A food lover's guide to "Little Portugal"

[Roy Hersh]

Growing up in NY and as a serious foodie early in life, I started to catch the Port and "everything-Portugal-bug" in my mid-twenties and early thirties, already working hard in NYC's scorching hot restaurant biz, (that was in a renaissance at the time, with both "nouvelle cuisine" and the US intro to Sous Vide at that moment). I was told about The Ironbound, a Portuguese enclave in Newark, NJ which was just a short drive through the Holland Tunnel. This article brought back memories of many visits to this neighborhood and drinking some pretty awful Portuguese white and reds from small plastic cups or occasionally, an actual "wine glass" ... but the food, stole my heart early and often. My deep love of Caldo Verde stems from some rustic dinners there before heading to concerts or casinos down in Atlantic City which had just been created. This was before Newark had been changed and the Budweiser plant belched smoke from its huge stack; gentrification would not come for another 10-15 years.

Here is a GREAT and truly nostalgic look back (and forward) to today's Ironbound; for true foodies: http://ny.eater.com/2016/2/26/11117028/ ... und-newark

[John M.]

Been to a couple of these...and a few others not on the list but just great, too. Great read....