Joe B.
Yelp
I have been eyeing Ipamena since it came to Norwalk, and finally made it there!
First, when it comes to location, ambiance, service, they did a great job with this restaurant. The location is just next to the movie theater, in a really nice setting. It has an industrial look, with huge fans on the ceiling, and a bar across the entire back of the restaurant. The service was friendly and helpful. We left before live music began.
Now, the food. As you can see, unlike many of my Yelp counterparts, I am not giving a five star review off the bat. That is because I want them to earn it! Let's break it down.
We had only two dishes, so there is still a lot of room for me to be impressed with other entrees.
We began with the picanha sliders, which were a burger, hopefully ground from picanha in-house, with a cheese for which I do not know the name, sitting on a delicious Pao de Queijo (cheese bread). This was probably the best slider/burger I have ever experienced at a restaurant. While I would have preferred them a little more cooked (they were rare), their flavor was noteworthy. They were heavy, I will admit, but packed with so much flavor. The bottom because juicy, but the bread was still crunchy, and the cheese to meat to bread ratio was PERFECT. This was a 5/5.
We did have a couple of drinks to accompany our meal, a passion fruit cosmo, and a caipirinha. They were both delicious.
For our entree, we both stayed close to a favorite dish, the fraldinha, a skirt-steak-like cut of beef. It was accompanied by some vegetables, mashed potatoes, and a chimichurri. There were also rice and beans. The chimichurri was nice and flavorful, as were the mashed potatoes. The rice and beans were amazing (though I did find a small bone in the leftovers I took home). But, they were still 5/5. All of that said, the steak left me disappointed. I have had fraldinha at multiple other restaurants, and what really makes it a favorite cut of meat, is the unique flavor of it. This seemed to be a simple skirt steak, not the flank steak I would have liked, but I am no expert and could be wrong. But, it came lukewarm, and was a bit tough. That made it disappointing since that was the star of the meal. This is why we are at four stars instead of five.
So, intend to visit again and get the picanha, and see if my experience with their steak is better. However, I will be talking about those sliders for years to come!