Restaurants in Eastchester

For Darrin Miles, co-owner of Buffalo's Chicken Shack, barbecuing began as a hobby. Using seasonings, sauces, and rubs learned from his mother, he grilled, smoked, and deep-fried meats for his coworkers and friends during cookouts. But his occasional culinary endeavors soon became a passion. First, he built a brick and mortar smoker in his backyard. When his dreams grew beyond his fence and swimming pool of Sweet Baby Ray’s, Darrin opened Buffalo's Chicken Shack with his wife, Tiffany.

The restaurant now serves up a full menu of southern-inspired dishes, all of which earned the approval of Darrin's assembled focus group of friends and local foodies. Popular items include jumbo buffalo wings, slabs of ribs, and fried chicken, which pairs well with warm buttermilk waffles and home-style sides such as cornbread, sweet potato fries, and macaroni and cheese. Buffalo’s Chicken Shack challenges diners’ appetites for these comfort dishes during annual eating contests: in 2012, Jamie “The Bear” McDonald became the newest Buffalo King after consuming 53 spicy wings in seven minutes without belching cartoon flames.

Tandoori Chef's tangerine walls and vibrant paintings warm diners ensconced at red-linen-topped tables, where they await steaming platters of the aromatic Indian cuisine from the bustling kitchen. Inside, chefs whip up a diverse repertoire of Northern Indian curry, tandoori, and rice dishes brimming with spice-laden veggies, chicken, shrimp, and lamb. A private dining area fills up to 30 bellies, and catering services bring the kitchen's nourishing warmth to party-goers or ravenous sasquatches grown too tall to fit through the front door.

The DeMiglio family has been in the business of bringing people together for more than three decades. Their restaurant, Jersey Boys Grill, echoes with shared laughter and friendly conversation as visitors gather around a large projector screen to watch sports, test their pop-culture knowledge with games of trivia, and assign nicknames to every brick in the eatery's rustic interior. Even the menu is made for sharing, with classic pub appetizers and wood-oven pizzas, including the signature pie topped with mozzarella, bacon, roasted peppers, and ranch dressing. The bar carries more than 15 craft beers in bottles or on tap; local favorites include Flying Fish Hopfish IPA and Brooklyn Lager.

Though their careers are rooted in the comfort food of classic diners, according to NorthJersey.com, Main Street Grille and Tavern's owners wanted to recast the dishes they knew so well in friendlier, homier environs. That's why they opened the tavern, where chocolate-colored booths welcome diners to cluster around wood tables and savor grilled steaks and burgers, pasta drizzled with alfredo sauce, and customizable pizzas. Away from the dining room, the bar's flat screens flicker with the current sports game or election arm-wrestling match, and on some evenings, the music from local bands permeates the air.

When Karen Harrison of New Jersey Monthly visited Bourbon BBQ & Catering, she left with a new admiration for the house “meltingly tender chopped beef brisket” and “two-fisted St. Louis ribs,” promising readers that they’ll “be glad our evolutionary ancestors came down from trees, tamed fire, and started roasting fleshy beasts.”

Harrison’s admiration is well placed. The kitchen clearly knows barbecue. The staff smokes beef brisket in an all-hickory smoker for ten hours before tossing it into the slow-cooker for another six. They use fresh chickens delivered from a nearby farm for his bourbon chipotle wings, buffalo chicken wraps, and southern fried chicken. According to the Memphis tradition, the kitchen also rubs pork spare-ribs with spices before carefully smoking and steaming them until they’re fork-tender. Bourbon BBQ offers a host of options for enjoying the decadent food, from stopping in for lunch or dinner to ordering meats and sides by the pound for catered events.

Set within an upscale speakeasy atmosphere, Prohibition ensnares picky patrons with a diverse menu of casual 1920s-inspired victuals and cocktails. Begin the gustatory beguine with a tuna taco starter, swimming in wasabi mayo and Asian coleslaw ($11), or plant pincers in a veggie-bedecked goat-cheese pizza ($14). Mini the Works burgers quell carnivorous cravings with a supporting cast of applewood bacon, american cheese, thousand-island dressing, and a side of shoestring fries ($11 for two, $18 for four).