It is always a wonderful feeling when you discover things in the most unexpected places. Taste of Brazil is one of them. I never expected to find such a wonderful restaurant in El Sereno. It has a lovely, cozy, neighborhood feel with it’s friendly, yellow walls, and simple table setting. There’s a market on the other side, too!
Our waitress was the most pleasant lady ever. Since it was the first time my friend and I were there, she simply directed us to the most popular dishes with a huge smile on her face. She made me feel so at home that I wish I could hug her! Even more so when she told us that the Lunch Special of the day was half off the menu price AND it came with dessert!
The offer sounded really good, so we both ordered the Picanha na Tabua (beef top sirloin, plaintains, rice, beans, farofa, and salsa) and shared a Calabreza (Brazilian sausage served with onions and fried yucca) for an appetizer.
Those sausages were scrumptious! But my lunch was even better…
The sirloin was extremely tender, which makes me believe that they spend hours tenderizing and pounding that thing. Mushrooms added great flavor to the meat, and the black beans were perfect with the rice. And personally, I am a HUGE fan of plantains, love eating fruit when applied to an entree.
And the Mousse de Chocolate was awesome, heart heart heart.
There was so much food left that I was able to make it into another meal - it looks complete to me:
And since a second dessert came with my friend’s lunch, I even had the Manjar de Coco con Calda de Ameixa (coconut flan with carmaelized prunes) with my leftovers! Nom nom nom nom nom!
Others have raved about the beef stew, the coconut fish filet, the Brazilian flan, and the bread pudding. The waitress put a menu inside my bag and said sweetly, “So you’ll know exactly what you want next time.” I will definitely make another venture out there to taste a little more of Brazil!