Real Rio: Rio Brazil Café

Regional fare of whatever country I think is the main fuel of most food enthusiasts. How food changes via the climate, the terrain, the beliefs, etc. never fails to endlessly fascinate me. Oh, how great it feels to discover a sub-cuisine within a wider known cuisine that caters to your edible whims!

My personal whims happen to be those of the tropical persuasion, EXOTIC, I guess is the more accepted food adjective. Bold, rich, pungent, intense! Things with coconut, fish byproducts, obscure vegetables, exclusive fruits, rare fats…for some reason the food from humid places by the sea. Again, this proved true with the exciting food of the Rio De Janeiro region of Brazil. The preeminent use of the unique-tasting Dende oil (palm seed) is commonplace thorough out its cuisine, along with an elevated love of salt, the food here is definitely not like that of a Churasqueria, the stereotyped Brazilian food here in the U.S.



Rio Brazil Café is located in the newly burgeoning “Little Brazil” district of West L.A, a little area that spans between Culver City and Santa Monica and a little neighborhood known as Palms. In a strip mall, it is actually the 3rd reincarnation of a Brazilian restaurant in the same place and hopefully the last…



Luciene Peck offers her specialty dishes daily but even the foodiest of eyes would have trouble spotting the meek whiteboard outside that nonchalantly flaunts these extrinsic dishes.



Inside, a tropic hue of green welcomes you in, and it’s only a matter of time until your head starts to bob to the easygoing beats of the Samba dancers tooting on the widescreen TV.




Malagueta

To start off, Salgadiñhos are the Brazilian answer to convenience foods, fried savory pouches filled with things that range from spiced shredded chicken (Coxinha) to straight up fried molten cheese (Boliño’s), when moderated, all the better to vastly enjoy with some of that palate stimulating Malagueta Pepper sauce that she makes in house. Now is the perfect time to introduce the drinks, Jugo de Caju (Cashew Apple Juice) is sometimes a bit bland but the tart and zippy Jugo de Maracuya will do just fine.




Feijoada

Aside from the best restaurant rendition I’ve had of Brazil’s more acquainted national dish of Feijoada, a thick stew full with al dente black beans, various salted pig parts and Lincuica sausage, Luciene prepares other Rio standards such as Muqueca, the coconut milk and Dende oil concoction with sweet peppers, onions, garlic and always a little extra love. Here she makes two versions, one with wide flaked Red Snapper fillets and another with tender, bright-tasting Hearts of Palm, both rich in their significant ways.


Heart of Palm Muqueca

She serves all three of these with another personal favorite staple: Farofa, dehydrated Yucca (Cassava) meal that is lightly fried up…starch in its purest, no-frills form. It adds a humble crunch.


Farofa, Rice, Collard Greens & Oranges: Traditional accouterments to Feijoada

Bobo de Camarao is another rare dish, plump shrimp braised with a dende and herbs enhanced puree of that super creamy Cassava root.



Abobora con Carne is another home-style typical plate amongst Carioca families, an exceptionally salty mash up of pumpkin, salt-cured Carne Seca (dried beef) that she prepares herself and more of that illustrious Lincuica sausage. Here, she adapts it by using Butternut squash in place of Brazilian pumpkin unavailable in the U.S. A compromise I don't mind.



If you’re really lucky, you’ll spot Casquinha de siri scribbled on the whiteboard, if you do…GET IT. Who would pass up a Carioca version of a Crab casserole baked in a clay dish?



Sweets get an equal amount of love. A silky, sharp Passionfruit Mousse is presented beautifully, dotted with a couple of crisp whole encased seeds on top and served on a shot cup angled on the bias.



Her Flan de Coco topped with Blackberries would rival even the smoothest of Panna Cota’s, droopy and creamy in texture unlike the more Angeleno-associated molded and stable Mexican Flan, nonetheless equally satiating for the sweet tooth inclined.



And if that still is not enough…she makes her own Brigadeiro, milk chocolate truffles.




