Brunch at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

Please note that the meal was complimentary. However, the opinions expressed in my blog are 100% my own!

Brunch at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

I do not know how many times I passed by SOB's, but I truthfully thought it was just another club that entertained many for more than 25 years. Until I received an invite to come and try it. This venue that can accommodate up to 450 people is huge and composed of different sections:

Brunch at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

The bar area:

bar at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

With its table football that was there especially for the World Cup.

table football at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

table football at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

Its large dining area with a stage where they play music for patrons who either want to eat, drink or dance.

dining room at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

In fact, during our brunch, there was band playing some Brazilian songs.

stage at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

I admit that when they arrived on stage, I was thinking that it will probably be loud and annoying as I like to enjoy my meal in a atmosphere where I can talk to my wife without screaming. It was perfect, being more in the background; the acoustic was fantastic and the band was very good.

caipirinha at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

They brought us the brunch menu that, for $31, includes unlimited sangria (red or white), an appetizer, an entree and a dessert. I was more inclined to try a caipirinha, Brazil's national cocktail made with  cachaça, sugar and lime.

caipirinha at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

I truly appreciated the fact that it was not too sweet and well balanced, with a nice quantity of lime in it.

caipirinha at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

At the same time, they brought us a bread basket:

bread basket at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

It was composed of a small croissant, bread, corn bread and of course, some cheese bread or pao de queijo (I love it):

cheese bread at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

Then of course was the food. The menu, crafted by Chef Jorge Lima is latin, not only Brazilian.

Chef Jorge Lima at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

So we started with the appetizers. We went for the butternut squash soup with toasted pumpkin pepitos and crème fraiche:

Butternut squash soup at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

It was very good, with a nice sweetness from the butternut that worked perfectly with the crème fraiche (I just wish there was more of it).

The second appetizer was the empanadas:

empanadas at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

One was made with cheese:

cheese empanadas at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

The other one with some spicy beef:

beef empanadas at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

Both were good and I could not decide which one I liked best. The shell was delightfully crispy and flaky. Dipped in their spicy red pepper sauce, it was divine!

red pepper sauce at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

Let me tell you: this sauce was very hot, but so good, that I could not resist dipping the empanadas in it.

Then, Jodi got the fish tacos:

fish tacos at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

It is like a do-it-yourself version of it, made with pan-fried tilapia served with chopped greens, fresh tomatillo salsa, avocado relish and sour cream. The fish was perfectly cooked, slightly crispy and not greasy and at some point, I did not care about the tortilla and just ate it with the different components it was served with. It is a great dish.

But, the specialty I was thrilled to try at SOB's is the feijoada:

feijoada at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

It is Brazil's national dish made with pork ears and tail, dried beef and black beans (

feijão

is the Portuguese for "beans"). Yes, I was thrilled to eat it because I first tried it in April at a restaurant called Bolinha in São Paulo. It was also served with rice, collard greens (surprisingly delicious as I tend to find them too bitter), a slice of orange and manioc flour. Was it close to what I tried in Brazil? Yes, Although Chef Jorge Lima told me that he is trying to recreate it with the ingredients he can find here. And I am sure anyway that everyone has its own recipe. What I can tell you is that it was very good and comforting: the meat was very tasty (they had a generous amount of it) and I liked mixing the different components together.

You are probably wondering at this point if we were still hungry. Well, not really, but we could not leave without trying some desserts! We tried:

The flan:

Flan at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

And the empanadas with chocolate and banana:

banana and chocolate empanadas at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

My favorite was the flan: dense, it was prepared with condensed milk, like in Brazil. This is definitely a dessert I recommend. The empanada? It was just ok: I thought that there was not enough filling and that it was not heavenly spread, only one bite (photo below), having a nice amount of chocolate.

banana and chocolate empanadas at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

This was a fantastic brunch and surprising: I would have never thought about going to SOB's for lunch or brunch. Would I go back? Hell, yeah!

Enjoy (I did)!

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And Remember: I Just Want To Eat!

SOB's

Churrasco at Fogo De Chao Brazilian steakhouse in NYC, New York

Fogo de Chao (means "fire on the ground" in Portuguese) is a Brazilian steakhouse located Midtown Manhattan that opened few months ago, in December 2013. It is a chain in fact with multiple locations in Brazil, where it originated, and in the US (Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Las Vegas...). 

Typically, when you know you are going to a Brazilian steakhouse, you know you need to wear stretch pants, because it is all you can eat. Now, that is what I call paradise for meat lovers! And it is not all you can eat passable food most of the time: it is all you can stuff in high quality meat. Here is how it works:

The staff goes around the restaurant with large skewers (coming from "churrasco", concept of grilling skewers of meat over a wood fire, the churrascaria being the restaurant serving them) and will check a chip that is given to you, at your table. The chip has two sides: green and red.

