Tacos and Burritos , Tequila and LIVE MARIACHIS ! and other São Paulo, Brazil Restaurant Reviews

Restaurant Name: El Mariachi

Well...what makes it so special is that I AM THE OWNER OF THE PLACE... LOL ! But, hey , wait... I can describe it objectively and know what people think from their feedback. There aren't too many mexican restaurants in Sao Paulo and Paulistanos love mexican food . The food is typical Tex-Mex but El Mariachi is not a fast food joint... It's rather cozy, cantina style with framed pictures on the walls and paintings of mexican motifs and daily live mariachi music in the evening when you can order a la carte.... For lunch it's either a buffet "by weight" (Mon-Fri, except holidays) where you pay according to how much you shoved on your plate or on Sat. , Sun. and holidays a full mexican buffet , eat all you want for a fixed price.... There's also a big screen that comes down from the ceiling where old mexican films and shows of mexican artists are projected... and three gigantic paper maché mariachis on a balcony above you making sure you guys really eat all your tacos like good kids....

Well , absolutely no kidding , I get feedback from 3 or 4 different sources and about 94 % is absolutely positive.... those 6 % more or less are those we just couldn't make happy , no matter what....

Favorite Dish: I love fajitas and tacos but don't care myself to much for dishes with beans because they're a bit heavy at night. All recipes are from my ex-wife whose baby this restaurant is after all..... she's from Los Angeles and "learned" to cook mexican by looking over the shoulder of the cooking nanny of her nieces and nephews who always spent summers in Cabo San Lucas. So you can count on some original recipes which Edilson , our cook refined and guards as if top secret.... Among them , of course , burritos , nachos , flautas , chili con carne....
If you would like to see the whole menu , go to www.elmariachi.com.br .

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Theme: Mexican
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: (11) 3081-0055
Address: Rua dos Pinheiros, 412 , Pinheiros District
Directions: E-mail: elmariachi@elmariachi.com.br
There's a mini map on the homepage of the site helping finding El Mariachi...
Website: www.elmariachi.com.br
Other Contact: Fax: (11) 3086-3225

Restaurant Name: Variety of Churrascarias

I don't know where else but here to write about restaurants in SP IN GENERAL. São Paulo is the biggest italian city outside of Italy and the biggest japanese city outside of Japan... hence literally hundreds of italian cantinas , pizzerias and japanese restaurants. The same goes for arabic food , less for french and german and other ethnicities. Most interesting though for the foreigner are the churrascarias , the temples of no end , eat till you drop orgiastic food delights. There are basically three kinds: the cheap , the middle and the expensive ( all pricewise , not saying anything about the quality). The cheap cost around 5 U$ (OR LESS !!) , eat all salad and meat that you can swallow , but there won't be , for instance , artichoke hearts, asparagus , heart of palm or sea food. (Check "POMPÉIA GRILL " on the corner of Ave Francisco Mattarazzo and Ave Pompéia in the Lapa District or my favorite cheapo "TENDAL" on Rua Martinho Prado ( around # 183 ) just a few meters down from Rua Augusta direction Rua Avanhandava , Bela Vista District ). The middle priced ones ( around U$ 8 - 9) offer besides the basic also above mentioned items , but not too much seafood either and for instance sushi and arabic food , like humus , babaganouche and other delights... My favorite in this category is "ANGELICA GRILL" (see my other tip) or "PAULISTA GRILL" on corner Ave. Rebouças with Rua João Moura and some 60 meters down Rebouças "BOVINUS", both of these max two blocks north of Ave. Henrique Schaumann in the Pinheiros District. I have eaten in all of these and recommend with "clean conscience".

Favorite Dish: The expensive churrascarias (around 22 U$ per person) will offer you so much that you won't know where to start and where to stop....At the "salad" bar you'll find also three or four different kinds of salmon ( scandinavian , smoked , natural...) , caviar , shrimps , lobster , (in Villa's) whole octopus tentacles , squid carpaccio , fresh oysters , a variety of exotic funghi , even real paté de fois gras , also sushi bar , all kinds of pasta , besides the "basic" ( some 15 cuts of ) meat also exotic meat like wild boar , pheasant , deboned quails , brazilian alligator and on and on.... One thing though : none of the expensive ones have ALL these items... but most... you have to eat your way through quite a few of them to get all of these tasties....
My absolute favorite in this category is "VILLA'S" , closely tailed by "JARDINEIRA GRILL" and "VENTO HARAGANO" .
One absolute MUST when you go to eat at a churrascaria . Your eyes will be bigger than your stomach... hold back and manage your hunger and appetite... Avoid appetite and hunger spoilers like lots of carbohydrate , go for the salad bar and the proteines. Do not hesitate to rebuke meat offered to you by the waiters that doesn't appeal to you or to leave chunks of meat on your plate and to ask for a new plate , if the meat got cold......

