Brazilian Restaurants--Eats...

[+ Axiom2001]

In the "Exotica II" thread, some of the gracious respondents began to list their favorite restaurants or places to eat while in Rio and Salvador. May I implore all of ya' to list at least one to two of your fav places to eat/dine in Rio, Sao Paulo, and Salvador. (I have already listed those places which have been cited in "EII" thread. In October I plan to be in Brazil from October 2 until the 22nd if everything goes as planned. (Thanks, men...!)

[+ Axiom2001]

Since I posted this thread earlier today-- I went on my merry way doing my chores, etc. around my place. I decided to return to see if anyone had come to the site and thread and had made that solicited request; well, to my slight chagrin, no one had journeyed here: I decided to read Aaaron's thread about a hotel in the Copacabana area that has a balcony which would afford a view of the beach. Well, to my delight, I again ran across a very valuable site which this respondent cited: http://www.Ipanema.co.

I browsed it, again, and guess what? There is an area about food and restaurants. MEN, I still would like your suggestions!

 

Also, please encourage and inform first time visitors to this site; it contains a plethora of information which I have yet to read.

 

Ok, thanks again for all of your guidance in ALL areas. I am on my way to formulate a worthwhile trip which will be my belated birthday gift to self! I also want to engage a "hot" man to wine and dine and please me later in celebration of this special day in my life... I anticipate its taking place in Rio or San Paulo, or I just might let it happen in all three cities while I am holidaying in this beautiful land (I've viewed films and videos...)

[trilingual]

RIO: In spite of it's stubborn refusal to take credit cards, for many reasons I have a nostalgic, sentimental fondness for the "Trattoria" on r. Fernando Mendes, around the corner from Maxim's by the gay beach in Copacabana. Gay-friendly, nice food, and non-humongous portions (by Rio standards).

 

Another nice Italian place, on Av. Atlântica, is Dom Camillo, with a sidewalk café area.

 

The following places, downtown, are "dressier," i.e., at a minimum you should wear long trousers and a shirt with buttons, as they get a business crowd. As with virtually anything downtown, go during the day on a weekday. After dark or on weekends, almost everything is closed. The first "must" downtown is the Café do Teatro, in the basement of the Theatro Municipal (entrance on the Av. Rio Branco side of the theater). Step in from the street and be transported from Rio to the set of Verdi's "Nabucco!" The food is not quite up to the stunning Assyrian Art Nouveau decor, but you'll do fine, especially at the buffet. Have a leisurely lunch, soak up the operatic atmosphere, hum a few bars of "Va, pensiero" to yourself, check out the majestic men's room, then prepare yourself for the culture shock as you stumble back out onto the streets of 21st Century Rio.

 

The second "must" downtown is that glorious tropical temple to the Belle Epoque, the Confeitaria Colombo. Sandwiches and light meals downstairs. The restaurant is upstairs, on the second floor (use the elevator). There is a new chef, and the food, tired for years, once again matches the splendor of the surroundings. At lunch there is both an à la carte menu and a prix fixe buffet. At my most recent lunch at Colombo we struck gold, as the buffet featured Bahian specialties and everything was delectable. The good friend I was with, a very-long-time airline employee who has been everywhere but somehow had never gotten to Brazil, spent the afternoon groaning orgasmically over the moqueca de peixe and bobó de camarão. We ALMOST didn't make it to Estação! It was that good!

 

For a late afternoon high tea downtown, the upstairs café/tea room at the architecturally interesting Centro Cultural do Banco do Brasil (CCBB) is worth a stop. The CCBB always has worthwhile events and exhibits on, as do the other cultural centers in the immediate vicinity.

 

Another good place for exotic Bahian food (strongly African influenced, reminiscent in some ways of Creole cuisine from Louisiana) is Yemanjá, in Ipanema on the main drag, av. Visconde de Pirajá, 128-A near the Praça Gral. Osório. Try to go with someone, as the portions really are for two. The food is excellent. Wash it down with ice cold CERPA beer, a good regional brand from the Northeast not seen everywhere in Rio.

 

For Minas food, there's Mala e Cuia, r. Raimundo Correia, 34 in Copacabana. Again, go with someone, if possible, because portions are huge. I'm partial to the pork loin (lombinho de porco) but all the typical dishes are available. Minas food is plain and hearty, in contrast to Bahian food, which is exotic and assertively seasoned.