The red side that says "No, Thank You" means that you do not want any meat, and the green ("Yes, please), means you want them to serve you some meat from the skewer.

The pace can be fast; for instance, this is what I ended up with after just couple of minutes:

The portions may not seem big, but you can ask for more and do not forget that they are walking around anyway, ready to serve you again.

Before I go into detail more about the feast I had, let me tell you few things about the place itself.

I guess I could describe it as an elegant, dramatic, stunning 16,000 square feet restaurant. At the entrance, you can see a huge representation of O Lacador (a gaucho in traditional outfit), symbol of Porto Allegre where this place originated in 1979.

Upstairs is the bar and downstairs, the restaurant.

Similar to other churrascaria places, there is a gourmet salad bar.

I admit that I only went to see what was there, because I came for the meat, not the salads! Proposing a salad bar is a good way to make sure people will stuff themselves and eat less meat...

This salad bar was quite big and included mozzarella, beets, asparagus, shrimp,...As well as some salami, cheeses or smoked salmon.

But what was truly surprising was the applewood smoked bacon bowl:

and this whole parmiggiano reggiano cheese:

On our table was also a basket of cheese bread or pao de queijo:

The recipe apparently comes from Sao Paulo and interestingly it is gluten free. I liked it, but found it slightly dry.

Now, concerning the meat, they serve something like 16 different kinds, ranging from beef, pork, lamb or chicken. I tried:

The pork sausage or Linguiça.

These sausages are seasoned with garlic and paprika, and slow cooked.

Chicken legs:

I usually limit how much chicken I eat in these places, not because I do not like it, but rather because I prefer saving myself for prime meats!

The leg of lamb:

The Fraldinha or bottom sirloin:

This was my least favorite, the meat being a bit tough.

The Alcatra or top sirloin:

The beef ancho or prime part of the ribeye:

The filet mignon:

The flank steak:

The picanha or prime part of the sirloin:

The meats were really good and of high quality, tender and juicy. The outside had a nice char and, sometimes, you could taste a bit of salt that enhanced the flavor of the meat. My favorite was the filet mignon, the flank steak, the ribeye and the leg of lamb. My least favorite was the bottom sirloin and prime, but it might be because of the cuts they served me.

With the meat were three sides, also in unlimited servings:

Mash potatoes:

Crispy polenta:

Fried bananas:

These sides are pretty standard for this type of restaurant. My favorite was the fried banana. You may think these are plantains, but they are bananas that are simply fried with a bit of condensed milk, giving them this nice sugary coating.

You would think that I would stop there, but no: I could not resist trying their desserts. The first one was the flan.

I did not like it as it was way too dense. However, their tres leches cake was spectacular!

And trust me, after such a feast, it was difficult to resist.

I am glad that Fogo de Chao came to NYC. Not that there are no churrascaria in the city, the most known being Churrascaria Plataforma, with one location close by, but because they definitely serve some great pieces of meat that puts them on the top of NYC steakhouses. One thing I should add is that if you are vegetarian, you can just get the salad bar, or they propose a fish of the day. Sorry, I did not and will not try them, preferring to indulge in what this place is known for, but if they are as good as the meat, you may not regret it!

Enjoy (I did)!

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And Remember: I Just Want To Eat!

Emporium Brazil in NYC, New York: Surprising dish!

Recently, we went with some of my colleagues to Emporium Brazil, situated in Little Brazil in New York City. It was the first time for me in this restaurant. The decor has nothing extraordinary and I was surprised not to see a more pronounced Brazilian related decor. 

They had a lunch menu, but the only items they proposed were...Italian! So I went for the Moqueca de camarao that is a shrimp stew with coconut milk sauce, served with white rice. This is a traditional dish from Bahia, apparently influenced by African cuisine. The fact that there is coconut milk, I would have more thought about cuisine from India or China, but it is true that cuisine travels and so many cuisines have similarities!

When the Moqueca came, I was blown away by the beauty of the dish! 

The yellow of the sauce with the red of the peppers was a precursor to the festival of flavors I experienced! This was simply delicious. The shrimp were cooked perfectly, but interestingly, they were not the star of the dish: the sauce was definitely! I can still remember it and it makes me drool!

If you do not like shrimp, they also have tuna (Tuna Grelhada - grilled tuna marinated with soy sauce, ginger and lemon. includes baked potato and vegetables).

Or steak (Bife A Cavalo - beef steak and egg, rice, beans and fries)

Everybody loved their food (I licked my plate...)!

Prices are very reasonable for Midtown and the only negative was the service that was a bit slow. But I would definitely go back! 

Enjoy (I did)!

And remember: I just want to eat!