buzina pop

ahhh the new year, with new brasilian food! we decided to go on a special saturday lunchtime date to celebrate our anniversary, and to a restaurant i'd not heard of!

buzina pop is a beautiful, bohemian, brasilian restaurant on the upper east side. even in the january cold, it gives the feeling of a botequim in rio or buzios with beautiful touches of bright green glass 

distressed wood + casual fabrics. the upstair seating

 even featured a 'boutique' selling dresses + bracelets + things for the beach. 

we settled into a booth, ordered some cocktails - a rather tasty and fiery bloody mary for him, and a ' ze de caixao'  a sort of punched up caiprinha with ginger, honey and mint added. i decided to forgo the mint to keep my palate from being overwhemled.  i like my cocktails simple... the menu offered brasilian food in the style of a LOT of restaurants in the country, light, innovative, eclectic, all while still being simple. 

because we were starving, we ordered a casquinha de siri. for those readers who arent familiar with brasilian food, the best way to describe it is a small crabcake like dish, with coconut milk, dende

oil and lime, but this version often features a bit of cheese to bind it. the casquinha was delicious; the sharp flavor of the fruit juice cleansing the mouth after each fresh mingling of the crabmeat and small grinds of cheese. 

to follow, i ordered the pupunha carpaccio, a smallish plate

 of seared scallops, over a carpaccio of fresh (unheard of in this country), large hearts of palm. the plate was delicately dressed with a fine hazelnut-honey vinagrette with fine ribbons of mint and basil to tie the sweet together with the clean, fresh taste of the seafood. although the two scallops seemed a rather miserly portion, in keeping with the new year, i didnt order a mid-course. 

i tasted a bite of my beloved's ipanema sandwich, a lovely reminder of the beautiful misto-quentes of brasil, stuffed with grilled shrimp, a slice of fresh pineapple and some breadcrumby-herbacious stuffing. the bread seemed freshly baked, soft and crunchy where it should be, and the flavors together, 

 were completely satisfying. the entire meal was healthy, delicious and although it was lunchtime, we felt sure we'd eaten well enough that we deserved dessert.

the first thing we noticed on the dessert menu was the avocado mousse. this was a fabulous take on a brasilian breakfast favorite, the batido de abacate, which is just a sweetened, avocado milkshake, but with chocolate nibs and some syrup added for decadence. the pudding was rich, sinful and sweet, but with avocado as it's basis, completely healthy.

buzina pop is rumoured to be moving downtown. this lovely gem does seem a bit out of place on it's corner on the upper east, but i cant imagine a more perfect setting or a more perfect menu. 

A. a good solid A.

siri mole e cia: rio de janeiro

the absolute finest in baiano (northeastern brasil) cuisine is served here in an elegant, carioca style. none of the afro-brasilian touches are left behind. there is a proper amount of heat in the pimenta malagueta and the moqueca is creamy & rich & perfect. i would have a photo of it, but it vanished SO quickly after arriving at our table that none of us were able to think about our cameras. the real star of the show was the appetizer, or i should say ONE of the appetizers. it came to the table piping hot, smelling of intoxicating dende (african palm oil) and rich in culture from far far away in africa.

behold: acaraje

this fantastic & perfect street food is called acara (or akara) in ethiopia, is much like hushpuppies in the south (only in the south it's made from cornmeal, not blackeyed peas like in brasil) and is a sister to falafel in the nothern african countries (made with chickpeas there). acaraje is culinary HISTORY.

on the upper left is vatapa, which is spread between the split acaraje, and shrimp are tucked in & topped with the salad shown in the middle. if you're brave & made of part asbestos, you can drizzle a bit of malagueta onto the soft cut side of the acaraje before you spread the vatapa (this will mask some of the heat). here's a photo of an unusual green malagueta...

siri mole e cia is a marvelous place to get a little taste of bahia without having 2 leave rio. it's authentic, it's elegant & it's amazingly, blissfully, tearjerkingly delicious.

brunch at copacabana palace

there isnt much that can be said about this place.

unlimited champagne, caviarperfect crisp veggies, gravlax better than any i've had in scandinavia.

oysters from the local waters,

brie baked with damascus in a flaky crust.

and magical, enchanting coffee... coffee u can only get in brasil.

there's a reason the copacabana palace charges as much as they do. that reason is quality. and the service is almost as if they're anticipating your every need. it's worth every one of the $160R...