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ReviewCantoDoBrasil

Page history last edited by Mark P 15 years, 3 months ago

Canto do Brasil Review

 

Canto do Brasil served us interesting, good entrees, delightfully strong cocktails, but disappointing appetizers.

 

For starters, we tried fried calamari and fried yucca. The calamari, which looked like onion rings, was oily. It was served with chili sauce and cilantro. Ow liked it, though the rest of us did not. As for the yucca, we agreed fried yucca doesn't compare with good quality french fries and this was no exception. These were starchy. It was served with a salsa. Although Oj said these were "better than average french fries," the rest of us disagreed.

 

Along with our appetizers, we received a standard loaf of bread: soft, crusted, and sliced. The accompanying good dip worked on the bread and on the yucca.

 

Our entrees were all good, and unusual -- hard to place into a specific cuisine. All came with a little pile of yucca powder which we could sprinkle over the dish. 

  • Xim Xim de Galinha: a pumpkin (yes, you read that right) filled with chicken and okra. Good stuff. The chicken's creaminess -I'm not sure how it was cooked- and the pumpkin's sweetness went well together. It was served with rice, a salad with tomato, and an assortment of fruit (cantaloupe, grapefruit, strawberries, grapes, and oranges). We debated whether it was actually a pumpkin rather than a squash. The flesh made us think pumpkin whereas the color of a skin, darker than a normal pumpkin, almost black, made us believe it was something else. I'm still leaning toward pumpkin. This was our favorite dish. It was a nightly special, not on the regular menu.
  • Chicken cooked in dark beer. Pretty good. The chicken in this was also moist and rather creamy. Served with bell peppers, beans, and chopped spinach.
  • Red snapper. Also good, with a lively flavor. The beans, once again, are good as well, and heavy.

 

Although full and already bringing home leftovers, we decided to try a dessert. We split a coconut flan, which was better than most flans (but most of us don't like flans, so I'm not sure if that's much praise). The name may be a misnomer, as the flan had very little coconut. It was surrounded by a sweet sauce, as if "it's being soaked in maple syrup." We avoided the sauce.

 

During dinner, we had a variety of drinks, all satisfying. Our main drink was caiprinha, a cocktail made from cachaca (a Brazilian rum) and lime. It was sweet but strong. And I mean strong. I felt the alcohol from the one glass I drank. We also had a version that was the same except with the addition of kiwi. Although the kiwi was clumpy, making it difficult to drink through a straw, we decided the drink was equally good. In addition, we had glasses of water, notable because they were so nicely infused from floating lemon slices.

 

The interior was pleasant, made lively by big colorful murals on the wall and a short, pretty bar. The liveliness was significantly countered by the subdued lighting and smooth music.

 

As usual, most conversations aren't reportable. But we did hear a humorous story about attempts to park a Segway indoors. And we debated the reasons for serving cocktails with umbrellas. From later research, I found out there's really no good answer:

http://ask.yahoo.com/20060817.html

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/001117.html

 

The total was $31/person including tax and tip but not including drinks.

 

Original Announcement

S's back from Peru. Everyone else is back from memorial day travels. Let's revisit the continent S has just returned from by heading to Canto do Brasil, a Brazilian restaurant in Hayes Valley. I've only had non-barbecue Brazilian food twice (both in Manhattan) so this should be interesting.

http://www.cantodobrasil.com/ (warning: has sound)

 

Note: we didn't actually go to Canto do Brasil around memorial day. The dinner that day was canceled. Rather, we made it two months later.

 

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