Little Brazil’s Ipanema Returns to Manhattan | The New Yorker

"Where Ipanema’s original iterations tended toward kitsch, the latest interior is pure glamour, a controlled riot of luxe materials: curving wood, gleaming marble, jungle-green tiles, cascades of tropical foliage, performance velvet, romantic lighting, Getz and Gilberto on the stereo. The food, too, from a Brazilian-born chef named Giancarlo Junyent, who cooked at Tom Colicchio’s Temple Court, veers fancy, in a slightly outmoded way. On a recent night, a perfectly round mold of foie-gras mousseline was capped with a translucent layer of passion-fruit gelée, and bacalhau, or salt cod, came elegantly molded, too, one layer in a tower that also included shredded potato, egg yolk, and olive tapenade. Entrées were homier. An excellent feijoada, an inherently rustic Brazilian black-bean stew, thick with kielbasa and pork loin, was served in a ceramic cauldron alongside miniature clay pots of white rice and steamed collard greens and a dish of farofa, or toasted cassava." - Hannah Goldfield