Cuz's Fish Shack Visited 1/17/2015 4.5 Forks

Cuz's Fish Shack Needham's Point, Bridgetown, Barbados

Allison and I were in Barbados for just a quick layover before and after our sailing trip to St. Lucia, Grenada and St. Vincent but it was long enough for us to eat at Cuz's three times in our less than 48 hour stay.  It is everything that I love about food - local, fresh, authentic and affordable.  

It's a tiny blue stand located in the parking lot between the Radisson and Hilton hotels right off the beach. You can't miss it because there is always a huge line for it and you will have to wait no matter what time you get there - although if you get there after 12pm, you will be sure to wait at least 30-45 minutes. Why the wait? It's because this place is run by 1 adorable old lady who cooks everything made to order right in the shack.  There's no menu - just order the fish sandwich.  I would recommend that you order it with a fried egg and cheese.   Yes, that's right, I said fish with egg and cheese. Believe me, you can't go wrong.  She also sometimes has a roti available and if she does, jump on that one as well.  

On our 1st time there, we got the standard fish, egg and cheese ($11 Barbados dollars, which is roughly $5.50 USD).  The flying fish cutter (as it's known) is enormous, so be ready to eat. It's a huge piece of flying fish that is battered and fried up with some local spices, then she puts a delicious fried egg and a thick slice of a sharp white cheddar like cheese, topped with fresh lettuce and tomato and sandwiched between 2 pieces of salt bread.  The gooey-ness of the egg and cheese is fantastic and it just somehow really works with the fish.  The bread is soft and holds in all the juices and flavor of the fish and cheese.  The 2nd time we went there, I overheard a customer ordering a chicken roti and we just had to get it.  These actually were pre-made and she microwaves it to get it warm but none the less, it was an amazing chicken and potato roti.  The roti itself was paper thin but held in tremendous amount of curry flavored potato and chicken.  It reminded me of an Indian style burrito.  Alas when I wanted to get another one the 3rd time we went there, she ran out!  In total, Allison and I had the fish sandwich 3 times and each time they were delicious but different at the same time.  The 2nd one was almost twice at large with 2 fish fillets in there and then 3rd time, the fish didn't seem battered or fried, but more on the grilled side.  Regardless, they were all amazing each time and it really makes you appreciate how individualized each one is made - they are definitely not being churned out of a machine.  She also has a variety of local hot sauces to put on your sandwich, so if you like it spicy, don't miss out on the bottles in front of the ledge. 

The only reason I am not giving it 5 forks is because the wait can be painfully long and especially in the hot sun, so I can see why many people just give up and leave.  Plus the menu is really limited to just 1 item.   But it's still a must go in Barbados, especially if you're looking for affordable authentic food. 

Franklin Tap Visited 1/13/2015 3 Forks

Franklin Tap 325 S Franklin St., Chicago, IL 60606

What I love about the Midwest is how unpretentious and low key it can be.  I was in town for a business meeting and invited my client for lunch.  Instead of picking some fancy pants place, they chose a casual local pub that had tons of beer on tap, burgers and salads.  The place was packed (except for the tables around the door) with a local lunch time crowd.  As I mentioned the menu is classic comfort food and while my head was telling me to get a salad, my stomach told me to get a turkey burger, despite almost killing myself with the burger at Kuma's earlier in the week.  I got the Santa Fe burger with tater tots ($12) - which was a turkey burger with monterey jack cheese, pico de gallo, and chipotle mayo.   

It was a pretty solid burger although it kind of fell apart at the end of it.  From the description of the burger, I thought it was going to be packed with heat and flavor but surprisingly it needed something more do it - it almost felt like it was under-seasoned.  It was good enough for the type of place we were at, but obviously didn't measure up to the monster of a burger at Kuma's.  Meanwhile, the tater tots that came with the meal were excellent.  Super crispy and reminded me of school when we had them.  I could have eaten them all day along but it was probably better that I cut myself off at some point. 

I could see this place being a fun happy hour hang out after work given the beer and food menu.  It was actually nice to have a very casual low key lunch with clients and allowed both of us to let our guards down and just have non-stuffy work conversation.  I would recommend this place but only if you are not in a real hurry and obviously if you're not trying to necessarily impress a client or close a big deal.   Total bill for 3 people:  $60 with tax, tip and drinks. 

Photo credit:  Yelp  

En Hakkore Visited 1/12/2015 4.5 Forks

En Hakkore 1840 N Damen Ave., Chicago, IL 60647

I have passed this place by Deanna's apt a million times and always wanted to try it but there was always some other place to go in the city and this place is more like a casual take out place than a sit down restaurant, so we never end up there.  But I was working from home that day (it's just not MY home) and thought it was the perfect opportunity to give it a try. 

