Reviews

ZAGAT Review 2007 / 2008

"A piece of N'Awlins" near the PATH is the deal on this Hoboken Cajun-Creole where work-weary former "frat boys" dig the reliably "spicy" "happy-hour" scene at the bar that's chased down with some "satisfying" bayou vittles; some say it's just the right cure for a jambalaya "fix" especially if you've "never been to Louisiana."

THE HUDSON CURRENT
02/23/2006
By: Diana Schwaeble
Current Editor

Mardi Gras
Oddfellows honors the Big Easy

Oddfellows, the Louisiana-style restaurant and bar, prepares to kick off their annual weeklong celebration of Mardi Gras. This year, the celebration becomes more poignant as they remember Hurricane Katrina. Oddfellows salutes its sister city in shades of purple, gold, and green, as New Orleans continues the traditional carnival festivities.

New Orleans style

Those who haven't ever experienced Mardi Gras in Louisiana can experience it from Feb.23 through Fat Tuesday. It has become one of the premier seasonal events in Hoboken, giving people a taste of New Orleans right here in Hudson County.

Walking in you might feel that you have been transported to a tavern on Bourbon Street with the festive lights and beads strung on every available surface. Even the overhead bar lights have been transformed with the traditional colors. A colorful float takes center stage in the room. Positioned high above the crowds, costumed staff members will throw beads, masks, and trinkets every night. To add to the ambiance, live jazz bands will perform all week.

The Voodudes, a seven piece Louisiana funk band, will play on Fat Tuesday (Feb. 28). The band has played every year during Mardi Gras since Oddfellows opened 13 years ago.

"It's the party of the year where everybody is here just to have fun," said Jerry Maher, one of the owners of Oddfellows.

To help with the bead toss, there will be models on the premises making sure everyone looks festive.

"People love the beads," said Maher. "Everyone really loves to catch them."

According to Maher, every year the celebration gets a little bigger, especially on Fat Tuesday when there is a line at the door by 4 p.m.

"All you see are smiling faces," said Maher. "It seems like people come out in a positive mood."

Cajun cooking

But Mardi Gras isn't all bands and beads. There are traditional foods along with the party. They serve Cajun and Creole food that would make any transplanted New Orleans native proud.

The homemade, buttery cornbread served warm out of the oven is a delicious complement to the spicy food. The rich Etouffee, which comes in a chicken or crawfish variety, is a savory stew served over a bed of rice. It is flavored with peppers, onions, and spices and simmered for hours.

One of their signatures dishes is the Jambalaya that comes in a seafood or chicken variety. Jambalaya is a hearty mix of rice and meat that is flavored with Cajun spices. The chicken comes with big chunks of andouille sausage, which give this dish an extra kick.

On Fat Tuesday, there will be a "Jambalaya Shack" in the bar area just serving bowls of Jambalaya and crawfish Etouffee.

Fat Tuesday

On Fat Tuesday patrons are encouraged to come in costume and masks for the grand finale, which includes the crowning of the King and Queen. According to Maher, the identity of the King and Queen is kept secret until Fat Tuesday. The special ceremony, which includes the crown and the unique beads, is kicked off with the parade around the bistro as the band plays, "When the Saints Go Marching In."

And don't forget to try their signature drink, a red punch called a "hurricane." It is the best rum punch this side of the Bayou.

Oddfellows in Hoboken, (80 River St.) celebrates Mardi Gras with a week long celebration. There will be live music, beads, masks and more at both locations. For more information, please visit: www.oddfellowsrest.com or call: (201) 656-9009 in Hoboken.