Eating like this is SINFULL (!!!) but you will LOVE it...!!!

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Theme: Barbecue

Directions: Jardineira Grill , Ave. Bandeirantes 1001, Vila Olimpia , www.jardineiragrill.com.br
Vento Haragano , Ave. Rebouças 1001 , Jardins , www.ventoharagano.com.br
Tendal , Rua Martinho Prado ca. 183 , Bela Vista

Restaurant Name: Angelica Grill

"Angelica Grill" is your high middle class churrascaria with excellent food and service for no more than 10 U$ per person...we (family , visits from abroad and I) have been going back for years because this place keeps its quality up and going.... beautifull salon with nice ceiling lights , impressive central salad bar with at least 40 - 45 items ranging from green leaves to salmon , sushi , arabic food , italian pasta and much more... the meat comes quickly , sizzling hot , smelling like heaven and tasting even better... For red meat lovers the musts are "Picanha" , "Fraldinha", "Alcatra" and "Maminha"... Don't ask , just trust me...... But there's of course much more , homemade , spicy, grilled sausage on the skewer , pheasant with beacon rolled around it , chicken in various forms, lamb..... and on and on....
living in a city where you have these kind of places practically around the corner gets you accustomed to it but first and even second time visitors usually kinda freak out with this , believe me... BTW , Angelica Grill has a fantastic gigantic wall to wall aquarium with all kinds of interesting ocean animals.... The kids love it and the adults spend like 15 minutes , amazed....

Favorite Dish: I know so many churrascarias that are good to excellent , it's getting hard to point a single one out and from that one to point out a single dish..... But , IMHO , Angelica Grills "Cupim" is the best around.... cupim means termite but that's not it..... this cupim is the hump of the cow and stays in the oven for 24 hours or more..... the result is a still somewhat fatty meat , but it just melts in your mouth and when you get a piece that's a little more roasted then it has an undescribable , fantastic out of this world chewy texture and flavor .... almost like getting high on meat........ that's about how I'd like to describe it......

( Attention : instead of deleting , I simply update... I returned to Angelica Grill one week ago and had to see , to my dismay that the before mentioned gigantic aquarium does NOT exist anymore.... it cracked , I was told..... a BIG PITY , but you're not going to a churrascaria to watch fish swim around anyway... the food is as good as always and this is what matters..)

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Theme: Barbecue
Comparison: about average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Phone: (011) 3664-0070
Address: Ave. Angelica 430 , Higienopolis District
Directions: Avenida Angelica is a main and well known street running through Higienopolis District and therefore # 430 is easy to be found....

Restaurant Name: Villa's

This is the "temple" where you pay reverence to some of the best gourmet food available , for me who has eaten out in maybe 50 - 60 countries , different styles (themes) , this is probably among the 5 best restaurants I had the pleasure to know ( and stuff my face with their calories.....) This one is an "expensive churrascaria", about 22 U$ per person....
The ambience is typical for a restaurant of this category but as soon as you get close to the socalled "salad bar" you'll sense the difference.... squid carpaccio , whole roasted octopus tentacles , salmon delights, maybe 6 different kinds of mushrooms-funghi , 2 types of asparagus and a whole battery of other items that I can't think of right now... Behind the salad bar various big pots with wild boar , alligator , pheasant , roasted suckling pig... ( as I didn't know I was going to describe this in detail , I didn't bother to remember but next time I'll even write it down for you...Also the pictures I have of the place don't show what it really looks like...) On the other side of the salon a fully loaded self service sushi bar.... More seafood specialities , like shrimps in oil and garlic , come landing on the table in front of you.... Meats to the excess, non stop... untill you put your little red-green device on red (STOP) and the waiters will let you eat in peace....
Watch out for the tall , big moustached , bald manager who takes care of his guests like a matron... The guy is really great !! I love him....

Favorite Dish: Everything is good at Villa's..... just get what you like most and you'll enjoy it to the max....
Watch how much you eat so you always have a little more space for the next delicacy....
But......
Chances are you will cry when you walk out of there.... because you weren't able to taste and experiment everything......
( unless you do it like the old Romans who had their food and wine orgies and when they were so filled that they couldn't eat anymore they retired to a special room called "Vovarium" with a slave with a feather..... who --- watch it ! Repulsive ! --- tickled his masters throat with the feather untill....... guess......
Then the master --- emptied and relieved --- would go back , lay down again , drink some wine and continue eating as if their was no tomorrow.....)..
Now that's a real option if you want to try everything at Villas.... !!