The menu is Korean with some slight twists - they have several versions of bibim bap, korean tacos and sushi.  Everything looked and sounded amazing but I landed on the sashimi bibim bap because it was described as having 13 different kinds of vegetables and 5 kinds of sashimi for $12!  I have never seen a sashimi version and it's a combination of 2 of my favorite kinds of food, so I had to try it out. I also got an order of the mini steamed dumplings ($5).  I forget how price friendly good food can be in other cities outside of NYC.  The service was very nice - the owner asked if I minded my food spicy and I asked how spicy was it and she gave me a taste of their chili sauce which turned out not to be too bad, so she gave it to me on the side in case I changed my mind.  

I started with the dumplings and they were very fresh looking.  You could tell that they weren't frozen and I loved that the skin was very thin and not too chewy.  The dumplings were stuffed with pork and vegetable and covered with spring onion, sesame, and served with a delicious sweet soy sauce.  Great start to the meal.  The bimbim bap was HUGE - a very large order for $12 and it indeed came with plenty of vegetables and sashimi.  I got it with brown rice and the vegetables included were spring mix of lettuce, chopped purple cabbage, regular cabbage, cilantro, daikon sprouts, cucumber, red and yellow paprika, carrots, beets, and pickled radish and the fish included tuna, salmon, white tuna, tilapia and shrimp. Heaven.  The chili sauce was a sweet and only slight spicy, so a great addition to the dish. The only compliant would be that the sashimi was cut into kind of small cubes, I would have liked them to be bigger pieces as sometimes I couldn't really tell what  fish I was eating.  But I really loved this bibim bap and wished my local Korean fusion place had this option.   Now that I know how great this place is, I totally know where I am going for lunch when I work out of my 2nd home of Chicago.  Total bill:  $20  

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Kuma's Corner Visited 1/11/2015 4 Forks

Kuma's Corner 2900 W Belmont Ave., Chicago, IL 60618

I had heard about Kuma's from one of those Food/Travel Channel shows talking about best burgers in the country and Deanna had also mentioned it as a cool place as well.  When I walked in, this place was totally my scene.  It's basically a musty metal bar with a corresponding clientele.  They have whiskey on tap and giant burgers named after all the old school heavy metal rock bands such as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Metallica, and Slayer.  The burgers come in regular red meat, veggie, or chicken tender form.  Genius!  All their burgers come with tons and tons of heart stopping toppings and it was really hard to figure out what I wanted on my burger to clog up my arteries.  I landed on the Neurosis burger - it comes with horseradish mayo, sharp cheddar, swiss, caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, and onion and a side of fries.  Deanna got the famous Kuma burger which comes with a fried egg, sharp cheddar and bacon (she got it on the side so that I could eat it and it was damn delicious).  

Before we dove into our burgers, we started with a small house salad so that we got some kind of vegetables in our system.  The small was actually pretty big and it came with lettuce, carrot, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and red onion but the best part of the salad was the basil vinaigrette - really unique and fresh tasting.   On to the star of the show - the burger.  It's a big impressive patty - they definitely don't skimp on their meat.  It was piled high with all the ingredients - so much so that I was having a real problem fitting everything into 1 bite.  The bread was nice and sturdy and was able to withstand everything on top of it, but I ended up going sans bun for the 2nd half of my burger because it was just too much food otherwise.  But it was an incredibly juicy patty and the cheese was oozing out of it like nobody's business.  I loved everything about it except for the fact that it was probably really really bad for me and it was incredibly messy to eat.  My one pet peeve of this place was that they have cloth napkins and honestly for a messy burger like this that doesn't do the trick.  I know it's probably not environmentally responsible of me to say, but they really need paper napkins or something more absorbent because there is no way you are not going to need a lot of support for this meal.  Deanna's burger looked awesome because of the perfectly fried egg - gorgeous shiny yoke. But she did mention that it was also incredibly messy with the yolk getting everywhere.   I didn't think I could finish the whole thing but I did - and I can't say that I was actually really proud of it because I was uncomfortably full by the end of  night and very thirsty too.   In fact, the reason I don't rate this place higher is because this meal really sits with you days afterwards.  So be warned.  Total bill:  $28/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Fat Rice Visited 1/10/2015 4.5 Forks

Fat Rice 2957 W Diversey Ave., Chicago, IL 60647

At the end of every year, I enjoy reading all the blogs list their favorite or top restaurant picks of the year.   So when Eater's National Where to Eat in 2015 list came out I scoured the list to see how many I had been to.   Sadly, that number was only 7 but since it is a National list, I guess that's not too bad.  Luckily, after being to Fat Rice, I can now bump that number up to 8 and I can say that it's a well deserved mention on the list.