 

Portuguese food: Friends recently told me they very much enjoyed their meal at a place called Alfaia, on r. Inhangá, 30-B. This is a small one block diagonal street that runs between Barata Ribeiro and Av. Copacabana; the best way to describe it is that it's near the corner with Av. Copacabana, and r. Inhangá is kind of "in between" r. República do Peru and Fernando Mendes. Portuguese food is quite different from Brazilian food. It uses a lot of salt cod ("bacalhao") of course. I understand Alfaia makes a mean "bacalhao com natas" or salt cod in cream, which when well done is a delicious dish!

 

Big splurge: After years of only being open for dinner, it appears that the St. Honoré restaurant atop the Meridien hotel on Copacabana may be open for lunch again. If it is, make reservations and go, maybe on your last day in Rio. This requires some dressing up (check to see if there's a dress code) but if you don't need a coat and tie by all means go at lunch time and try to get a window table. The food, supervised by Paul Bocuse, is wonderful, and the view of Copacabana curving away at your feet is heart-stopping. At night prices will be more expensive and the view not as worthwhile, in my humble opinion.

 

SAO PAULO: Zillions of restaurants, it's the dining-out capital of Brazil. If you want to get really serious about it, a good place to start is to check out the listings in the Guia Quatro Rodas, or buy a copy of Veja (the Brazilian newsweekly) at any newstand when you're in São Paulo. Veja comes out on Sunday. Issues sold in SP come with a separate insert containing a weekly entertainment guide, including restaurant listings by category. In Portuguese, but you should be able to figure out enough for it to be useful. BTW, there is a similar local insert in the issues sold in Rio and in some of the other larger capital cities.

 

On a more practical note, if you've taken my advice and are staying on Av. Vieira de Carvalho, a nice place for dinner with manageable portions is Galeto's, which specializes in "galeto" or baby chicken, in a variety of guises. It's hard to beat the plain grilled version; go for the "galeto desossado" or boneless version. There is a nice salad bar. The menu isn't limited to chicken, but it is the specialty.

 

On the same street is Carlino, a long-time Italian place, to vary the scene.

 

On the opposite side of the street from Galeto's is an arcade called "Spazio (Number?)" anchored by a lavishly decadent patisserie on side and a coffee bar on the other. The Spazio is only open during the day, but it's a good place for lunch or afternoon tea. Past the pastry shop and cafe the place is essentially a kind of food court, with a variety of options. At the very back , on the right, is a small grill place whose name I don't recall, but which had the virtue of offering "light" options, meaning a manageable portion of grilled meat and salad, without fries/chips and other heavy, fattening things. Very cheap.

 

There are other options in the Largo do Arouche, at the end of the street opposite the Praça da República. In the other direction, downtown, there's a handy food court on the top floor of the Shopping da Light (the former electric company headquarters building). Middle Eastern cuisine is available at Almanara; it used to be on Vieira, but moved across the square to the downtown side. Ask for directions.

 

For an evening snack of the pub/bar food type, order a "porção" (portion) of "frango à passarinho" (chicken little-bird style) with a beer at Cafe Vermont at the corner with Praça da República. This is a kind of remarkably tasty pan-fried chicken cut up in small pieces, rather in the Chinese style, often seen as a bar snack or as a specialty at a galeto restaurant. It's definitely finger food, and I think Cafe Vermont's is one of the better versions I've had. Yum.

 

SHOPPING CENTER FOOD: If you've decided to hit the mall in Rio, SP or some of the other large Brazilian cities, you may run into the Cafe Viena. I highly recommend them for good food and very reasonable prices. Check the daily specials on the menu. There's also an excellent salad bar, usually featuring hunks of hearts of palm the size of small elephant's tusks! Yet tender!

 

SALVADOR: A good introduction to Bahian cuisine is the SENAC restaurant in the Pelourinho (the main square in the historic old city). SENAC is a restaurant school, and it features an extensive, well-labeled buffet of Bahian dishes, so you can sample and experiment to your heart's content. The students who work there are quite adorable, themselves. I haven't been to Salvador in a long time (must go soon!) so an update on this from other travelers would be welcome, but at one time the SENAC students also put on a folklore show after dinner, where they took off their shirts and did typical dances and capoeira demonstrations, showing off those hot bodies. Later, some of them would be hanging out in the square outside the restaurant, hoping to make new friends, if you get my drift. . .

