Just off of Ferry Street in Newark’s Ironbound , the heart of New Jersey’s Portuguese and Brazilian community, Boi Na Brasa Churrascaria is tucked in the back of a small shopping center. The restaurant is not as big or as flashy as other Brazilian steakhouses, but you will leave Boi Na Brasa (“beef on the grill”) with a belly full of satisfying meats, and some money still in your pocket.
Source: www.boinabrasa.com
Boi Na Brasa has a full menu of Brazilian dishes – Feijoada (black bean stew with pork), Picadinhos (grilled meat cubes), Muqueca de Peixe (fish stew) – but we visited for the Rodízio – grilled meats of all kinds, sliced off of long metal skewers at your table. Pay one price and the friendly servers will keep offering you more meat until you beg them to stop. Our group ate grilled chicken thighs (very good), pork sausage, beef short ribs (excellent), sirloin steak, roast beef, filet mignon wrapped in bacon (need I say more?), skirt steak, and chicken hearts (not as tasty as Peruvian anticuchos), all in one sitting. Not only do you get all the barbecued meat any carnivore could hope for, you get the salad bar that includes salad (unnecessary IMHO), mango slices, rice, beans, feijoada, fried yucca and plantains, among other things. My advice: go easy on the salad bar and pace yourself with the meats. Don’t worry, the meat keeps coming, so you don’t have to say yes to every round. If you have any space left, the flan and fruit mousses are very good.
The restaurant is bigger inside than it looks from the outside, with about 15 tables for four. You can’t see the entrance from Adams Street. It’s in the back corner of a shopping center next to a Casa do Pao de Queijo bakery. The decor is Brazilian rustic, with brick walls, wooden beams on the ceiling, and some great murals on the walls, including one (above) that will give vegetarians nightmares. Service is fast and attentive. Many customers speak Portuguese, but English works fine too. Prices are reasonable compared to other, fancier, Brazilian BBQ joints. Note, however, that an automatic 15% service charge is added to your bill.
Update
Sorry to see that Miriam’s is now closed due to a fire that caused major damage on May 1, 2011. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.
Review (April 1, 2011)
Miriam’s Restaurant is one of the many blue collar Latino spots throughout New Jersey serving fresh homemade food, at fast food prices. Here, the food is Peruvian: rotisserie chicken, anticuchos (beef heart skewers), papas a la huancaina (potatoes in a spicy cream sauce), rice and beans. The menu changes daily. Order whatever looks good at the counter. Sancocho de Pollo (an excellent chicken broth with vegetables, short grain rice and a chunk of beef on the bone) is excellent – the perfect lunch on a cold and rainy day. There are tamales and desserts (Leche Asada – Peruvian flan) you can order to go and Inka Cola in the drinks case. Soup, meat, rice and beans, and a soda total less than $10.
There are about ten tables, and a loud television. The language at Miriam’s is mostly Spanish, but you can get by in English with some patience, and a smile.
The food truck that led to the Bloomfield restaurant can be found in warmer months on Mulberry Street in Newark, and at the Summit and Montclair farmers markets. Check @taqueriAutentic for the current location.
Widely known for their custard cup pastries, Pasteis de Nata.
Links
The New York Times
On the opposite side of Newark’s Ironbound, away from hectic Ferry Street, Taste of Portugal serves up very strong Portuguese classics: Shrimp in Garlic, grilled Portuguese sausage (chourico) (served sliced, not flaming, unfortunately), Mariscada (seafood stew), Broiled Codfish, and Pork and Clams.
Filet Mignon on a Stone
Also on the menu are Spanish dishes like Paella (Valenciana and Marinera), and steaks, including Filet Mignon on a Stone to cook at your table, drenched with garlic butter.
There’s a lively bar to the right of the entrance; to the left is the roomy, comfortable dining room. Service is friendly and not too stuffy.
For abundant fresh Portuguese seafood, you can’t do better than Seabra’s Marisqueira on Madison Street in Newark’s Ironbound.
At the bar, where there’s usually a European football match on television, or past the glass-enclosed kitchen in the casual dining room, Seabra’s is the place to enjoy heaping cauldrons of steaming mussels, clams, shrimp and cod. Garlic shrimp or garlic cockles are an excellent appetizer. Grilled sardines taste like the ones served on Algarve beaches. You’re missing out if your table doesn’t order one of these: Mariscada (lobster, clams, mussels, shrimp and scallops in tomato sauce over rice), Frutos do Mar na Cataplana (a similar mix of seafood plus Portuguese chourico served in a copper pot), or my favorite, Açorda de Marisco (shrimp, clams, mussels, scallops and Portuguese bread cubes with olive oil, garlic and a poached egg on top!). Other entrees include Gambas Grelhadas (head-on prawns in garlic sauce), fish dishes, and traditional Portuguese grilled meats. Wash it down with a Vinho Verde or a pitcher of red or white Sangria. Portions are large. I’ve never had room for dessert.
Portuguese is spoken here, often, but there are no difficulties for English-speakers. Service is incredibly efficient and very friendly. You’ll find many families with kids of all ages in the dining room.
BBQ
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Indian
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Italian
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Japanese
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The restaurant is bigger inside than it looks from the outside, with about 15 tables for four. You can’t see the entrance from Adams Street. It’s in the back corner of a shopping center next to a Casa do Pao de Queijo bakery. The decor is Brazilian rustic, with brick walls, wooden beams on the ceiling, and some great murals on the walls, including one (above) that will give vegetarians nightmares. Service is fast and attentive. Many customers speak Portuguese, but English works fine too. Prices are reasonable compared to other, fancier, Brazilian BBQ joints. Note, however, that an automatic 15% service charge is added to your bill.
