Chef Junior Borges will look for his favorite beach snack every time he’s back home in Brazil. The roaming vendors on Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro often carry portable charcoal grills called braziers, slung over one shoulder with a carrying strap. On the other shoulder is a styrofoam container filled with white columns of queijo coalho, a cloud of white cheese cut into neat, tiny skyscraper shapes.
All you need to do is hold up a hand. That’s what Borges can’t resist when he’s home in Rio with his feet in the sand. “The cheese guy” will crunch the portable grill into the sand and wisp fire over the edges of the cheese until they’re as marked as campfire s’mores. A shake of oregano or a drizzle of sweet honey, and it’s handed over on a skewer.
“It is absolutely one of my favorite things to eat on the beach,” Borges says. “It’s such an amazing representation of what our cuisine is.”
His version of grilled beach cheese has been on the menu at Meridian, Dallas’ extraordinary modern Brazilian restaurant, since it opened in 2021. It’s a game-changing appetizer, much like his other beach-inspired dish, the grilled octopus.
“It exemplifies what I grew up eating,” Borges says. He wanted to bring this memory to Dallas — the simple and plain pleasure of a grillable cheese. Queijo coalho grills evenly like a halloumi or bread cheese. Still, he adds a few of his own finishing touches.
They have a garden on premise at Meridian, which means fresh plucks of oregano. They paint each side of the cheese with hot honey. The fire turns it into a glaze of clinging, sticky-sweet heat. A palm smash of lime sends a quick rainstorm of tartness to blanket the smooth white cheese. It’s served on the grates of a mini grill, carrying the glow of just-plucked, fire-singed herbs. One bite tastes like citrus and smoke, all at once a sweet and salty beach. It’s a $7 vacation.
“We change the menu a lot, we’re constantly evolving, but there are certain dishes that don’t go away,” Borges says. “We don’t touch it.”
Meridian is located at 5650 Village Glen Drive, Dallas.