Fat Rice is located in the hot area of Logan Square and when we got there on a cold Saturday night they told us it would be over an hour wait.  But they have a bar next door called "Happy Valley" where you could order drinks and wait.  The "bar" is really just a waiting room and they just walk through the kitchen back to the restaurant to make a lot of their drinks.  Luckily after only 20 minutes they called our names.  We got a nice seat at the counter looking directly into the open kitchen.  The menu is Macanese (from Maco) which is a blend of Chinese and Portuguese flavors.  I had really wanted to try the arroz gordo which was a rice dish layered with every kind of yummy goodness you can think of:  sausage, duck, chicken, prawns, clams, and pork.  Unfortunately it was just me and Deanna so it wasn't something I was willing to tackle on my own, so instead I got the porco balichang tamarind o ($16), Deanna got the fat noodles ($14) and we split the small bites of sweet and sour eggplant, peanuts and beets (3 for $10).   The 3 small bites are actually a lot of food and they were all fantastic.  The beets were served cold and had this sweet coconut like flavor to it that made it irresistible to eat.  The sweet and sour eggplant was delicious and was cooked to perfection where it was not too mushy and not too firm.  The peanuts were kind of wet (I know that sounds gross but I promise still tasted great) and was flavored with lotus root, burdock and star anise. With the exception of the peanuts, I could see these all being expanded into their own appetizer or even entree sized dish and still tasting great.

On to the main entrees.  The balichang is braised sweet and sour pork belly served with tamarind, pineapple and blocked of pressed crispy rice.  Dear lord was this dish heavenly.  The flavors really hit you in the face and the pork belly was cooked to perfection.  There were definite bites of melt in your mouth fatty goodness but it was complimented with nice chunks of sweet meat.  I wasn't sure of the pineapple pieces at first but it added a nice element of sweetness to it.  I was also incredibly happy with the pressed rice blocks - I was going to order a side of coconut rice but the pressed rice added a unique and well appreciated crunchy texture to the dish.  And now that I think about it, the coconut rice might have made the dish too sweet overall.  There was definite heat to the dish as well so be prepared to sweat just a little bit.  I had a bite of Deanna's fat noodle and it was wonderful as well - I love a good broad noodle dish and this one had the noodles hand rolled so that they weren't necessarily flat but the consistency was the same.  It was served with mushroom and egg and it was a very solid noodle non-meat dish.

All in all, I loved everything about this place, even their caipirinhas!  Don't be scared off by the wait because it's definitely worth it and well deserving to be on Eater's list.  Total bill:  $59/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp  

Racines NY Visited 1/9/2015 4 Forks

Racines NY 94 Chambers Street, New York, NY 10007

Amy, Kristin and I had scheduled a Tribeca dinner outing in the New Year and all 3 of us had Racines on our list.  It is the NYC location of a Parisian bistro that had gotten rave reviews from the NY Times.  It's not quite in the heart of Tribeca - it's more like this grey area between Tribeca and City Hall.  The restaurant drew kind of an older crowd despite them having a weird playlist of Biggie and then 80's music. 

Regardless of the slight imbalance, it is a lovely place.  The menu isn't French bistro food but it is high end cuisine.  I was craving cheese for some reason, so we started with the cheese plate ($18) which came with 3 fabulous cheeses ranging from a strong blue cheese to a mild cow's mild and served with a incredibly fresh honey spread and fruit jam.  It was served with this amazing warmly sliced bread that made the combination of the cheese, bread and jam wonderfully delicious.  Before we got our main entrees, we had each ordered wine and since I'm not a huge scholar on French wine I had asked our waiter for a recommendation.  He had told me about one that had a funky/earthy taste and I just had to try it.  Lo and behold, the wine  (La Grange Aux Bellles, Brise d’Aunis, Pineau d’Aunis) was exactly how he described it.  I know it's hard to imagine red wine being described as funky but it honest to god had a funky but pleasant aftertaste. 

Before our main entree, the chef brought out an amuse bouche of escargot.  I was pretty surprised that they served 4 medium sized bites of escargot as an amuse bouche.  Amy and Kristin were a bit weary of it, but I actually really enjoyed it.  It had a lot of tasty garlic flavor but I can see how knowing that you're eating snail can be off putting for some people.  For my main entree, I opted for the hanger steak with Brussels sprouts and a shredded squash side that was stuffed with beef cheeks ($35).  Both Amy and Kristin got the scallops ($35) which looked amazing.  They were huge and firm and the one small bite I had was really delicious.  Usually just eating scallops isn't very filling, so this dish also came with ricotta and spinach stuffed agnolotti pasta that looked divine.  Meanwhile my hanger steak was cooked to perfection.  It was the right amount of pink on the inside - it was actually very rare but that is exactly how I like my steak.  The Brussels sprouts were nicely roasted but what really pushed this dish over the culinary edge was the squash stuffed with beef cheeks.  I mean, who serves you tender hanger steak and then gives you a side of beef cheek?!?  It was a wonderful meat dish -  very well done. 