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Theme: Barbecue
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$21-30  » Currency Converter
Phone: (011) 6905-2644
Address: Marginal Tieté 2163
Directions: Unfortunately far from everything.. on Marginal Tieté , coming from beginning / end of Dutra going direction Lapa , the restaurant is 150 meters before the bridge "Vila Guilherme"...
I guarantee that Villa's is worth the long taxi drive....
Website: www.villassp.com.br
Other Contact: Fax : (011) 6905-2633

Restaurant Name: Famiglia Mancini and Walter Mancini

These two heavens for lovers of italian cuisine (and don't forget , at least 35 % of São Paulos 18 million inhabitants are of italian descendence) are across from each other at the beginning curve of one way Avanhandava Street in Bela Vista , Famiglia Mancini being the oppulent , richly decorated cantina with an incredible self service antipasti buffet with at least 35 items , from sun dried tomatoes to mouth watering colds and cheeses , fresh salmon , artichokes , funghi , just beauuuuutifull..... If you still have space to eat more afterwards , the waiter will come and put a big tissue napkin around your neck , so the tomato , meat or pesto sauce from the excellent home made pasta will not drip on your clothes.....
Across the street , a spin off , Walter Mancinis restaurant , same food , but the place is ultra chic , post modern , live jazz music every night , distinguished , expensive but not stuck up at all...
Both restaurants are first class , each in its own theme , I highly recommend for their unpretentious approach to italian food and highest quality in food and service.
( Don't even try Famiglia Mancini on Sundays for lunch , there are always like 50 people waiting in the street to get a table.....)

Favorite Dish: I love the antipasti buffet , I can't resist those goodies and the fresh , crunchy italian bread.....
Every once in a while I might eat a pasta dish which always is delicious...... It's just that I avoid any calorie bombs if I can do without.....
But they make the food with so much know how and affection that everything just tastes too good..... Try as a dessert in any of the two places Crème Brulée and you'll be done for the rest of the day.....

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Theme: Italian
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$21-30  » Currency Converter
Address: Rua Avanhandava 81 and 126
Directions: Rua Avanhandava starts right where Rua Martins Fontes ends and Rua Augusta starts

Restaurant Name: Okuyama

My favorite cheapo japanese restaurant in the Oriental District Liberdade , on Rua da Gloria 553 on the corner with Rua Barão do Iguapé . This one ( together with Takó , see next tip ) is my and Camilas favorite... Sometimes we first go in one for the entries ( like , how about 18 BIG fresh oysters for two at Takó...? ) and then in the other for the main course. Okuyama is a very simple and cheap restaurant with DREADFULL service, just never mind.... the food is DELICIOUS (!!!) .. It's funny , the two owners , brothers from Guam , always compliment us , we are long time habitués . And because they know us so well and we know them , Camila always half jokingly - half seriously tells them that the service had been abominable again , but we'll be back again anyway because we just love the place (since years)... And then the four of us crack up and laugh and laugh..... Okuyama is just very rustic , original and totally unpretentious to the point that there is no decoration on the wall....
If you want good traditional japanese food ( don't expect any refinement...) and if you don't mind waiters that... well..... never mind .... then this is a nice alternative , really cheap and good..... I'll be there for sure again this week (and not only because Camila is hooked.... I am too...)

Favorite Dish: Nabeyaki Udon..... a real treat , soup with all kind of goodies , an egg , fishpaste (??), chicken , shrimps , ginger , some green stuff (LOL...) and Udon noodles....
Don't know the name , but it's a soup from Guam , also with noodles and boiled pork ribs....
And MUSHI..... kinda boiled egg in a porcelain cup , also with chicken , that chewy , white and red fishpaste , shrimps and other goodies......
At night sushi festival , you get per person one sushi "cone" , teppan yaki , guioza and then all sushi you can eat , mostly tuna and salmon though..... all this for 10 U$ per person..

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Theme: Japanese/Sushi
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: (011) 3341-0780
Directions: Rua da Gloria is a Liberdade main street , just follow it down untill you get to an intersection where you have a VW dealer on the right side, Okuyama is across the street , on number 553.

Restaurant Name: TAKÓ

With so many japanese restaurants in town and japanese food really being mainstream paulistano "nutrition" now you can expect to find refined restaurants just about everywhere. Still , Liberdade district is the area of most restaurants "condensed" , almost one after the other, some of the best in Rua da Gloria such as the wonderfull "Takó"....
Traditional in its looks there are only women "garçonettes" as called in "Brazilian Portuguese". The menu is huge with many "chef invention combinations" to please the Paulistano taste buds.
Service is fast and impeccable , the food delicious. What else should I say...? I think that's enough , just go and try it , I guarantee you won't regret.
O yes , Takó is slightly expensive , I'd say it is a high middle class restaurant.....

Favorite Dish: The oysters !!! ( They come in fresh daily from an oyster farm in southern Brazil )..

