Restaurants in Rutherford

Continually plying guests with a classic Slavic spread of house-flavored vodkas, champagne, caviar, and dumplings, the Michelin-recommended Russian Samovar has also earned a place in Manhattan's heart as New York magazine's Best Bar for Drinking Vodka with the Russian Intelligentsia with its clientele of expat artists and performers headlined by Mikhail Baryshnikov. Red fringed lampshades cast a swaddling glow across a long bar where Polish, European, and American grain and potato vodkas take in essences that range from mellow apple cinnamon to more challenging horseradish and pepper. Caviar, herring, vereniki, and cured meats provide padding for the gourmet libations and raw materials for illustrating concepts of classic Russian architecture. Every night, live musicians regale the diverse crowd with folk violin, guitar, and singing while waiters strum steaming, more substantial plates of chicken kiev and beef stroganoff.

Located in the East Village, Bhagavat Life thrusts its doors open to welcome passersby pursuing healthy living through vegetarian dining and the ancient Ayurvedic holistic healing tradition. An Indian form of alternative medicine, Ayurveda is the practice of balancing five physical elements––earth, water, fire, air, and sky––to fuel the body and nurture a long, healthy life. Onsite chefs implement the nutritional and bio-energetic value of pure ingredients into their culinary and food-fight skills, delivering prepared wellness meals to customers' homes throughout the week.

During cooking classes, chefs trained in Ayurvedic dining help newly minted cooks prepare four-course meals with a variety of vegetarian items and raw or gluten- and dairy-free victuals. Adding to the cultural exploration, the center's resident Sanskirt poetry expert, Divya Alter, teaches a Sanskrit chanting workshop, in which she explores the musical, spiritual, and technical aspects of the bhakti texts.

At Gazala’s, chef and owner Gazala Halabi welcomes clients into an extension of her homeland characterized by the aromatic spices of authentic Druze cooking. Druze, an Islamic Gnostic sect found in Israel and surrounding Mediterranean countries, sustains a cuisine similar to Middle Eastern fare but with minor differences, such as substituting paper-thin bread called sagg for pita and frisbees for plates. The cuisine, which Gazala made in her own kitchen until she acquired a second, larger restaurant, has been featured by Village Voice and profiled by New York magazine.

The chefs of Darna Falafel, set on bustling Court Street, whip up freshly fried falafel spheres and crisp strips of turkey bacon to snuggle within the soft pitas and ciabatta bread of its Mediterranean sandwiches. Each dish is freshly made to order, and six salads boast drizzles of tart lemon and other dressings to help customers to attain their daily intake of vegetables and increase their daily output of healthful bragging rights. A side salad accompanies each of the menu's seven pita-wrapped sandwiches, including the popular chicken BLT and the french fry–stuffed kifta wrap.