Shockingly we all still left room for dessert and the waiter recommended the chocolate and caramel tart ($11).  As someone who doesn't love chocolate desserts, this is the kind of dessert that I know I should appreciate but just couldn't love.  It was too heavy on the chocolate and it was all I could taste, which made it too sweet for me.  I wasn't a huge fan but honestly I was so full that it didn't really bother me.   

Now that I know that the original place is in Paris - I would love to check it out as well.  Neither the decor nor the menu scream French bistro but irregardless, the food is delicious.  For those of you who work downtown and looking for a nice place to take a client out to dinner, this would be a great recommendation.  Total bill: $75/pp with tax, tip and wine

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Uncle Julio's Visited 12/28/2014 2.5 Forks

Uncle Julio's 4870 Bethesda Ave., Bethesda, MD 20814

When Elissa mentioned getting Huevos Rancheros for brunch in Bethesda, I was all in.  Mexican breakfast is one of my favorite type of meals and I didn't think Bethesda had a place that served it, so I was totally happy to check this place out.  Turns out I had been to this place before years ago when it was Rio Grande - I realized this has been a rotating Mexican chain restaurant my entire childhood but I was still curious. 

The space is huge and totally family friendly as it's got a lot of space and it's already very loud.  The brunch menu has a lot of great sounding options:  breakfast tacos, huevos rancheros, chilaquiles, migas, brunch quesadillas, along with their usual lunch menu.  Elissa and I both ended up getting the huevos rancheros with a side of carne asada ($17).  While you are waiting for your food, they serve you the typical chips and salsa and I must say that the chips were quite addictive.  They were light, thin and had the right amount of salt on it.  I could have sat there and eaten the whole basket of them. 

When our food came out, I could tell right off the bat that it wasn't going to be the most amazing or authentic huevos rancheros of my life.  But honestly, it was as expected from a large chain restaurant situated in the 'burbs near a bunch of families.  The 2 eggs over easy seemed really small and didn't really have the runny yoke that is so important to making eggs.  The dish just didn't seem very hearty or filling - it felt like they skimped on all of the ingredients because I had polished off most of the food fairly quickly.  It tasted like it was made quickly and with not a lot of super fresh ingredients.  But the one shining component of the dish was the carne asada.  It was surprisingly tender and quite flavorful.  Thank god we opted for the extra side of carne or else the meal would have been super sad and unsatisfying. 

I have a feeling that perhaps the regular lunch or dinner menu might be decent if you were looking for some quick Mexican food.  Not that NYC has that many authentic Mexican places, but you can sure bet that Bethesda doesn't at all.  Total bill:  $23.50/pp with tax, tip and drink

Photo Credit:  Yelp 

Sao Paulo, Brazil - Day 9 (Dec14, 2014) 3.5 Forks

Bar do Mane - Rua da Cantareira, 306 - 3.5 Forks

If there was one thing I was hell bent on eating in Sao Paulo, it was the famous mortadella sandwich. I saw it on an episode of No Reservations and immediately took note of it.  We didn't have much time in Sao Paulo at all -  which was fine because it's kind of a concrete jungle of a city that wasn't so interesting after spending time in beautiful Rio and Paraty.  But it is known to be a culinary wonderland, so I was a bit bummed that I wouldn't have time to eat at many, if any, places while I was there.

But I made it a priority to check out the Mercado Municipal because I am a huge sucker for large farmer's markets and this one is a doozy.  It's a huge space filled with dried cod, seafood, and exotic fresh fruit stands as well as lots of food stalls that are full of locals and tourists alike.  I'll be honest and say that I made a bee line for Bar do Mane without doing much research on the other options but I'm sure that any of the other places in the market also make a fine sandwich - and there are lots of options, so take your time and see what speaks to you.  Bar do Mane is on the 1st floor and you can't miss it with all the crowds.  They are known for their famous mortadella sandwich but they also have a bunch of other sandwich options if eating 1,000 pounds of hot meat isn't your thing.  You can order the sandwich hot or cold - I opted for hot.  When it first comes out, it doesn't seem so bad but once you start eating it your realize what a beast it is.  It comes with epic layers of thinly sliced mortadella (which is pork that tastes a bit like baloney) with a gooey hot layer of cheese sandwiched between a soft warmly toasted roll.  It is probably THE best hangover food you'll ever eat - too bad I wasn't really hung over despite drinking a ton the night before.  It's quite a salty sandwich, so be prepared to wash it down with either a cold beer or coke.  I could barely eat half of it and ended taking the other half back to the hotel.  It wasn't too great after it had been sitting out a bit but it helped to fill my stomach before a long red eye flight home.  It was seriously the only thing I ate in a 24 hour period because that's whole filling it is. 

