Restaurants in Nanuet
Recommended Restaurants by Groupon Customers
Warm earth tones and dark wooden trim lend a casual elegance to the dining room at Dúo Tapas Bar & Lounge, an elegance that is mirrored by the menu of refined finger foods. The chefs draw inspiration from Latin, Thai, American, and Italian cuisine as they forge small, tapas-style plates for diners' tables. They top the cuban sliders' roast pork and sliced ham with mustard rémoulade and accompany the tempura shrimp with a sweet chili sauce. Crispy, thin-crust pizzas emerge from the oven with familiar toppings of basil or hot sausage or spreads of non-traditional pizzeria ingredients, including pulled pork and barbecue sauce or shrimp and garlic butter.
The restaurant embraces its lounge roots after sunset, hosting occasional DJ sets and live bands in its space and encouraging guests to practice their best moves on the dance floor. Five televisions flanking the full-service bar entertain patrons as they sip mixed drinks or stuff a love note to the bartender into a cocktail olive.
In 2002, entrepreneur Jeremy Merrin teamed with fellow restaurant mogul Arlene Spiegel and head chef Stanley Licairac to establish Havana Central, a family-friendly enterprise based on lively Latin music and the rich flavors of Cuban cuisine. The food of Cuba draws from disparate influences across the globe⎯Spanish, French, African, Chinese, and indigenous cultures⎯manifesting into tender skirt-steak ropa vieja, empanadas stuffed with savory meats and goat cheese, and salmon, chicken, and shrimp marinated in tangy citrus juices.
Though the restaurant's leafy palms and tropical cocktails hint at the freewheeling good times of 1950s Havana, the staff pairs their joie de vivre with social responsibility, specifically by donating to local charities and taking on numerous green initiatives. As guests sip mojitos and sangria and sup upon slow-roasted meats and chicken sofrito, a lineup of live entertainment keeps feet moving in rhythm. Interactive events include salsa-dance lessons, charanga bands, and reenactments of the charge up San Juan Hill.
Helmed by veteran executive chef Pedro Vargas, Riverdale Garden Restaurant & Lounge's cooks serve up a complex seasonal menu that deftly blends Latin American, Caribbean, and Mediterranean elements. Educated staffers help diners feel at ease, recommending the perfect pairings for food, wine, or beatbox tapes, and promptly deliver dishes to tables cloaked in crisp white tablecloths.
Riverdale Garden is located just steps from the 1 train at Van Cortlandt Park, enabling diners to stable their horse-drawn chariots for a night. As patrons stroll into the warm, brick-walled dining room, a chandelier poised above the bar drips crystals from swooping gilded arms, welcoming them to drink in the elegant, laid-back atmosphere.
As a child, Claude Solliard filled his mother's pantry with produce from the northern Italian countryside. He picked wild mushrooms, tended grapevines, and harvested bushels of spaghetti, becoming a farm-to-table chef long before it came into fashion. As the executive chef of Oregano Bar & Bistro, Solliard reprises this role while fusing French and Iberian (Spanish and Portuguese) cuisine. He adds French flair to paella by adding duck, and redefines ratatouille by plating it with Serrano ham and salmon.
When New York Times reported on the opening of Oregano Bar & Bistro, it placed special emphasis on the bistro's décor concept, which originated from the mind of Erick Caceres. To create a classic-yet-modern ambiance, Caceres outfitted the 133-seat bistro with a glass-enclosed garden room and waterfall. A red-leather banquette stretches across the main dining room and backs up to a wall inlaid with mirrors that advertise the catch of the day and your face.
Like its name, Wagon Wheel Restaurant’s menu and interior pay homage to simpler times. Tiffany-style stained-glass lamps cast a golden glow over hearty cuts of filet mignon, stuffed chicken breasts, baby back ribs, and the other unimpeachably traditional American eats that fill out the comforting, honest menu. As they dine, guests can relax, allowing their eyes to wander over the deep oxblood walls hung here and there with photographs and paintings of pure natural landscapes, wagering with their tablemates whether the images are real places or pictures fished out of Bob Ross’s dream catcher. Across from the dining area, distressed wooden posts and dangling metal steins highlight the spacious, u-shaped bar. Occasionally, Wagon Wheel plays host to local bands that perform classic rock or the kind of simple folk tunes that require at least one band member to bang a washboard against a drum.