A few month’s ago, Rio Brazil Cafe was about to close its doors. But thanks to a steady stream of coverage due to the efforts of the Brazilian enamored Street Gourmet LA, who even started a Twitter account for them, this place has been able to slowly turn around.

And I surely hope that it stays like that.

*Call before for availability of Feijoada, might only be on weekends.

Rio Brazil Cafe
3300 Overland Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 558-3338

The FoodBuzz Festival: Day 1 Pit Stop (Titas Pupuseria)

It seemed like forever ago I was scrambling around to scan in my signature and email it over to them before the deadline but it was time!

The Foodbuzz festival! Meaning...FOODBLOGGER ROAD TRIP!



It was to be Mattatouille, The Kung Food Panda and I, squeezed into the Food GPS mobile--an Acura RSX for five hours straight...

It was not long before we stopped for our first pit stop while speeding along the sunburnt asphalt of the I-5 North: Titas Pupuseria, a Pupusa truck?



A new potential post or a habituated Double-Double? It was Pupusa time!


Menu wasn't half bad, offering a couple of other cool Salvodorean options

Of course, we all opted for its national dish.


Loroco: A flower bud used as a herb. The flavor is really light and subtle, just a vaguely faint tarragon-like taste.

Each order took around ten minutes to make, then I saw why and did not mind the wait. Each turnover had a guaranteed part of the cheese that would be purposely oozed out and left to be turned into a small crispy piece of golden goodness.

The pickled, shredded cabbage slaw known as Curtido also was a step above others I've had around town. Matt and I agreed that it was not too different than a form of Kimchi.

A surprisingly delectable find in the land of franchise driven "T.A" travelers centers.

Next stop...San Francisco!

Titas Pupuseria
20617 Tracey Ave.
Buttonwillow, CA
93206

Part Time Food GPS: Rivera's Honey Tasting

(Taken from Food GPS Website)

Curious I was when I was first asked to cover this event, I felt cloyed after having finished! A four course tasting menu sponsored by the National Honey Board took place at the super hip and happening Rivera Restaurant yesterday. Each dish celebrated—yup, you guessed it—honey and its various uses and effects on food. Only three restaurants around the U.S are chosen for this event every year, this year the chosen theme was Latino cuisine and what better representation in L.A. than Chef John Cedlar’s New Mexican fangled contemporary approach.




Before the meal, Mr. Sedlar came out and spoke briefly about honey’s typical uses on Mexican cuisine as well as his earliest memories of the stuff, involving stories of how he used to smear his Sopaipillas generously as he was growing up. I added a couple of sweet childhood anecdotes myself as he had kindly asked me to do so earlier to add my own piece of knowledge.



Without further delay, we were seated and plopped down with a wide cup full of iced Pineapple and Serrano Licuado with Honey Infused Tequila, a sweet and fiery beginning to the meal, especially after I bit the Serrano and muddled it with the already-spicy juice. Didn’t really pack a punch, but was certainly going to use all that bromelain to help me digest what was coming.



Crostinis of Queso Cotija with Hierbabuena, [pink] Pepper Berry Infused Honey and Figs. Chef Sedlar went on to say how he used to always eat cheese with something sweet, you know…to contrast. He must have really had a sweet tooth back then, the combination of sweet figs and generous drizzle of honey was as sweet as reminiscing in a happy childhood, good thing that subtle pink pepper berry and mint was there to break me out of my sugar daze.

Finish reading rest of dinner at Food GPS

The Rise of L.A. Food Trucks: A Walking Gastro Tour with Javier Cabral

Big, Bad Trucks

...Still don't know how I came up with that title but YES that is my name and that will be the tour I will be guiding at this upcoming Downtown Los Angeles Artwalk

A guerilla revolution in the Los Angeles food scene has been slowly taking place in the streets and driveways of our brick and mortar habituated restaurant culture: Concept Food Trucks (Mobile Cuisine). Taco trucks are one thing but gourmet food trucks? The hugely acclaimed “Korean Taco” slinging Kogi Taco Truck unofficially started it…but that was only the beginning. Join me as I guide you through South Indian Dosa’s, vintage horror movie themed plant based hot dogs, handmade D.I.Y ice cream sandwiches and many, many more. This will be a walking tour, but don’t worry; there will be plenty of refueling points along the way…



The event takes place on the second Thursday of every month and this upcoming one happens to be it!

