Tag: brazilian food

This review is a little delayed, but I must do my small part in creating a web presence for the scarce non-churrascaria Brazilian food scene in the City. Note: you may also find this listed online as “Bolado Bem.”

Note also: it closed :-( (some time before March 6, 2008)

I’d previously mentioned Brasilianville in Queens. The wonderful (if woefully Brazil-deficient) Nueva York alerted me to Bem Bolado, on E. 106th and 2nd: a kilo food/pizza place in Manhattan? Of course I had to check it out.

After a little tinkering with Hopstop it became clear that, short of timing the M4 bus miraculously (on a traffic-free weekend), walking would be the fastest option. The temperature was in the 40s, so I walked [110th from Columbus to 5th without being passed by the M4]. From the circle at the NE corner of Central Park, I walked down 5th to 106th before cutting across, under the MetroNorth tracks at Park, to 2nd. Things got “Spanish” in a hurry, but it wasn’t hard to find the awning over Bem Bolado (Brazilian flags help).

Unlike Brasilianville, there was no churrasco. The salad bar wasn’t there, and the steam table was small. Nothing I tried (rice, beans, greens, farofa, standard chunks of meat) was worth the increasingly expensive stamp to write Brazil—however, those few basics were there and they were… competent? workmanlike? something like that. It was definitely the highlight of my outing: I walked down to the Guggenheim after lunch and I’m not sure the exhibit was worth my waiting in line for my free ticket. So: tolerable, Brazilian, in Manhattan, and (the overriding virtue of kilo food) cheap. Minus one star for being out of guaraná.

The couple eating behind me waxed euphoric about the pizza. I wasn’t going to waste my effort on Brazilian pizza in New York.

See also: [menupages]

In other Brazilian news, Eating in Translation reports a Brazilian-owned coffee shop a mere 20 blocks down Amsterdam. I’ll go in a few weeks and hope they’ve sourced some pastry in the meantime.

Today I had lunch at Brasilianville Café and Grill in Astoria, Queens. It’s a kilo restaurant, of the type that’s very common in Brazil, although it bows to America’s Imperial sensibilities and vends food by the pound. Food from the salad and steamer bars is $3.99/lb; churrasco (Brazilian barbecue) is $6.99/lb. I had a very sad encounter with Diet Guaraná Antarctica—a pale shadow of the real thing, which I found at a nearby convenience store—and the food from the steamer table, although it hit a soul food spot, probably wasn’t the best I’ve eaten.

The steak, though… and the linguiça (a type of sausage)… mmm. I could taste the fat, and it was wonderful. At just $7/lb., even taking into account the “subway tax,” the meat made for a worthy meal. I have been enjoying my food coma this afternoon.

That area of Astoria had lots of interesting-looking food: we passed Ecuadorian, Bosnian, Bulgarian (well, that was a liquor store) and other Brazilian restaurants. Good trip. I’m going to try some Jersey-made guaraná I picked up, and I’ll report on that soon.