NJ.COM
You can't miss The Wild Bull, a Western-themed steakhouse and saloon tucked onto a deserted stretch of Buffalo Avenue (no kidding). Opened in October by Paterson native Tim Yildiz, the building mimics a frontier town, with cowboys, jail house and stable painted onto the exterior. A giant bull's head seems to burst through the façade, signaling things to come.
Ambience: Two more brawny beasts adorn the interior. A 17-foot-wide smoke-blowing specimen with crimson eyes hangs in the split-level dining room. The adjoining saloon sports a stuffed head above the well-stocked bar. The kitschy western motif (carved rattlesnakes, bales of hay, “outhouses” for restrooms) suits the rugged space, constructed from 100-year-old barn wood.
Staff: Our server was well-intentioned but seemed nervous.
Food: Classy and casual American fare with a Tex-Mex accent. Steaks get top billing (40-ounce bone-in porterhouse, $39.50; 10-ounce filet mignon, $19.75), but there's more (the Wild Bull Cobb salad features a flour tortilla stuffed with cheese, eggs, turkey bacon, chicken and greens, $8.75; a shrimp po' boy sandwich has cornmeal battered shrimp, lettuce, tomato and Creole dressing packed into a baguette, $8.50).
Dinner kicked off with fresh, sweet cornbread laced with fiery jalapeño. Signature Bloody Marys (the Bulls**t shot blends tequila, tomato juice, Tabasco and cayenne pepper, $5.50) were rightly sassy.
Blue corn tortilla soup ($3.50) was brightly hued and well seasoned. A spunky remoulade perked up a plump pan-fried jumbo lump crab cake strewn with corn and chopped pepper ($10.95/$16.95). A super-sized salad ($8.50) of marinated roasted vegetables (zucchini, squash, assorted peppers), ripe manchego cheese and grilled flatbread over arugula, split among four, would make an A-plus no-meat main course.
Entrees hit a bull’s-eye. A special blue cheese stuffed strip steak ($21.95) harmonized crusty charred sirloin and pungent cheese.
Roadhouse short ribs ($16.50) had fork-tender beef thickly lacquered in a syrupy Memphis Mop (a tangy/sweet barbecue sauce).
That wonderful cornbread reappeared in a stuffed roasted half chicken ($12.95) moistened with tasty pan juices. Sushi quality tuna steak ($16.50) was well-seasoned and cooked rare as requested. Entrees came with choice of mashed spuds, maple whipped sweet potatoes or freshly cut “bull” fries, all terrific, and good roasted vegetables.
Some desserts ($4.50) were worth saving room for, particularly the Texas sundae (vanilla and chocolate ice cream, spiced walnuts, chocolate sauce, bananas, strawberries, topped with whipped cream and a chocolate star). Others weren’t (the salty shortcake and bland chocolate brownie).
The Wild Bull feels like a theme park, eats like a sophisticated steakhouse and drinks like a neighborhood pub. Get ready for the stampede.
DigitalCity.com
The Wild Bull Steakhouse is a one-stop good time for every member of your family, no matter their partying agenda.
Upon entering the main dining room you are greeted by a replica of a life-size bull (17 feet from horn to horn), eyes glowing and snorting smoke.
The menu, featuring American cuisine with Cajun & Tex-Mex flavors, was developed by Luigino Tripodi, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. That translates to classic eats done with a gourmet's eye for detail. It shows on every morsel on your plate.
The Bodacious Brisket Sandwich with Memphis Mop (au jus) is a standout, the Shrimp Po' Boy is also another dish not to be ignored. The Roadhouse Short Ribs are juicy, the Big Bad Bull Porterhouse is 40 ounces of meat for two people looking to share or one person who is looking to build his or her cardiologist a swimming pool.
Desserts are also amazing. Struggle to maintain your decorum (i.e. not lick your plate) after eating both the Classic Bananas Foster or the Jack Daniels Brownie.
Once you're done gorging yourself, retire to the bar. Thursdays and Saturdays feature DJs spinning the hottest dance music, Friday is when the place goes rock and roll with live bands playing until 2:30 am. The Wild Bull also offers 8 televisions, a large projection screen, Megatouch interactive games and darts.
No matter which part of the steakhouse/saloon/roadhouse you frequent, you're guaranteed a good time. No bull.
The Star Ledger Friday, November 08, 2002
After dark, Buffalo Avenue in Paterson is a wasteland of shuttered meat markets, metalsmiths, auto body shops and a truck depot packed with sleeping 16-wheelers. The area, which serves as an open-air produce market by day, is not the sort of place you'd expect to find a Western-themed steak- house/saloon named the Wild Bull.
A month ago, the tumbleweed landscape changed with the Wild Bull's grand opening. Outside, it looks as if you've stumbled upon the “Blazing Saddles» movie set. The building is painted like a frontier town, complete with a jail, a silo, a saloon and a stable. Out front is a bull's head the size of a Winnebago, festooned with fake barn shards to look as if it's ramming through the restaurant.
Wild Bull owner Tim Yildiz thinks the industrial setting is ideal for a neo-roadhouse. The inspiration for his hick-yet-hip eatery/drinkery is Hogs and Heifers in New York City, a meat district night spot where the brew of choice is Pabst and any dancer worth his or her snakeskins shakes a leg atop the bar.
“I felt there was a need for something like this for people who live and work in the area,” said Yildiz, a Paterson native. “This way, they don't have to go into the city. They have it right here.”
There is no elevated dancing at the Bull just yet. Yildiz is still experimenting with the entertainment roster but for now, the featured sound is progressive house music. You won't find twang and line-dancing at the Bull. It may look like a Lone Star watering hole but it doesn't sound like one.
“We're not country,» said Yildiz. “We're cool rustic.”
The Wild Bull mixes motifs and defies expectations. Last Friday, most Bull first-timers were enchanted by the surroundings and satisfied with the comfort cuisine. A couple of folks, however, expressed disappointment that they didn't go whole hog with the bull theme.
“We want (a) mechanical bull,” said Aldo Putignano, 53, of Clifton. “(The club) looks cool though. At first, we had a hard time finding it. We were driving up and down Crooks Avenue. Then suddenly, you see it.”
Although they have no mechanical animals, there are two bulls inside the restaurant. One, a stuffed bull's head shipped from Texas, sits over the bar with electric eyes that glow crimson. The other is a massive sculpture, 20 feet across his horns, hovering above the dining room. Both bulls blow machine smoke through their snouts.
“It's unusual,” said Ken Stier, 23, of Clifton. “When I drove up for the first time, I was like, ‘Whoah.’ It's definitely not the same old thing.”
The Bull's two rooms, a bar with a jukebox and pool table, and a two-level dining area that transforms into a dance space after 11 p.m., were constructed using wood from two 100-year-old barns Yildiz salvaged in South Jersey. The bathrooms are called outhouses, and hay-lifters, antlers, cactus plants and other homesteady adornments are scattered about the place.
It took three years to transform the building, which was formerly a pub called the Buffalo Inn. Before it was a bar, it was a slaughterhouse, according to Yildiz, who said he found animal bones in the basement.
The rural look springs from Yildiz's childhood. Growing up, he would visit his grandparents' horse farm in western Jersey. He built the restaurant for his grandfather, “a meat and potatoes man.” Sadly, his grandfather passed away a year before the Wild Bull was complete.
“My whole dream was to build a steakhouse for him,” said Yildiz. “He told me before he died, 'Don't give up.' My grandmother cried when she came here after we opened.”