Dinner in the Ironbound

The other night our nephew Mark and his wife Lucy took Michelle and me to a great Portuguese seafood restaurant in the "Ironbound" section of Newark N.J. The Ironbound is a neighborhood in Newark which is near the downtown and stretches along the Passaic River. It is roughly triangular in shape and is bounded on all three sides by railroad tracks - hence "ironbound". Many years ago it was a predominately Italian neighborhood which gradually changed over to Portuguese and is now becoming more Brazilian but with a continuing Portuguese presence.


Lucy is from Brazil originally, and lived in the Ironbound for some time prior to meeting Mark. As a result she and Mark are quite familiar with the area (they visit there a lot to eat and see friends) plus Lucy of course speaks Portuguese which is a plus.




Anyway, they wanted to take us out to dinner to celebrate Michelle's birthday, so we strapped a baby seat into my SUV, strapped Little Mark aka "The World's Cutest Grandnephew (TM)" into the baby seat and off we went.



There is a kind of a back way into the Ironbound that Mark and I both use. It involves taking I-280 east and bypassing all the Newark exits to get off in Harrison. Take a left onto Harrison Ave, take Harrison to Frank E. Rodgers Blvd, turn right and go all the way to the bridge over the Passaic River. Once over the bridge you are in the Ironbound section and then it's four blocks straight to Ferry Street which is the main drag of the area. Coming back is even easier, as there is an entrance to I-280 West from Frank E. Rodgers Blvd.



Anyway, we went to a Portuguese Restaurant called Vila Nova, which is located on the corner of Ferry Street and Niagara Street. There was free parking across Niagara Street in a bank parking lot. There was an "attendant" of sorts in the lot who sort of directed people into spaces - since my vehicle was actually in one piece when we came out of the restaurant I tipped him a couple of bucks.

Mark and Lucy chose the place based on the fact that Michelle the Birthday Girl wanted Portuguese seafood and they knew this place since Lucy used to live right across the street when they were dating. We trooped into the place and were seated at a nice big round table, a highchair was secured for Little Mark and we were ready to go.

The restaurant had lots of atmosphere and large quantities of good food. The only negative was that it was a very hot and humid night and the antiquated air conditioning system in the dining room couldn't keep up. As a result, we were somewhat uncomfortable from the heat.

However, as I said, the food was good and plentiful. We actually ended up ordering too much food, although we did eat most of it. One dish that Mark recommended was a broiled seafood combination. It was supposed to be for two people; when it came out it was more like it could have fed three to four. It contained a whole broiled lobster, a huge piece of wonderful broiled flounder, a couple of huge prawns and a bunch of scallops, shrimp, mussels, and clams.

Well it would have probably been enough, but we ended up ordering two more dishes: some broiled grouper which was very good and some wonderful salty Portuguese style spareribs. The restaurant also gave us a loaf of Portuguese sausage bread that was very good and of course the main dishes came with a huge plate of saffron rice and another plate of those tasty Portuguese fried potatoes. Naturally, this was all washed down with a pitcher of Sangria. The four adults plus the little dude managed to polish off all of the seafood platter and a good chunk of the grouper and ribs. In the midst of all this gluttony we also found time to play peek-a-boo with Little Mark by hiding behind our napkins. He thought this was hilarious. Finally, we could chow down no more and regrettably we had to say no to the great looking dessert cart and ask for the check.

On our way back to the car, Little Mark stopped to "flirt" with a little Brazilian girl of about his age (2 years) who was sitting in the Vila Nova's sidewalk cafe with her mom and dad. But alas, we dragged him away to head homeward.

We went back the same route we drove in and were all soon back at home.

I would definitely recommend this restaurant, but would caution that the portions are huge so don't overorder unless you're a big fan of doggie bags (the waitstaff seemed to have a tendency to encourage overordering). Also, try to avoid going on hot, humid days. Again, it's the Vila Nova, 265 Ferry Street, Newark, NJ 07105, telephone 973-344-8540.