If you guys haven't been before, this is a must-do if you live anywhere within the L.A locale, like an all out block party oozing--sometimes literally--with unexampled
performance art and upwards of 10,000 modish Angelenos that are out, loud and boisterously about.



Artlessly, no other event in L.A attracts as many trucks as the Downtown Art Walk, let’s see what we hunt down that night...

Some most likely appearances:

Marked 5 (Japanese/American Fusion Burgers)

Coolhaus (Gourmet Ice Cream Sandwiches w/ edible wrappers)

The Franken Stand (Vintage Horror Movie Themed Plant Based Hot Dogs)

Nom Nom Truck (Vietnamese Bahn Mi Sandwiches)

The Dosa Truck (South Indian Dosas)

Border Grill Truck (Gourmet Tacos, Tamales, Churro Bites)

Fishlips (Sushi and Rolls)


The Witch: Full sail Ale cooked Tofu dog with customizable toppings from The Franken Stand


Vanilla Bean on Ginger w/ edible wrapper: D.I.Y Ice Cream Sandwiches from Coolhaus

Extra! Extra! Glutster Mentioned in The New Yorker Magazine

Yup!

READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE (only Summary, full article only in print)

It's crazy how it happened really.

It all started at the Jonathan Gold's Zocalo Cocktail Party Fundraiser that I couldn't even afford to go to.

Apparently, someone had brought me up in a conversation the lovely Dana Goodyear was engaged in...and that was that.
The next day we had lunch at Battambang and were talking just how much the Gold meister has influenced and helped my life since I was 16, singlehandedly trailing his every S.G.V find through my high school years while my classmates sufficed for the local burger hut.

I guess things really do happen for a reason...

IX Tijuana Tequila Expo 2009: 3 Day's Straight

Tequila hasn't gotten as much attention as it deserves in my life as a Mexican American. Would had loved to enjoy it in an earlier point in life, but was always subdued by the smallest bottle of East L.A punk youth favorite: Jack Daniels, or even cheaper, despicable Popov vodka, both...straight swigs of course. In between songs in my back yard punk day's, it would do the job.

My earliest memories of Tequila are of chilly Christmas or New Year's eve's, my mom's side of the family would brew Ponche con piquete, a motley winter brew of anything sweet that grows (pomegranates, Jocotes, Guavas, Apples etc) on trees infused with cinnamon tea...along with a generous dash of Sauza blanco, that was the Piquete, the "bite". I would never get a full cup but would always get a thirsty sip from my mom, only for everyone to laugh at me as I cringed and felt the vicious burn run down my esophagus and into my stomach.

It was time to record new memories (and fuzzy ones at that).

In these three day's...it was time to learn bit more about my heritage, I knew there had to be some better Tequilas out there, right?

Thanks again to the strenuous efforts of the foodbloggero elder StreetGourmetLA, we were to spend three days and two short nights stumbling in the illustrious streets of Tijuana, Baja California, drinking and eating our way through town to better understand Mexican culture.

Considered an unofficial "Part II" of our earlier epic Tijuana foodblogger family trip that took place last July, this featured only the truly dedicated bloggers of the last trip, including Food GPS, Gourmet Pigs, Pleasure Palate, Kung Food Panda and Eating L.A, amongst some that only joined us for one short day. Even Chef John Sedlar of the popular Rivera Restaurant in Downtown was spinning inspiration from T.J's great splendors.

A quick crash course in the art of Tequila.

