Oceanos | Where Culinary Tradition Meets Contemporary Design
Posted by estiator at 20 July, at 21 : 06 PM Print
THOUGH THERE are several restaurants by the same name within the metropolitan area, at this Oceanos, the Oceanos Oyster Bar & Sea Grill (2-27 Saddle River Road, Fair Lawn NJ, 201-796-0546), culinary tradition and contemporary design merge to create a unique seafood bistro—and an unparalleled dining experience. The sleek, sophisticated dining room and bar present a mood that is both exciting and soothing, with natural materials and a chocolate brown, slate blue and ivory color scheme that make the rooms elegant as well as timeless.
To create the menu, the restaurant’s owners, the Panteleakis family, have drawn on their Mediterranean heritage for cuisine that emanates from the sea. Excellent ingredients are treated to time-honored cooking techniques, with presentations that are modern and flavors fresh and light. Fish is hand-selected each morning at the market, the olives and olive oil are from the family’s own groves back home in Greece and the wonderfully rustic bread is baked fresh each and every day in the restaurant’s kitchen. Most important, the welcoming and lighthearted spirit that characterizes Oceanos extends from the greeting at the door to the gracious and friendly dining room and bartending staff.
Executive Chef Peter Panteleakis brings over 40 years of culinary experience to the Oceanos kitchen. Charming, gracious and hospitality-obsessed, he lives by the following quote: “We want you to feel as comfortable here at Oceanos as you are in your own home—and not in a restaurant.”
Believe it or not, the chef’s day begins well before dawn, when he visits the Fulton Fish Market to personally choose all the seafood on Oceanos’ menu. When he returns to his kitchen, he bakes the restaurant’s delicious bread, which, when it is served at your table, is your first clue that your lunch or dinner at Oceanos will be a spectacular one. To that end, the chef has carefully trained his cooks to follow his exacting standards.
Manager Nikos Panteleakis likes to say that he is “an architect by training and a restaurateur by DNA.” The creator of the Oceanos concept, he led a professional team who paid close attention to every detail of the design, from proper lighting placement to the ivory welting on the chocolate brown, quilted chair backs. He also collaborated closely with the chef to craft the menu and applied his extensive wine knowledge to the development of the restaurant’s impressive list. With everything in place, Nikos has now turned his attention to his guests’ comfort. “My goal is to make each and every customer’s experience a pleasurable one,” he promises.
