Mike B.
Yelp
Have I ever even eaten Brazilian before?
A question that I asked myself as soon as I entered the cozy little restaurant tucked in-between a Bolivian restaurant (El Catrachito) and a "Tea Spa"... whatever that is.
The inside is a bit of an ode to the late seventies. Or at least that's what it felt like from the bit I know about Mid Century design. The restaurant is filled with a generous of amount of walnut-colored spindle back chairs, the front door is flanked by square glass blocks, and the floor is tiled with those lovely burnt sienna clay-colored tiles with smaller brown accent tiles in between.
The buffet that is the focal centerpiece of the restaurant is half dedicated to cold salads, half to warm dishes, with an added side of miniature empanada like items.
The cold salads side is filled with mostly healthy salads, barring a cubed ham and veggie salad that looked fairly heavy on the mayo. I dotted my plate with a cucumber and tomato salad mainly to add some green to the plate and oddly found out while tasting it later that it seemed to not have any sort of dressing on it.
Now onto the hot side, where I really did some work.
Rice and beans start the voyage, and all along that journey you'll find fried almost cookie cut square pieces of fish, roasted hen pieces, a stew made up of kidney beans tripe kielbasa and veg, polenta, and braised brisket surrounded by a rotini pasta.
The hen was quite delicious ( a bit overcooked), but the flavor shined. Rice was fluffy and perfect for soaking up the generous amount of sauce from the thin stew. The stew was one of my favorite dishes. I've tried tripe once before and was completely turned off. I decide to give it a second chance, and I'm very glad I did.
The brisket was likely my favorite dish of the lunch. Beautifully cascading pieces of both fatty and lean brisket were soaking in a savory sauce that I couldn't even begin to guess what it contained. The meat was tender, toothsome, flavorful, and perfectly cooked.
And you're probably asking yourself. What about that empanada station? What happened there? Why did he omit that?!
Well, me and my friend actually did forget that section and had to go back and grab some tastes. The buffet is priced out per pound, so there's that just FYI. But at $9.25 per pound, you can assure yourself that you're getting one heck of a deal for the quality of the food.
3 things sat under the heat lamp at the empanada station.
1. Small tear drop shaped croquetas filled with chicken
2. Miniature balls of pan de queso
3. Football shaped fried meat "Kibe" balls
I've done you a favor and actually put those in order of preference. I didn't hate the Kibe balls, but in comparison to the other too, I felt like it was out shined.
While we were eating a gentleman had ordered (what looked to be) the grilled chicken plate from the a la carte menu.
The plate came out with a generous amount of protein. A seperate giant filled plate of rice and beans came on it's side. AND it appeared on one of those fajita metal steaming plates... so everyone in the room instantly wanted it.
You can put anything on one of those metal fajita plates and I'll want that meal. Except for maybe waterchesnuts... literally, put anything else on one of those plates and I'm here for it.
Alternatively, if fajitas didn't come on that plate... think of how many fewer people would order fajitas.
Service was excellent. Just have to add that in. The woman who was running the front counter and buffet took the time to explain how everything worked, and told us what was in the various balls at the empanada station. Very warm and welcoming service.
Can't wait to go back and taste test other Brazilian food favorites.
I'm pretty sure that was the first time I've ever eaten Brazilian Food. You can color me impressed.