More Food, Glorious Food!

(At last, here is the continuation I promised of favorite places to eat/meals here in our area!)

#3 – Imperador

This is not just ANY churrascaria. This is (in our opinion) the BEST churrascaria in our area! When we lived in Utah, we tried out all of the different Brazilian barbeque places as they opened up – Rodizio Grill, Tucanos, Samba Grill, etc. And I really enjoyed them. Imperador is the same style of restaurant, only better! Here's how it works: When you are seated, salads and bread and other small appetizers are brought to your table, and you order drinks of course. There is a huge churrasco, where about 20 types of meat are being cooked on sword-like skewers, rotating over the fire/coals below. As they finish cooking, the waiters bring the skewer of meat around from table to table, fresh from the grill, and offer a huge slab to you. (I think this is what makes it different from the US versions. Instead of a small sliver that you can practically see through, here you basically get mini-steaks each time.) You can eat as much as you like of everything, and more will always be brought until you tell them to stop. The meat selections usually include several types of rib cuts (pork and beef), Picanha/top sirloin, Alcatra (an extremely tender cut of beef that you can't find easily in the US), filet mignon, lamb, chicken hearts, chicken legs/thighs, pork, sausage, … I'm not sure what the names are of the other cuts, but there are a LOT. This particular restaurant also barbecues thick chunks of provolone cheese, one of my favorites! Then of course there is my other favorite - barbecued pineapple smothered in cinnamon. You can get as many slices or pieces as you want, and if you want more of anything, you can ask any of the waiters and they will bring it out just for you. There is one other main reason we go to Imperador, besides the meat: Fried Polenta. Theirs is AMAZING. Served fresh, perfectly crispy on the outside and moist inside! I don't know what the chefs do that makes such a difference, but we could go there, fill up on nothing but polenta frita, and be completely satisfied. But wait, there's more! After an all-you-can-eat dinner of meats, salads, polentas, etc, there is also a dessert bar with about 15-20 different desserts to choose from. Usually they have about 3 different types of pudim, 6-7 types of mousse (You have got to try the mousse de maracuja – passion fruit.), fresh fruits and whipped topping, and ice cream.

By the way, our 2^nd favorite place for churrasco = the home(s) of the Maffei family. And by that, I'm referring to my in-laws and Tiago's uncles, not us. :)

Food, Glorious Food!

The time has come. The world must know about the delicious dining options that await here in Southern Brazil. Here are some things to be aware of before ordering from anywhere: 1. When you order a dish, in most cases you are ordering for 2 people. (Entrees are usually at least twice the size of those in American restaurants.) 2. There are no refills on drinks, and most places do not have fountain drinks either. If you order soda, it will come in a bottle or can. If you try to be cheap (like our family often does) and order water, it will come in a bottle also. Sure you can order additional bottles/cans throughout the meal if needed, but you will be charged for each. 3. (This makes up for #2.) There ARE free refills on side dishes in most places. These often include french fries, rice, various pastas, polenta, salad, and so forth. 4. You will have to look pretty hard to find spicy food here. Brazilian food is well-seasoned and very yummy, but most people here do not like hot peppers or other spicy foods. (You can tease Tiago about how he used to think beef jerky and barbecue sauce were “too hot,” if you like. :)) Now, let me tell you about our “Top Ten” places to go:

#1 – Galeto Feltrin.

This is the chicken place, unlike any I have had in the US. You have two choices when you walk in the door: “per kilo” buffet or chicken meal (I'm not actually sure what the meal itself is called as Tiago does all the ordering).  If you decide to eat from the buffet, there are about 50+ different dishes to choose from, from all different food groups and cooking types. Fresh fruits, vegetables, quail eggs, pickles, olives, salads, and other lighter foods on one side. Then there are the hot food choices – feijao (beans), rice, stroganoff (which varies between chicken and beef), bife milanesa, chicken parmigiana, several types of pasta and sauces, chicken (which I cannot remember if it is grilled or fried, but it is their specialty dish), and lasagna. There is also a dessert buffet with about 10-15 different options – fresh strawberries and cream, mousse, pudim, ice cream, jello, sagu, and other creations whose names I cannot recall. Of course the buffet is nice for several reasons, which you have probably already figured out. Lots of options, get as much as you want, and you can always return and get more if you are still hungry. It is called “per kilo” because you charged by the weight of the food you eat. You can fill up your plate as much as you choose, as long as you are prepared to pay for it afterward. I can't remember the exact cost per kilo, but I do know that I can get a full plate of food for about the same price I would pay for a Big Mac meal at McDonald's in the US. So, high quality, fresh, somewhat healthy food for the cost of fast food. Galeto Feltrin is probably the busiest restaurant in town at lunch time every day, for this reason.

Now remember the other option I mentioned before: the chicken meal. If you order this way, you are seated at a table and your food is served to you fresh and in several courses. First there is a pate of some sort, which we usually don't eat. Then there is the Italian soup and bread, which we do eat. The soup is a broth with dumpling-like filled pasta which I can't remember the name of. The bread is freshly made white bread, soft in the middle with a crunchy crust, the way people like it here. Then the salad tray and maionese is brought: two or three types of lettuce, sliced tomatoes, pickles, and cabbage (I think). Each person takes which ever veggies they choose, as many as they choose, and if the plate becomes too empty, the waiter will appear and bring a refill. The maionese is Brazilian potato salad – boiled potatoes cut up and mixed with what amounts to a home-made mayonnaise mixture. (This is almost a staple food here and is served by nearly every restaurant with every meal. Some put in peas or carrots or corn. My favorite is with green olives or dill pickles.)

A Small Town of 60,000+

We currently live in Farroupilha, Rio Grande do Sul. I found out the name Farroupilha actually means "Ragamuffin", which I think is kind of a fun name.  There is a story behind it, but I don't know it well enough to tell, and unfortunately neither does Tiago.  Well, Tiago calls Farroupilha a “small city.” Let's see... I grew up in Abingdon, Va, population 7780 (according to Wikipedia). For the past three years we lived in Wise, Va, population 3300. Seeing as there are more than 60,000 residents of Farroupilha, I always laughed at his description before. To me, 60,000 residents sounds like it must be a pretty exciting place!!  Now that we live here, I have begun to understand a little better why he says this city is small. So let me tell you a little about why we feel like we still live in “hickville.” :)

First, there is relative size:  Our neighbor city about 20 minutes away, Caxias do Sul, has a population of about 200,000. Then there is Porto Alegre about an hour away, which has a population of about 1.4 million. Of course, these are nothing when compared with Sao Paulo's 19 million residents... Basically, what I have learned is that in Brazil, there are also no small independent towns spread out around an entire county, with only 2000 or so residents apiece. Apparently, if an area is worth settling here, it is worth settling completely. You will come to a huge city, and once you leave it, you can go for miles without seeing much of a community at all until the next city. There are HUGE gaps of basically empty land in between cities. (I will link a map of our state here, so you can see what I mean more easily.)