Star Ledger
     The good times roll on and on at Hoboken's Oddfellows Rest, a first-class Cajun-Creole eatery whose impeccably cooked,creatively seasoned food may come as a shock to restaurant-goers used to coarse imitations. Oddfellows Rest takes its name from a New Orleans cemetery, but there's nothing moribund about the lively,spirited cooking turned out by Louisiana verteran Wayne Haney. This isn't the crude, cliched, heavily peppered product passed off as New Orleans cooking by so many half-hearted kitchens. From the bracing seafood gumbo through the robust red beans and rice to the ravishing pecan pie, this food comes from another dimension altogether. Mint juleps, lifted from an adjoining page of Southern culture, are on hand for a sparkling accompaniment. English-born co-owner Jerry Maher, a self-described "Wall Street boy" who now handles the business side of things, and his future wife Liz opened this downtown spot as a tavern about 31/2 years ago. A year later, New Orleans-born Liz Maher -- a dancer who'd lived through the Hoboken renaissance -- was inspired to import the cooking of her home turf to their struggling bar. The response was so enthusiastic that Oddfellows Rest doubled in size a year ago, taking over the space of an adjacent real estate brokerage. The establishment still has a cheerily raffish air befitting its near-waterfront location next to the PATH station.The spacious taproom opening into a pool parlor hosts New Orleans musicians on Thursday and acoustic performers on Sunday. Two brick-lined, painting-hung dining rooms to the side offer a more formal setting. For al fresco dining there's an outdoor courtyard and a pleasant streetside strip from which diners can gaze across the Hudson at the Twin Towers. As refreshing as the view, is the generous, moderately priced fare. Flavors are at once subtle and intense. Drawing an important distinction between spicing and seasoning. Maher assures initiates that flavor counts for more than heat. Oddfellows Rest has drawn more than local recognition. It made news in its specialized field when it was hailed by America's Catfish Institute as one of the top 10 U.S. restaurants serving farm-raised catfish. Lucky diners who sample that dish will ratify the ranking. An extensive menu is supplemented by artful specials. On a recent visit, one excellent special appetizer consisted of creamy sauteed crabmeat and artichoke hearts ($6.95) enlivened with onion butter on fresh leaves of baby spinach. The texture was as gratifying as the taste. A winning starter from the regular menu was the savory shrimp remoulade ($7.95), its pureed vegetables lightly sparked by Creole mustard. The overall effect was upbeat and gently pungent, not at all sweetish. Lightly breaded nuggets of okra, served in grand portions, were indubitably authentic. So was the peppery but well-balanced gumbo ($4.95 cup; $6.95 bowl) poured around crawfish complete with pincers. We passed,however, on the alligator and boudin sausages ($5.95) Among Oddfellow entrees, one night's special catfish fillet ($13.95) was a melting, meaty delight. Panseared lightly rubbed in flour and daubed with a colorful sauce of garlic and ginger, accompanied by a bowl of green tomatoes, it proved to be a many-flavored treat. Another fine special ($13.95) brought good fresh cod (substituting for salmon) together with shallots and sauteed spinach in a zippy mustard sauce, all topped by a tangle of shoestring fried potatoes. This was a dish worth lingering over. Savory crawfish etoufee ($12.95) slowly simmered with onion, celery and peppers in seafood stock and served with rice, proved to be another stomach-warming pleasure. Finally there was the simple, straight-forward bowl of un-mushy red beans and rice ($9.95) served with shallots and torpedo-like slices of memorably well-spicedd Andouille sausage. This "traditional meal of laundry days" provided deep and rousing satisfaction. Haney, a former pastry cook, kept the quality level high with his hand-crafted desserts (a remarkable $4.95 each), as impressive in quantity as quality. His four show pieces are that fabulously rich pecan pie, cinnamon cheesecake seemingly laced with brandy, a first-rate, raisiny bread pudding and a dense chocolate mousse with a surprise bonus of toffee at its core. This is convincing food, only lightly modified for tamer Northern taste buds. Fans of Cajun or Creole cooking will be entranced; suspicious novices will find it a revelation. Like good New Orleans jazz, the food at Oddfellows just keep swinging.

 USA Today
     NON-FRENCH DINING: The Catfish Institute, after scouring the USA's restaurants to see which do best with the farm-raised version of the fish, has crowned these winners: Taylor Grocery & Restaurant, Taylor, Miss.; Oddfellows Rest, Hoboken, N.J.; Jax Fish House, Boulder, Colo.; Hagy's Catfish Hotel, Shiloh, Tenn.; Cafe Aspen, Fort Worth; Five Feet, Laguna Beach, Calif.; Daphne Lodge, Cordela, Ga.; Catfish Cafe, Lynbrook, N.Y.; Green Street Grill, Cambridge, Mass.; and The Ark, Riverside, Ala.

 ZAGAT Review 2004
     Hoboken earns the honorific "New Orleans of the North" thanks to this "fun Cajun-Creole" "hot spot" serving "comfort food in the ya-ya style"; they pack in the "after-work yuppies" who "roll up their sleeves", shout "oo-wee" then tuck into "good, solid" fare like "fabulous jambalaya" "at reasonable prices", and "if the cornbread doesn't blow you away the Hurricanes definitely will!"

 ZAGATsurvey
     Top 3 Cajun New Jersey
Well-seasoned Cajun food, a "nice patio" and "happening bar scene" gives diners an "excellent taste of New Orleans" at this Hoboken mainstay; some claim the "decent" edibles are overshadowed by the pub, which they dub a "fun joint."