While the sandwich might not be the most mind blowing thing ever, it is a classic dish that you should try at least once.  I loved the market - it was filled with lots of color and wonderful visuals of fruits you'll never see anywhere else - and is absolutely worth a stop even if you don't go to Bar do Mane.   Total bill:  $8 USD

Paraty, Brazil - Day 7 (Dec 12, 2014) 3-4 Forks

Dito e Feito - Kiosk along the Pontal Beach - 3 Forks

While I greatly enjoyed my time in Paraty, I was disappointed that there weren't any good local beaches within walking distance.   You really need to take a boat out to the islands to get to anything nice but they do have a very basic local beach, Pontal Beach, where it's lined with a few seafood kiosks and they have lounge chairs for you to hang out in if the weather is nice.  All the kiosks seem to offer the same type of food:  seafood.  Strangely the menu is geared towards food for 2 or more people - so they really kind of make you feel self-conscious when you are by yourself, which I was.

Since all of the kiosks looked the same, I picked the one that was most crowded and busy.  I had a wait a bit for a table but it wasn't a big deal.  It's a super casual beach side hut, so imagine plastic tables and stools and everyone is in some kind of beach wear.  As I mentioned, the menu has a lot of "for 2" dishes and the English translation is very spotty, so I basically picked the only thing I saw "for 1" which was a fish stew ($11 USD) and I got a coconut juice ($3).   While the beach is not pretty there at all, there is something nice about just chilling by water in a run down hut eating with the locals.  The stew that came out was huge.  It was a large filet (with bones) of some kind of mackerel like fish and it was covered in a sweet onion and tomato sauce.  It was served with a side of white rice and a tomato manioc (cassava) paste that seems to come with every Brazilian dish.  It was a pretty filling meal with all the starch and carbs going on.  The type of my fish wasn't my absolute favorite since it was a bit on the oily and fishy side but I could tell that it probably something that they plucked out of the local waters.  I had really wished that I could have gotten some of the other dishes like the shrimp and mixed seafood dishes but alas, this is the problem with being a solo eater. I was a huge fan of the coconut juice as it wasn't just a young coconut with a straw in it.  It was like a coconut shake with lots of shredded coconut flakes in it.   Overall, it was a peaceful meal that was very much off the beaten path but I would definitely recommend that you come with at least one other person so that you can try a bunch of other dishes.  Total bill:  $14 USD

Thai Brasil - Rua do Comércio, 308A - 4 Forks

There are weirdly enough 2 Thai places in Paraty, Thai Paraty and Thai Brasil.  After being unable to find Thai Brasil on our 2nd day in Paraty (thanks a lot Google Maps), I was determined to locate and eat there.  Turns out it was actually 5 mins from our hotel and fairly close to the center of town.  It's a bright, colorful and adorable restaurant that I immediately loved.  

At this point in the trip,  Lav and I were so ready for some Asian food or food that had some kind of spice and flavor to it.  So Thai food was right up our alley.  I was surprised that the menu was pretty authentic and not some kind of Thai/Brazilian fusion deal.  They had curries, pad thais, papaya salads and rolls but it was a pretty small menu with only about 6-7 dishes total.  The waitstaff is super nice - they seem to all be young travelers who spoke at least 3-4 languages.  We had no problems conversing with our waitress and she made sure to point out what was vegetarian for Lav.  I opted for the spicy squid ($17 USD) and a frozen mint lemonade ($4 USD) and Lav got the pad thai with veggie and tofu.  

The mint lemonade was quite re-freshing and it was nice to drink something that was loaded with cachaca.  My dish was served with lots of large pieces of squid and stir fried vegetables and rice.  If I was missing spice during this trip, this one dish made up for all of it.  It was packed with flavor and spice but in a good way -  I didn't feel like I couldn't eat the dish but it definitely cleared my sinuses. But it was exactly what I needed after days of eating grilled meat and fish stews.  It tasted very similar to the type of Thai food I can get in NYC and dare I say, even parts of Thailand?  I had a small bite of Lav's noodles and it wasn't quite as good as my dish - a little bit on the oily side with the noodles and it definitely didn't have the heat of my dish.  

All in all, it was a great respite from all of the Italian/Brazilian type food I was eating and it was just a nice fun restaurant that lots of people were just relaxing and having a great time in.  It a great place to check out if you need a bit of Asian kick to your trip.  

