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]

Mantra Restaurant

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 (25 October 2001). "Downtown neighborhood tries to climb up the social Ladder". The Boston Herald. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  2. Weiss, Joanna (9 February 2003). "Ladder to Success Step by Step". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  3. Nadeau, Robert (9 August 2001). "Find enlightenment in trans-ethnic food". The Boston Phoenix. Archived from the original on 2 November 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  4. "Restaurants open bottled-water floodgates". The Reading Eagle. Originally published in the Wall Street Journal. 9 March 2002. Retrieved 28 April 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 (19 June 2002). "Indian spices and global appeal are mantra for chef Thomas John". The Boston Herald. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  7. Heuser, Stephen (3 August 2000). "Indian food goes naan-traditional". The Boston Phoenix. Archived from the original on 26 December 2010. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  8. Shartin, Emily (15 April 2001). "Family Satisfies Area's Taste for Indian Food". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  9. "One World Cuisine closing down flagship restaurants Mantra, Café of India". IndUS Business Journal. 19 April 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  10. Grillo, Thomas (22 July 2013). "Hub jeweler buys failed Mantra restaurant for $1.7M at auction". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
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