Mela—A Critic’s Choice

To get a good review from Gael Greene, who was New York Magazine's most feared food critic for 40 years, you have to be extraordinary. Chanakya Bali, founder and chef at Mela on East Ridgewood Avenue, can boast such a review.

"I didn't even know she was here," Bali said. "Then someone called me and said, 'You're in New York Magazine.'"

The legendary critic's review now hangs on the wall at one of Bergen County's most popular Indian restaurants. Not only did Greene make the journey to Ridgewood for dinner, she liked what she found.

Walk by Mela's and it looks empty because most people sit in the back, despite the charming kites that line the walls of the front dining room. "It only has room for 16, and there is room for 80 in the back," Bali said. And it is in the back that the Rajasthan puppets dominate a room designed to match the name Mela, which means carnival in Hindi.

It is a name Bali, who opened Mela in 1992, chose long before the 2000 Bollywood movie "Mela" appeared on the screen. The idea was for people to come, have fun and relax and enjoy themselves they way they do at a carnival, he said.

Sparkling carousel horses line one wall of the back dining room, along with more kites—beautiful, and much more of an art form than typical American kites. Kite flying competitions, Bali said, are also typical carnival events. .

The night we were there the front was empty, but the back was busy, even though the hour was early. (Bali jokes that when his family appears in the restaurant, he makes them sit in front.)

We started with two appetizers, the chat papri and the vegetable pakora. The chat papri, made with whole wheat dough rounds, deep fried and mixed with potatoes and chickpeas tossed in yogurt was neither overly sweet nor spicy, and the tamarind sauce that came with it gave it some punch.

Our favorite was the vegetable pakora, assorted fritters with mint sauce. And for the uninitiated, the mint sauce is made with jalapeno so if you are one of an increasing minority of Americans not used to Indian, Mexican or Thai food, you want to take it easy on the sauce.

For the main course, my partner had the salmon special, and I had the chicken "supreme" special. Both were served over a bed of lightly cooked white onions. Could we have wished for a bit of variation in the onion bed for both main courses however pretty they looked? Yes. But both dishes were tasty and enjoyable.

Bali said in a later interviews that the main difference between Northern Indian cooking, his specialty, and Southern Indian is that in the north, food is less spicy and more of a mixture of tandoori and curry."We have a lot of barbequed meat," he said. "In the south, there is not much meat."

And indeed, his menu features a lot of chicken, lamb and fish. With his curries and some other dishes, diners can choose mild, medium, hot or extra hot.

Bali was born in India, studied at the Culinary Art Institute there, then went on to train in Vienna before coming back to get married and work as an executive chief for the Sheraton Hotel chain in India.

In 1986, a friend with restaurants on Long Island invited him to become an executive chef and sponsored his entry into the United States. Six years later, a friend who owned a Blimpie's in Ridgewood, mentioned that a nearby place had gone out of business. Bali came out to look at it with his wife, who liked the town, and decided to open his own place.

Bali says the current recession has hurt. "Last year was tough," he said. "This year is better. But the town is not helping. All of a sudden we are being charged $100 a month 'sewer tax' on top of the other taxes. That's $1,200 new a year. Ridgewood does not help restaurants."

And that's even though the town is increasingly reliant on restaurants. "When I came here there were 20 restaurants in the whole town." Bali said. "Today, there are 65, and they come and go all the time."

He says about a quarter of his business is takeout and that a lot of the rest is made up of repeat customers, especially families. While we talked, family reservations kept coming in, complete with high chair orders.

It appears if you want to introduce your children to other cuisines, this is one popular place to do it.

Food: Excellent

Service: Good

Entrée Price Range: $11.95 -$18.95

Atmosphere: Very Pleasant

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