Photo Credit:  Zarpo.com.br

Paraty, Brazil Day 5 & 6 (Dec 10-11, 2014) 4-4.5 Forks

Miracolo Praca da Matriz 8, Paraty - 4 Forks

After spending 4 wonderful days in Rio, Lav and I moved our adventures onward to Paraty, which is a small colonial town along the coast 4 1/2 hours away from Rio.  The town is adorable - imagine tons of cobblestone streets and old churches.  Surprisingly for such a small town, they have quite a few restaurants to choose from.  I had run into a very nice American exchange student while I was taking a walk and she had said that her favorite place was this Italian place right on the main square. Not that I was sick of Brazilian food yet, but it was kind of a nice reprise to have Italian food for once and we knew that it would be easy for Lav to find something to eat off the menu. 

It's located right in the heart of town off one of the main squares in Paraty.  They have some nice seating outside, so if the weather is nice, it's a great option to grab a table and people watch.  The menu has your 2 standard Italian dishes:  pasta and pizza.  Wonderful.  I wanted to get the fresh mozzarella pizza but they had sadly ran out of it for the night so I got a medium mushroom pizza and Lav got a spicy spaghetti and we split an appetizer of tomato bruschetta.  The bruschetta came with extremely fresh crushed tomato and basil - I wasn't starving so I didn't eat the bread it came on, but I was very surprised at the quality of the food given how far away we were from everything.  The pizza came out and it was enormous.  I could tell by the looks of it that it would be good.  It was a nice flour-y crust with TONS of gooey cheese and what looked like canned mushrooms.  Now normally I don't like canned vegetables but there's something about canned mushrooms on pizza that I love.   The crust was thin but held its own with all the cheese and mushroom on there and yet still had a nice crunch to it.  I have to say that I was really pleasantly surprised by my meal here in both quality and quantity.  The spaghetti dish was also huge and Lav mentioned that it hit the spot as well.  This isn't a Babbo or anything but it certainly can fill your Italian craving in a small fishing town in Brazil.  In fact, it was good enough that we went back there the next day for a quick bite after our boat outing because we knew it would be good, cheap and filling.  Total bill:  $16/pp

Photo Credit:  Tripadvisor

Le Castellet Rua Dona Geralda 44, Paraty - 4.5 Forks

I may have actually found the world's cutest restaurant and it's Le Castellet.  This place was literally across the street for our hotel and the minute I saw it, I knew we had to eat there.  The place is beyond adorable and transports you to the heart of Paris.  I mean just look at the picture - can't you imagine being in France?  They have 2 small tables out front (they will bring more seating if requested) and they have 3 chalkboard menus and a cute decorative bicycle out front.

The menu is strictly French with lots of sweet and savory crepes and traditional dishes like croque madams and croque monsieurs.   I went for a croque madame because of the egg that comes on top of it and Lav got a ratatouille crepe.  I should note that the very nice waitstaff here does not speak any English and very little Spanish, so there was a lot of confused looks and pointing.  Luckily, what little French I do remember from high school came in handy here when reading the menu.  It should also be noted that if you eat here you MUST get a caipirinha because they are enormous,  albeit a little on the sugary side.  The croque madam was good - very soft bread, lots of melted cheese and a perfectly fried egg on top.  The ham and gruyere cheese were perfectly melted and made for a a great salty combination.

As with a meal at an Italian restaurant, you need to save room for dessert when dining at a French restaurant. We got the profiteroles for dessert and it was heavenly - definitely the highlight of the meal.  The pastry puffs were soft and light and sandwiched with sweet vanilla ice cream and then covered with warm chocolate on top of it.  It was amazing and a great way to end the night.  It wasn't too sweet but left you feeling like you still had a winning dessert.

This place is the perfect French bistro cafe to just sit outside with a bottle of wine, read a book and maybe have a croissant or two and yet be in an adorable side street in Brazil.   Total bill:  $23/pp

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Day 3 & 4 (Dec 8-9, 2014) 3.5-4 Forks

Fellini  Rua Gal Urquisa 104, Rio de Janeiro - 3.5 Forks

When people think of Brazilian food, they mostly think of the all-you-can eat steakhouses, but they are also very big into buffet style food.   Their buffets are usually the kind where you pay for the weight of your food which can be dangerous if your eyes are bigger than your stomach.  Fellini is located on this dark, quiet street in Leblon and the customers there are generally local families.  

You basically walk in, grab a plate, load up with whatever you want and then weigh it at the end.   You can go back as many times as you want and each time you weigh your plate, they give you a sticker with the price of each weigh so that when you check out, they know how much to ring you up for.  There is a fairly large variety of food here ranging from salad, sushi, pastas, meats, fish, seafood, fried food and dessert.  The ingredients seemed fresh and the food looked like it was constantly switched out and not like it had been sitting there for hours.  I went straight for the sushi - the Asian mentality of me was trying to figure out how to get the best bang for my buck.  I loaded up on sushi, poke and some sliced meat.  This is also a great place if you are traveling with vegetarians or have other dietary restrictions because there literally is a little bit of something for everyone.   My first round of food was $12 USD and I must say that the quality of the food was pretty good.  I was a big fan of the salmon poke (or it tasted a lot like poke since it was cubes of raw salmon with soy and sesame oil with scallions) and the sushi wasn't too bad either.  The cut of meat was fine - it was a bit well done for me, but you can't expect too much for buffet style meat.   In all honesty, I most likely could have (and should have) stopped eating here but I went back for a second round of poke and spent another $10 for no real reason.  