 

So, eat, eat, my children. . .

[Guest DickHo]

You must try the Rodizio in Copacabana. It's an experience not be missed! It's one of those all you the meat you can eat. Similar to Churrascaria Plataforma here in New York.

 

It is a truly Brazilian experience.

[trilingual]

"Rodizio" isn't actually the name of a restaurant, it's a style of service where waiters come by your table serving you a variety of things on an all-you-can-eat basis. Usually done with meats, but there are seafood and pizza versions, too.

 

I'm guessing that DickHo is either referring to Marius's in Leme (the far end of Copacabana where the Meridien hotel is located) or Porcão, a well-regarded chain. Both of these are churrascarias rodizio, or grills serving rodizio-style for a fixed price. If you haven't been to one of these affairs before, the drill is more or less like this: you first can serve yourself from the bountiful hot or cold buffet of appetizers/salads (try not to fill up), then the waiters will start coming around with large cuts of meat on skewers and slice off a piece or two onto your plate at your table. They'll keep doing this until you explode. :9 Most places have some version of a red/green stop/go symbol on the table. You can turn the red side up while you want a breather, then turn the green side up when you want more. When you're done, just put your knife and fork on the plate in a crossed position and push it away somewhat.

 

If you're going to do a rodizio in Rio, you might want to take a cab to Porcão Rio's in Parque do Flamengo, with views right on the water. Might as well get both scenery and food for your money!

 

By the way, not all churrascarias are rodizios. There are others (some with the word "baby-beef" in their names) that are basically high-priced steak houses. If you're in a meat-eating mood, some of them can be very good. The quality of the meat is usually better than at the rodizios (which is not to say that you can't eat well at the better rodizios, like those mentioned.) Portions, as always in Brazil, tend to be staggeringly large, but it's not an all-you-can-eat affair like a rodizio. And you can always split a dish, if you go with another person. You can find good churrascarias in any large Brazilian town. Check the Guia Quatro Rodas listings for names.

 

If you happen to be in Porto Alegre, don't miss a churrascaria rodizio that I think is called the Galpão Crioulho that offers not only dinner but on at least some nights a quite thrilling folklore show of gaúcho dancing. Not only are the kids who put on the show very cute, the dancing is fascinating (much stamping and intricate footwork in a kind of a cross between Irish and cossack) and the tricks and maneuvers they do with the traditional bolas (two round stones at the ends of a long thin rope) are eye-popping! Very impressive! Of course, the whole churrasco experience originated in the pampas of Rio Grande do Sul, where Porto Alegre is located.

[CT Dick]

>SALVADOR: A good introduction to Bahian cuisine is the

>SENAC restaurant in the Pelourinho (the main square in the

>historic old city).

 

Agree 100% . It is a grand old house with a large dining room. Our waiter was a 20ish twink who managed enough English to explain that he is a student at the school. All went well except that he couldn't open the wine bottle. I wanted to hug him and help but he had the waiter next to us do it for him.

 

He walked us through the buffet and explained what the food was. The desserts were sinful. ;-)

 

Dick

[+ Axiom2001]

Men, I am most appreciative for all of the outstanding suggestions you've indicated here. I shall return to the site and write down what you have so graciously shared.

 

(I would have responded sooner, but ever since Saturday-- a week ago-- I have had browser problems, thus I have been unable to get anything or to go anywhere on the net. A few minutes ago, I wrote a cheque to the technician who repaired my computer. Now I am able to be back at my favorite website.)

[Guest VanBCGuy]

All this information is helpful and timely. A new Brazilian rodizio has opened in Vancouver called Samba - I'll be trying it this weekend.

[trilingual]

Excellent! The Rio of the North was overdue for a Brazilian restaurant!! ;-)

[Guest VanBCGuy]

This belongs in the restaurant review section, but....

 

If anyone is going to be visiting Vancouver, and wants a taste of Brazil, Samba seems like a good choice. The waiters are all Brazilians (ask for Claudio - he's a lot of fun), and it seems authentic to me - they even had those addictive little cheese buns.