Cafe Brasil

Who doesn't love meat? Well, I suppose vegetarians don't, but the rest of us usual enjoy dead animal to feast upon. Who does meat best? Well I guess that's just a debate for the ages. Is it Koreans? Brazilians? Americans? Argentinians? Ah who knows, but I enjoy it all!

I went to try a new Brazilian restaurant that had been on my to-try list for a while. My go to Brazilian place has been Bossa Nova (very solid btw) but I wanted to try Cafe Brasil since it was so highly rated on Yelp. I went with the Nancy Rheeee and my brown friend who does not have a name yet. It's the first time I had seen my brown friend since he left for NYC and discovered that gas pumping was not as fun as mental masturbation. It was a good reunion with good food.

It was a bit confusing on how to order. Do I order at the counter? Do I get a number? Do you call my name? Do you bring it to my table? Is the bill separate? Since the place was totally not crowded it didn't turn out to be such a mess, but if I went here again I still would not know what to do.


Miss Rhee and I were waiting for our other friend to show up, so we ordered some appetizers. I got the pasteis which is a Brazilian empanada with beef and my friend got the pao de queijo (cheese bread made with yucca root flour and cheese).



Do not order these things. They weren't poisonous or anything, but just not very good. Do you know how sad I was to cut into my empanada to find it to be 80% air and 20% meat!

The meat wasn't even all that tastey. The dough part wasn't even all that crispy. These things are not made to order so they're sitting around under a heat lamp. The pao de queijo, although usually deliciously chewy, cheesy, and addictive, were nothing to write home about here. Enough said.

I ordered the grilled flank steak served with white rice, black beans, salsa, and fried plantains. The meat, although marinated in "Brazilian spices" tasted quite different from the other Brazilian meats I have tried. There was a subtle mustard taste in the marinade I think. Maybe it was just me. Anyways, it was still tastey and not overcooked. All the sides were pretty standard.




I still think Bossa Nova is a better Brazilian restaurant. But it may be an unfair comparison since that's more of a sit down restaurant with waiter service. Nonetheless, if I lived closer to Cafe Brasil I'd be happy to pick up some food from here on one of the many lazy I'm-too-lazy-to-cook nights. One knock, is that it's probably a tad pricey for food that's served to you on a tray.

Cafe Brasil
11736 West Washington Boulevard
Los Angeles



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