I wouldn't say this was a culinary highlight of my trip but I did like that it was a no frills, easy meal. Sometimes you just don't want to eat at a full service restaurant and for those occasions eating at Fellini is just right.  Total bill:  $22 USD

Photo Credit:  Tripadvisor

Porcao R. Barão da Torre, 218, Rio de Janeiro - 4 Forks

Ahh - yes.  A trip to Brazil wouldn't be complete without a visit to a Churrascaria/Rodizio des carnes. It's essentially an all-you-can-eat steakhouse and you must come hungry.  Lav and I came for lunch after visiting Sugar Loaf Mountain and I'm sad to say that I probably wasn't hungry enough for it but I made it work.  Unfortunately there is no lunch price, so it was a very expensive lunch and they also don't have a price for just the salad bar for vegetarians.  So Lav really took one for the team by coming here because she ended up paying a lot for the salad bar which really isn't worth it.  But for me, I was in pig and cow heaven.  I started with a caipirinha as an afternoon beverage and they make it table side for you and really see all the god damn delicious sugar that they put in there but it was one strong drink.  Next I headed to the salad bar and again, loaded up on sushi and sashimi here.  Despite being called a salad bar, the really had a lot of seafood based dishes, which sucked for Lav and honestly I was so focused on getting to the meat portion of my meal that I completely skipped over them.  The sashimi was actually very good and was a good palate cleanser for me in between bites of meat.  

On to the meat.  I've been to Churracaria's in New York before and they work the same way here. You have a card and if you want them to come over with the meat, you turn the side green.  If you're full, then turn it to the red side that says stop.  But since we were here for lunch and it was pretty empty, they kept pushing meat on me the whole time despite having it turned to red when I was trying to clean my plate.   The waiters come around with all sorts of mouth watering meat on a skewer and then they slice off generous portions on to your plate.  I must have eaten every cut of beef known to man and they were all pretty delicious and juicy.  They also had sausage and chicken (it was like fried chicken but not totally battered) but I would say that if you have limited stomach space, stick with the meat.   I was able to put away almost 2 full plates of meat and a few rounds of sashimi and that was all I could handle.  The cuts of meat were flavorful on their own as none of it needed any sauce to it.  With your meat, you can get sides of fries, tomatoes, shrimp and some other appetizers but to me that's all just filler for the main course. 

Annoyingly, dessert is extra.  Lav got a slice of cheesecake to top off her meal but I couldn't eat anymore food.  While this place is great for meat eaters, it's a definite bummer for vegetarians.  They should either offer a lower price for just the salad bar or include a price with dessert for them.  I left lunch feeling uncomfortably full but I'm still glad I went.  I'm sure the scene would have been totally different at night for dinner but lunch was a much calmer experience which was just fine with me as I rolled home drunk and full. Total bill:  $63/pp with drink and dessert

Photo Credit:  Yelp

El Born R. Bolivar, 17, Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro - 3.5 Forks

So this is a bit of an unfair review because I barely ate anything there because I was in in a meat coma from my lunch at Porcao earlier in the day, so there's not much for me to review.  But from what little food and drink I had, it seemed like a very lovely place to grab some tapas and sit outside with a lovely cocktail.  The tricky thing is that also also pass around  random tapas while you eat and at first we weren't sure what was going on.  Was it complimentary?  Well the answer is no, they are not free.  They like to pass around different types of house tapas and if you are interested, they put it on your table and write it down on your bill.  Luckily the food is pretty good here, so when we grabbed some kind of potato dish, we weren't too upset.  For our main dishes, we got our usual order of potatoes bravas and a tortilla and both were solid dishes.  

The location of the restaurant is on a lively and fun strip in Copacabana.  After checking out this neighborhood, I'm glad we chose to say in Ipanema as it's not quite as touristy and crazy as Copacabana.  But this restaurant would be a fun place to check out on any other occasion, just not after I had eaten an entire cow for lunch.  Total bill:  $25/pp 

Photo Credit:  Yelp 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Day 2 (Dec 7, 2014) 3.5 - 4 Forks

Padaria e Confeitaria Ipanema  Rua Visconde de Piraja 325, Rio de Janeiro - 4 Forks

I can't even begin to tell you how in love I was with this place.  Lav and I were on our way to the hippie flea market when we walked past this place and we had to go in.  It's a typical Brazilian bakery but it leans more towards the savory than the sweet stuff.  Inside, you are completely overwhelmed by your options and nothing is in English.   Unless you know exactly what's in what you're ordering, it's kind of a gamble with what you are going to get but I'm almost 100% sure that it'll be delicious.

