Solar Do Minho
15 Cleveland St, Belleville, NJ
(973) 844-0500
Sometimes, a man just wants meat. Prodigious amounts of hunks of flesh, simply salted, grilled on a spit. A desire that returns us to simpler times, when men were men and went out to hunt tasty animals, women stayed in the cave and took care of the children, we all wore tanned skins, and giant wooly mammoths and sabretooth tigers roamed the earth.
Okay, maybe it really wasn’t quite like that, but men (and women) can still satisfy that meaty desire in Northern New Jersey, particularly in the Newark/Ironbound area, where many Brazillian and Portuguese churrascarias will prepare rodizio, a veritable never-ending parade of spit roasted meats on skewers, which only stops when you’ve finally told them you’ve had enough. One of my favorite places to engage in mass meat consumption is Solar do Minho, a Portuguese-Brazilian restaurant in Belleville, just outside of Newark. Solar do Minho is not by far the largest rodizio chrrascaria in the Newark area, and it lacks the huge salad bars of other places like Seabra’s Rodizo, but what it lacks in frills it far makes up for in the quality and variety of its meats.
Solar do Minho as seen from Cleveland Street in Belleville.
Solar do Minho’s bar scene
Main dining room at Solar Do Minho
Bacon Wrapped Turkey, being de-skewered. One of the dozen or so varieties of meat that is brought to you in never-ending rotation.
A plate of rice with fried bananas, one of the side dishes.
Solar Do Minho also has really good french fries.
A vinegary relish and ground sassafras, which is used as a condiment for the rice and beans.
Spit roasted Virginia Ham.
A plate with rice and beans, french fries, Chorizo Sausage, Ham, and Chicken Leg. This only two or three minutes after the parade of meat starts.
Octopus appetizer
Cataplana, a copper vessel for cooking Portuguese seafood dishes.
Seafood a La Cataplana
Pork and Clams
Grilled Whole Fish
Broiled Mahi Mahi
Grilled Pineapple with Cinnamon and Sugar
June 2, 2006 at 3:29 pm
This is maybe five minutes away from my house and is my new favorite Portuguese place. The rodizio really is Ironbound quality, but the seafood is not to be missed if you’re not in a red-meat mood. The grouper is never overdone, and there were clams in a “green sauce” (really cilantro and lots, lots, lots of garlic) on the specials menu at some point last month.
Of course, we really don’t want seafood, right? ~_^
July 3, 2006 at 12:50 pm
[...] In addition to Alinea, Malnati’s and Chicago Hot Dogs, the other place I really wanted to go during my trip to the Windy City was Fogo. In Northern New Jersey, we have our pick of perhaps at least two dozen Brazilian churrascarias, but Fogo de Chão has the reputation for being the very best in the entire country, in terms of both the quality and variety of its meats and excellent salad bar. [...]
September 14, 2006 at 11:58 pm
[...] Newark has a number of really fine churrasquerias. I’m fond of Solar do Minho (although technically its in Bellevile), Mediterranean Manor and Brazilia Grill. However, for the 30 odd bucks per person at some of these places, you’d better be awfully hungry. And sometimes you just want the top cuts of meat. [...]