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Mantra (restaurant)

Mantra Restaurant

Mantra was a French–Indian Fusion cuisine restaurant located in Temple Place of the Ladder District of Boston, Massachusetts designed by Monica Ponce de Leon and Nader Tehrani. It was cited as a factor in the transformation of the Ladder District into a more appealing part of the city of Boston.[1][2] The restaurant featured an avant-garde style design. The food served was compared to Nouvelle cuisine.[3] The restaurant also featured a hookah bar.[3] They began selling high-end Voss bottled water after opening in 2001. Voss was a new brand at that time and Mantra offered it in part to draw attention to their unusual selections.[4]

The dining room was located in what was previously the lobby of a bank. The restaurant retained some aspects of the bank's decor with a high ceiling and a marble bar.[3] The restaurant's restrooms drew attention due to their unconventional design. The stalls used One-way mirrors as doors and the urinals were located in the center of the room and were filled with ice.[5]

Although it was initially slated to open in January 2001, Mantra did not open until June of that year.[3] It initially featured an Indian chef who had worked in French, Mediterranean and Indian style restaurants.[6] The owners of Mantra had previously owned several traditional style Indian restaurants in Boston.[7][8]

In April 2012, parent company One World Cuisine announced that it would be closing Mantra, along with the company's flagship restaurant Café of India in Harvard Square.[9] In July 2013, the property was sold at foreclosure auction for $1.7 million to Amir Youshaei, owner of Paz Jewelry.[10]

References

  1. ^ Teitell, Beth (October 25, 2001). "Downtown neighborhood tries to climb up the social Ladder". The Boston Herald. Archived from the original on November 6, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  2. ^ Weiss, Joanna (February 9, 2003). "Ladder to Success Step by Step". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  3. ^ a b c d Nadeau, Robert (August 9, 2001). "Find enlightenment in trans-ethnic food". The Boston Phoenix. Archived from the original on November 2, 2011. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  4. ^ "Restaurants open bottled-water floodgates". The Reading Eagle. Originally published in the Wall Street Journal. March 9, 2002. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  5. ^ Raymond P. Fisk; Stephen J. Grove; Joby John (August 2007). Lise Johnson (ed.). Interactive Services Marketing (3 ed.). Boston: Cengage Learning. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-618-64180-2.
  6. ^ Schaffer, Mat (June 19, 2002). "Indian spices and global appeal are mantra for chef Thomas John". The Boston Herald. Archived from the original on November 6, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  7. ^ Heuser, Stephen (August 3, 2000). "Indian food goes naan-traditional". The Boston Phoenix. Archived from the original on December 26, 2010. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  8. ^ Shartin, Emily (April 15, 2001). "Family Satisfies Area's Taste for Indian Food". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on February 1, 2013. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  9. ^ "One World Cuisine closing down flagship restaurants Mantra, Café of India". IndUS Business Journal. April 19, 2012. Retrieved November 29, 2015.
  10. ^ Grillo, Thomas (July 22, 2013). "Hub jeweler buys failed Mantra restaurant for $1.7M at auction". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved November 29, 2015.