Basically everything is fried here - it's all some version of fried dough with something stuffed inside whether it's cheese or chicken or something else.  First you need to pay first at the cash register and then you go to the counter, show them your ticket and then place your order.   I had gotten a quick Portuguese lesson from my co-worker before I left and she had told me to try a coxinha, which is basically fried dough ball with shredded chicken inside.  I'm so glad she told me about it because I ate a lot of them while I was on this trip and they were delicious.  I love that their breakfast favors savory treats and these are dense enough that you really only need one before you are full.  The coxinha was fantastic - not too salty, not too greasy and 100% yummy.

If I had more time there, I probably would haven stayed and tried 100's of things there but it's probably better for my health that I didn't.  To me, this place (or any similar old school Brazilian bakery) is a must stop on your trip to Rio and you should definitely try as many things as you can - you won't regret it.  Total bill:  $1.85 USD

Photo Credit:  Tripadvisor


Delirio Tropical Rua Garcia d'Avila, 48, Rio de Janeiro - 4 Forks

After a long day of shopping and walking around town, Lav and I were looking for a quick and casual lunch.  We randomly stumbled upon Delirio Tropical on our walk and noticed that there was a long line of locals at this place and figured that it was worth a try.   The place is super casual and is served cafeteria style - which is great for tourists who don't speak English because you can just point to whatever you want.  While you wait outside in the line, they actually do have an English (and Portuguese) menu for you to peruse and figure out before you go through the line.  The menu changes daily but essentially you can pick up to 3 "salads" for a fixed price plus they have other additions for an additional price.  The place is great for vegetarians because there are a lot of salad options to choose from and you can see all your food before you order it.

I opted for the sliced eggplant, smoked salmon with herbs and a potato/ricotta pasta with tomato sauce.  Unknowingly, the smoked salmon and pasta dishes were not in the included salad price, so my bill was a bit higher from the regular tri-mix of $R 19.50 (~$7 USD).   The eggplant was very thinly sliced and had a brown sauce over it but it could have used a bit more salt to it.  The smoked salmon with herbs was smoked well and I reminded me of the kind at home in NYC.  Te potato/ricotta pasta was almost like a stuffed shells with tomato sauce - a bit heavy for lunch but because it was only 1/3 of my plate, it was enough to hit the spot.

What I liked about this place was that it was full of locals and it was one of the few very affordable casual eateries in Ipanema.  The food also seemed very fresh and it was nice to go to a place that actually had more vegetable options than meat options on the menu.  If we had stayed in Rio for any longer, this place would have definitely made it to the repeat list.  It's a great  healthy place to stop by after a long day at the beach.  Total bill:  $14 USD

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Quadrucci  R. Dias Ferreira, 233, Rio de Janeiro - 3.5 Forks

The neighborhood one over from Ipanema is a fancy pants place called Leblon - it might actually be even more rich and fabulous than Ipanema.  There is one particular street in the 'hood call Rua Dias Ferreira that has a long strip of bars and restaurants and two restaurants that kept coming up during our research were Zuka and Quadrucci.  They are literally right next door to each other but we opted for Quadrucci since it had a nice outdoor seating area.  

The menu here is strictly Italian - we started with the mini crostini ($10 USD) and I opted for the lamb lasagna ($20 USD).  There were 3 different kinds of crostini:  mushroom with leeks, tomato with basil and arugula, and goat cheese with caramelized onions.  They were all solid crostinis but to me, I'm never wow'd by some ingredients thrown on mini toasted piece of bread.  I could tell that the ingredients were fresh and well sourced and that they definitely put some thought into this dish but it wasn't any better or worse than bruschetta I've had in the US.  Next came my lasagna and even though I thought I was taking it easy on my meat consumption by going with a pasta dish, this one was very heavy on the lamb.  Almost too heavy.  The Brazilians really love their meat - even if it's in a pasta dish.  It was served with a red wine sauce and Roman goat cheese.  It was great but afterwards it really sat like a pit in my stomach.  It would be a fantastic dish on a cold and cozy night but it didn't seem like something one would be eating on a hot Rio night.  None the less, the food and vibe here is on the higher end yet it's a nice quiet atmosphere.  It kind of reminded me of being at a nice Italian restaurant in NYC - except for the fact that I was wearing a summer dress and flip flops in December. I would have definitely been curious to check out some of the other neighborhood joints such as Sushi Leblon but this was still a solid choice for our trip - even if it wasn't typical Brazilian food.  Total bill with drinks:  $43/pp

Photo Credit:  Yelp