By law, Tequila can only be made in the state of Jalisco, Guanajuato, Michoacan and Tamaulipas and Nayarit. Anywhere else, it can not be labeled Tequila. Nonetheless, Jalisco still controls the market since its one of the few states abundant in rich volcanic soil, perfect for growing the Blue Agave plants. Only after 8-10 years of caring and tending are the piñas (pineapple shaped base) ready to be pulled out, roasted, then extracted of its sweet liquid to be fermented into alcohol.


A fine example of a piña

When cooked, the Mezcal is also a popular inedible snack with a smoky, sugar cane like flavor and texture.






Knowing that I was stepping into a country where the legal drinking age was 18, I was determined to Carpe Diem--FULLY take advantage of all my temporary privileges.



Already, the first taste was a splendid sip.



Los Tres Toños Extra Añejo is aged for three years in bourbon cask and grown in the central lowlands of Amatitlan. This starter shot had noses of molasses and faint dried fruit with sweet Vanillin finishes, only the subtlest burn...not a bad start.


Gimmicky sounding and labeling, but with a respectable taste actually.

Chamuco's ("Demon") Reposado brand, aged six months in white oak barrels with a 38 proof, this taste was quite straightforward with mostly spice notes, smooth, with no throat burn at all.

Per the wisdom of Streetgourmetla, a general rule of thumb is that the hotter the Tequila model, the worse the Tequila will be.



As was the case with this random brand I can't even remember, tasted like motor oil though.

The flavored Tequilas deserved some attention to, being a nice little sweet break from the hardcore tasting.


A refreshingly tart pomegranate infused Tequila from La Pinta brand; lanky, girl-body background courtesy of my profused buzzness enhanced attention to girls.


Feeling Fuzzy, not just picture--

Tequila con Jamaica was stronger than expected, keeping that sweet-tart flavor of it but with that renown burn.

Of the three day's, the showstopper had to be "Volcan De Mi Tierra's" Reposado, aged 6-8 month's. A product of El Arenal, Jalisco, this was a definite underdog; an unexpected small producer with only an old man sporting a handlebar mustache at the table, no ditsy model or fancy engraved bottle in sight.

The nose on this was surprisingly light, not burning the inside of your nostril or making your eyes roll over. It smelled simple, herbaceous, like taking a small whiff of a stalk on a hot, dry day.



The flavor was phenomenal: a crisp, nutty beginning, a fluid, oak-y continuation and alas the sweet, elegant burn tickling your throat--not torching it.

An added bonus, some primordial Pulque!


Cured with Guava: Multiple flavors usually available like Walnut, Tuna etc.

Milky, viscous and tart in texture, Pulque was the original beverage of Mexico with it's earliest records being 200 C.E, 1319 years before the Spanish conquest.

Originally, it was reserved as a purely ritual drink due to the Maguey's sacredness, drunk only by priest's and sacrifice victims to....yeah. It takes a maguey plant twelve years to produce the sap for this wonderjuice. Unlike Tequila which only uses the cooked heart of only the Blue Agave, Pulque is made with the uncooked whole Maguey plant, stalks and all.

It's popularity has decreased severely over the generations, the introduction of European Beer basically killed it off, being given a 'dirty and low class' appeal when the first beer manufacturing plants started showing up in Mexico around the beginning of the 20th Cntury. Now, it's almost completely forgotten.

It is really hard to find this authentic drink outside of Mexico City, Hidalgo and Tlaxcala states--at least the unpasteurized, thick, layered, legit stuff. They sell it now here in the states, but it's pasteurized, sweetened and all that other usual stuff that's done to American products.

Oh well, I fully appreciated it, getting a full glass cup of the luxurious stuff every day I went, and event taking a pint home, illegally.


Just take a gander and behold the Layers of sun kissed complexities

Hasta La Proxima...

Subject: Tequila Expo this weekend in Tijuana...wish me luck, seriously

Disfrutalo!

http://www.expo-tequila.com/

two day's and two nights of educational debauchery!

...all for the sake of knowing my roots of course:)

I wish at least one of my homiez from the hood had their passport so they can join me though!

get your passports now!

NO EXCUSE!

Hasta Luego.