Only an hour from the 24/7 buzz of Rio de Janeiro is a tranquil retreat, where you can slow down and breath fresh mountain air, as well as savor slow food prepared with loving care. In the introduction to A Cozinha da Alcobaça, author and chef Dona Laura Góes says…
Camaroes a Baiana is a deliciously spicy but creamy dish from the state of Bahia in northeastern Brazil. It’s signature ingredient is palm oil, called dendê in Brazil (pronounced: den-DAY). While you can substitute an oil like annatto to attain the same vivid red-orange color, the flavor of dendê is…
Last year, while enjoying chef Roland Villard’s incredible Amazônia Menu at Le Pré Catelan in Rio de Janeiro’s Sofitel hotel, I heard rumblings that the chef was working on a similar tasting menu comprising of the most common Brazilian ingredients: rice and beans. I just received word that the menu…
When I arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil I had been traveling for approximately 22 hours. Many of those hours I was rushing to catch a train, to catch a flight, and to catch another flight. I dropped my bags off at my hotel, the Marina All Suites in Leblon,…
Until a recent trip to Rio de Janeiro I thought Alex Atala at D.O.M. in São Paulo was the only chef diving head first into Amazonian ingredients in Brazil. I was wrong. Another chef, Roland Villard, at Rio’s Le Pré Catelan inside the Hotel Sofitel on Copacabana Beach, is just…
On a recent night in Rio de Janeiro I went to the restaurant Carlota without a reservation. There were people milling around outside and when I asked the waitress if there was a table, she replied with a wait time that was well beyond my hunger limit. Carlota would have…
When I arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil I had been traveling for approximately 22 hours. Many of those hours I was rushing to catch a train, to catch a flight, and to catch another flight. I dropped my bags off at my hotel, the Marina All Suites in Leblon,…
As it begins to look more and more like South America is going to clean up at the World Cup, I had the rare opportunity to watch matches of both Brazil and Argentina from within those countries. Each of these nations has won the cup in the past and two…
The more Brazilian food I eat and the more I visit Brazil, the more I realize how little I really know about Brazilian cooking. The country is massive, a continent of its own. By Leticia Moreinos-Schwartz’s The Brazilian Kitchen (Kyle Books, 2010) is the best all around study on Brazilian…
