Seeking best Portuguese South River

Fernandes in Sayreville is closed today and we have a troop to feed. Should we head to Newark for tried and true, our should we take a chance and make our first trip to The Portuguese Fisherman or some better place over there? Have never been to South River before.

Portuguese Fisherman is fine. Other options are Costa Verde or Mar Belo.

Sabor du Brasil in West Long Branch is good and cheap to boot.

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Grazi! Which is the best with a liquor license do you think?

Costa Verde maybe.

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It’s a VERY good day to hunker down with Portuguese food! Let us know where you end up!

I’m not sure how many people you have but the bar area at costa Verde is my vote. It is cheaper than dining in the “restsurant” area.

I’m a big fan of their garlic shrimp, chorizo, and mariscada. One order of each to share is probably enough for 3 people. Make sure to attack that shrimp sauce with some bread.

Just generally curious. Is this Portuguese Portuguese or Brazilian Portuguese?

I was overruled. We’re going to Jimmy’s in Asbury.

Also a good choice on a day like this!

@bobcat, you’ll find both versions up in the Ironbound; not sure about the ones in South River.

We have friends who live in Manhattan. Her husband is Brazilian and I know she’s mentioned ‘enclaves’ of Brazilians. (Perhaps my favorite group of people!)

Ria Mar in South River wasn’t bad. Ate at the bar a few years ago. Decent white Sangria, good bread, and some amazing fried grouper bites.

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Day late and a dollar short to be of any help (yes that is the story of my life)…anywho, my recommendation would have been Costa Verde with a second place recommendation being the Armory in Perth Amboy. The latter being rodizio like Fernandes.

You can NEVER go wrong with Jimmy’s I was there Saturday night and got my chicken scarp fill, hope you enjoyed.

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What do you find to be the primary difference between Portuguese Portuguese or Brazilian Portuguese?

Also better late than never, Welcome to Hungry Onion!!! Please feel free to tell us more about yourself here:

Where about in Jersey are you located? Always a pleasure to meet new members of the group!!

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I may be totally off-base, but to me it’s that Portuguese has paella, while Brazilian has grilled meat.

The main problem with Costa Verde is that when you are coming from the south, unless you have a detailed map of the area. you have to drive a long ways north to find a U-turn on Route 9 so you can get to it.

The Portuguese aren’t particularly good with meat, whereas Brazilians of course have the pampa cattle-range history.

A Portuguese restaurant ideally is a Mediterranean-style place known for fish dishes, chicken, or pork.

However, most of the Portuguese population in NJ stems from the early 1900s and again in the mid 90s, so most of the restaurants have adapted due to the popularity and abundance of meat in this country.

There are little to no new Portuguese immigrants, thus most of the restaurants are less of what you would typically find in Portugal, also due to the different clientele attending.

A Brazilian owned spot with Portuguese dishes, or a Portuguese owned spot with Brazilian dishes is common to find. Most Portuguese owned churrascarias offer picanha and various “Brazilian” cuts of meat.

Granted, of course there is an actual overlap in a few dishes between Portugal and Brazil; bacalhau is popular in Brazil, and feijoada is popular in Portugal, etc.

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