One of Newark Avenue’s shuttered restaurant spaces will be springing to life as a tough year for hospitality comes to a close, as a new Brazilian experience from the owners of a top Portuguese eatery will start serving diners on December 8.
Back in October, we broke the news about Tamborim Bar & Grill’s impending arrival at 130 Newark Avenue. Michael Casalinho, who owns the nearby Broa Bistro, took over the space earlier this year and started revamping the former pub with a refreshed bar and colorful Amazon-themed décor throughout.
Casalinho, who grew up in Newark the son of Portuguese immigrants, has drawn up a menu that will feature bar snacks and finger food in addition to more substantial entrees. Mains at the restaurant will include feijoada, a Brazilian black bean stew, and moqueca, a seafood dish with curry and spices.
Other dishes teased by the restaurant’s Instagram account include mandioca, a traditional Brazilian staple of crispy pork belly with fried yuca, and bobó de camarão, a chowder-like shrimp dish in a ground cassava with coconut milk, herbs, and ginger.
The cocktail program at Tamborim Bar & Grill will make a big effort to use Brazilian liquors in their drinks including cachaça, a distilled spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice. Other libations include the restaurant’s spin on a old fashioned dubbed Old Smokey, which features mezcal, lime juice, pineapple ginger, and tangerine.
The restaurant hopes to have every Brazilian beer they can get their hands on flowing at the space and will sport a curated list of Spanish and Portuguese wines to round out their drink program. While the formal restaurant is launching today, a second portion in the rear of the building sporting a high-end cocktail bar will regularly feature live samba music and launch sometime during 2021.
Tamborim Bar & Grill will be opening their initial dinner service with 25% capacity and will eventually have to-go food available in the coming weeks. The restaurant does not have an official website up and running just yet, but they can be followed on Instagram at the handle @tamborim_bar for updates.
