and a mushy vegetable, probably cabbage of some sort. came with a tonkatsu-style dipping sauce, which I think it could have done without. I liked it.

We also had a Miso Eggplant appetizer which was a split japanese eggplant that had a miso sauce on the top and then broiled, where the eggplant becomes almost like a custard and has to be spooned out of the skin. We liked this one a lot.

Total bill -- $78 before tip. Certainly not a cheap sushi place but not rediculous either. Fancy rolls are betwen $9-$13, regular rolls $5-$10, a la carte nigiri peices $3-$5, Sushi platters $16-22.

I reccommend this place highly and its definitely a nice addition to an already burdgeoning restaurant neighborhood.

The place is BYO, open on mondays, and has free delivery.

[Rosie]

Address? Phone #?? Is it BYO??

[Jason Perlow]

Address? Phone #?? Is it BYO??

Amended, thanks.

[Rachel Perlow]

This post is mostly a "ditto" of what Jason said. Beautifully decorated restaurant, which they must have pretty much built from scratch considering the location was previously a salon. There were several nice touches to the plates, like beautifully carved garnishes, an origami-like bird made of carrot, wasabi formed into leaves or (I think) a frog, real shiso leaves. For a brand new restaurant they were ready to come out swinging. No missteps with the food at all. The service, as Jason mentioned, was a little overly attentive, but I'm sure that will relax as they get busier. Thankfully, although we arrived about an hour after they opened and we were their very first customers, by the time we left there were several other occupied tables -- many were neighbors (with either residence or business nearby) who've been anxiously awaiting Daruma's opening.

[StInGeR]

where the hell is englewood?? Remember I'll be in Sparta

Cheers

Tom

[Rachel Perlow]

It's the town immediately north-west of the George Washington Bridge, about an hour from Sparta. Click here for directions.

[janbee]

We peeked in Daruma last night on our stroll to Tapas de Espana. It looked V-E-R-Y interesting. I will return!!!!

Janbee

[Jason Perlow]

Nice writeup by David Corcoran in last Sunday's NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/dining/06njdine.html

[Cook456]

Is this any relation to Daruma in Rutherford?

[jpr54_]

i went to the restaurant this afternoon with my son-

both of us were disappointed-the fish was fresh but boring-

we ordered sushi and sashimi bento boxes-

there was little variety-

service was ok but little things were forgotten like hot towels

[Jason Perlow]

Some new Daruma photos:

This was slated for another customer

This was slated for another customer, nigiri sushi peices.

Avocado Sashimi Boat with Ponzu Sauce and Spicy Mayo.

Bean Sprout Salad. Nice and refreshing.

Sushi Appetizer Sampler

"Volcano"

Nigiri Peices (Snapper) plus two types of spicy tartare, salmon and yellowtail.

Sashimi Peices

Catering order about to be sent out.

Summery Roll, with Asian Pear.

Salmon Skin Hand Roll

Hot Appetizer Sampler

Miso Cod

Cheese Negamaki and Grilled Teriyaki Shitakke Mushrooms

Okra w/Bacon and Spicy Wasabi Shu Mai.

BTW, Hiro-San is on extended sick leave, but the food does not appear to have suffered one bit. His junior guys are doing a really good job.

Edited July 21, 2006 by Jason Perlow (log)

[ghostrider]

Is Daruma a chain, or simply a popular name for Asian eateries? There is one in Rutherford & another in Montclair. Both are self-styled "sushi + Korean BBQ" places.

[Jason Perlow]

This particular "Daruma" is not part of any chain.

The name "Daruma" refers to a type of Japanese doll, which are also used to adorn the restaurant:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daruma_doll

It's also the Japanicised name of a legendary Buddhist monk from China who founded the arts of Shaolin and the Zen school of Buddhism.

[Rachel Perlow]

The Daruma in Englewood doesn't have any Korean BBQ either.

[Jason Perlow]

Yeah, no Korean connection at all. The owners are Taiwanese.