Restaurants in Weehawken

Twin birdcages dangle from the high ceiling of Dacha's dining room, mingling with crystal chandeliers from Austria made of vintage wood. Instead of feathers, electric chandeliers fill the cages’ wire frames. This eclectic take on Old-World refinement also extends to the rest of the room, which features French-style dining chairs, damask-stenciled walls, and stone-tiled floors. The menu entrenches itself in the culinary traditions of Russia and Eastern Europe, although it also incorporates occasional outside influences. As a result, it features dishes such as polenta-crusted black sea bass alongside potato and cabbage pierogies. Additionally, the restaurant serves its own house brands of vodka, as well as premium caviar imported from Warren Buffett’s kitchen.

Amid exposed-brick walls, Aegean Turkish Restaurant’s chefs serve up Eastern Mediterranean dishes such as charcoal-grilled meats, seafood, and vegetarian items. Cold and hot appetizers, which range from whipped red caviar to zucchini pancakes with garlic yogurt, ignite appetites or cool heated remarks before they leave your tongue. Bottles of pinot grigio, chardonnay, merlot, and pinot noir prep palates for bites of grilled fillet of wild king salmon or house-specialty Sultan’s Delight, an ottoman dish comprising lamb chunks atop smoked eggplant. Throughout their meals, guests can unwind thanks to the eatery's soothing Turkish music, a belly dancer on Saturday nights, and waiters who sing a selection of Guns N’ Roses ballads.

It could be said that B.A.D. Burger's dining room operates outside the conventional boundaries of time: their grill is hot 24 hours a day and the entire menu, be it burgers or breakfast, is fair game no matter the time on the clock. Cooks fill the crispy grids of buttermilk waffles with syrup before pairing them with pieces of fried chicken and plate omelets with helpings of home fries, grits, or french fries. Fresh-baked buns envelop 8-ounce patties of beef, black beans, or garden veggies that are slathered in toppings such as guacamole, eggs, and marinara. Not a page of the menu is complete without a bevy of vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options, including vegan cheese and grass-fed tofu. Additionally, the diner's in-house sweet-makers Bad Girls Bakery, wrest pans of vegan and gluten-free brownies, cookies, and cheesecakes from the oven.

Stepping into Firebird Restaurant is like time traveling to 1912 Russia. The velvet-cushioned, curlicue-encrusted mansion—where Natalie Portman directed her short film Eve—sprang from the dreams of Baroness Irina von der Launitz, granddaughter of Saint Petersburg's turn-of-the-century mayor. A two-story entrance guards the dining room, just one of the many rooms where gourmet Russian meals and a sea of domestic and imported vodkas slake appetites. The caviar menu is sprinkled with poetic details about the roe's colors, flavors, and textures. Supping guests can choose from the main menu, and they can also opt for a dinner tasting, prix fixe meal, or private dining experience.

Suited for royalty, Firebird's decor is lush and dramatic, with vibrant curtains parting to reveal plump, cushioned chairs and fine porcelain. Marble busts contrast with the crimson wood and dining seats of the library, where gold gates corral avenues of old timey books. The ballroom's domed ceiling centers around a skylight, and the China Room's unexpected green walls, carpet, and curtains serve as a refreshing backdrop for delicate filigree accents.

Amid the whirling of flamenco dancers and lively strumming of guitarists, diners savor and share bites of bright Spanish cuisine presented on minimalistic white plates. The kitchen fills a tapas menu with tasting-size portions of seafood, meat, and vegetable delicacies, enticing guests to indulge in one bite at a time, rounding out each mix-and-match meal with a carafe of housemade sangria or exotic cocktails. Small plates include tzatziki- and cucumber-drizzled bites of lamb, spanish meatballs, and asparagus a la plancha; heartier appetites brave the build-your-own entree option, which allows customers to craft individual meals that include one hearty portion of meat or seafood and one starch, all topped with a choice of sauce or glaze and served with a helping of vegetables. Parties of up to 65 guests can rent out the space for special occasions or have baskets of Spanish specialties brought to off-site locations to add flavorful flair to parties without dousing honored guests in a demi-glace.

Taking its name from a romantic epic poem from Russia’s most celebrated poet, Onegin enchants its guests with plush finery and cuisine reminiscent of the passionate poetry, stately imperial balls, and voluminous sideburns of Pushkin’s St. Petersburg. Portraits of Russian nobility grace the ceilings, forming backdrops for crystal chandeliers that cast light upon tables decorated with verse in gold leaf. Birch trees lining walls and bar tops call to mind the restaurant’s Slavic heritage, and meals of Caspian Sea caviar, blini, wild-caught trout and chicken Kiev prepared by Ukrainian head chef Ilze Ritina awaken the palate to the rich fare of Czarist-era noblemen and ladies. As diners sup on tender veal cutlets or traditional meals of brick-oven rye bread and pickled herring, they relish in the revelry of romantic karaoke ballads and occasional burlesque-performance revues.