I also like ( sorry , don't know the name of the dish) a sushi with 12 little rice "cubes" sprinkled with parsley on the outside and stuffed with salmon and toppled with those "big" pink salty salmon eggs that pop in your mouth.... ( see picture # 4 )

I personally L O V E ( and anybody who has ever seen me eat that went "eeeeoooww!!") uni sushi..... two of them.... uni is sea urchin.... seriously , looks like baby poop , smells like that odor that comes from below when you walk on a wooden pier at the ocean but tastes like heaven ... what a texture , how delicious it is to have this in your mouth and slowly let it go down your throat....! This is one dish though that you have to learn how to appreciate...

But.... everything is good at Takó .... if you can make up your mind what to chose from this huge menu.....

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Theme: Japanese/Sushi
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$21-30  » Currency Converter
Address: Rua da Gloria , 746 , Liberdade district
Directions: Rua da Gloria is a one way main street in Liberdade running parallel to Ave. Liberdade.
Takó is somewhat at the end of it on the right side. Any taxi driver will know this street...

Restaurant Name: MASSIMO'S

I only ate here twice and it's been some time since......

But this is one of the top three italian restaurants in town , if not THE top......
The owner supposedly watches every dish leaving the kitchen making 100 % sure it is the way he wants it to be... Traditional dishes of the italian cuisine , such as Saltimbocca a Romana....

and the best wines from Italy....

I really can't remember too much the menu but Massimo's is "notorious" for its first class quality and somewhat very formal but effective service.

Expensive......
Delicious...

Favorite Dish: I remember I took Saltimbocca a Romana , one of my favorites.....
I can still smell the dish today !

( will try to produce some pics of the place)

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Theme: Italian
Comparison: most expensive
Prices: US$31-40  » Currency Converter
Address: Alameda Santos 1.826 , Jardins
Directions: Driving down one way Alameda Santos , Massimo's is right after Parque Trianon on the left side..... No problem to find for any taxi driver....

Restaurant Name: Suntory - Shintory

As far as I know , Suntory is a franchise chain of japanese restaurants all over the world. In São Paulo it is a building by itself , constructed in unconfoundable japanese style , strategically located near Paulista Avenue. But just today I found out that the name was changed to "Shintory", I have no idea whether this means that the owner changed or what.... , but.... so what...? As you walk in you're greeted either by a maitre in black rigor or a hostess clad in geisha outfit with respective make up..... The place is immense , with different salons on both floors ..... One salon is just for sitting at the table and warm dishes , another just for dishes prepared at the table , another one is practically only a sushi bar , other ones are those we're you sit on the floor , no shoes , another one is a bar , other salons I haven't even figured out what there is behind the curtain....
All in all it gives you the "real" japanese feeling as if being in a posh elitist Tokyo mansion with lots of servants.....
I recommend for the overall excellent quality in food , service and ambiente....

Favorite Dish: I have my four or five favorite japanese dishes but every once in a while I get in the mood for something adventurous without looking too much at what it will cost.....
So , here at Shintory you can have a socalled "degustação".... meaning you get a whole variety of small , different dishes to tease your taste buds and to fill you..... maybe 8 or more different dishes and you just open yourself up and let them keep on coming whatever they are.....
Best when your appetite is at its peak.......

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Theme: Japanese/Sushi
Comparison: most expensive
Prices: US$31-40  » Currency Converter
Directions: Shintory is on ( one way ) Alameda Campinas # 600 , right after Alameda Jaú , on the left side , one and a half blocks south of Ave. Paulista in Jardim Paulista district , hard to miss because of its special structure and architecture.....

Restaurant Name: Cantina Nipolitana

Cantina it is but not napolitana , it's Nipolitana to let you know it's an italian cantina with (nippo) japanese rigor .... strictly overlooked and commanded by its owner... ( I know him , just forgot his name , sorry , will find out)...
The restaurant is small , almost spartanic , but I highly recommend for it's delicious and excellent italian food and quick and friendly service.

Favorite Dish: I've eaten different dishes there at different times , my favorite is the big bowl of "Capeletti in Brodo" , pasta in "ring form", filled with meat and / or chicken in typical italian broth....
This together with fresh italian bread to spread the socalled "Couvert" on it ( butter , sardella , a fantastic red , spicy "cream" , I think made out of fish , but I'm not sure, olives...) is enough to make you sigh in content......
As dessert I love "Petit Gateau" , a kind of light chocolate cake , filled with chocolate cream and toppled with another different chocolate sauce..... Comes with either whipped cream and / or a ball of vanilla ice cream.... You don't need to be afraid , this dessert is not that big and , com ' on , once you can eat that without having to count the calories.....

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Theme: Italian
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: (011) 3285-5855
Directions: On ( one way ) Alameda Campinas 680 , just before Alameda Jaú , two blocks from Ave. Paulista in Jardim Paulista district...