SÃO PAULO'S FOOD MOMENT

Mercado Municipal - São Paulo- Brazil

Dining is a serious pastime for paulistas, and they stay well informed about the best places to savor the countless cuisines in this diverse metropolis. To understand firsthand something of the local bounty, start by visiting the Mercado Municipal, which is set in a 1928 neo-Baroque building. More than 300 stalls overflow with fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and other goods. Sample the caju (cashew apple), maracuja (passion fruit), or pitaya (dragon fruit), then stop at the Hocca Bar, where patrons line up for bolinhos de bacalhau (cod-filled croquettes).

There’s a galaxy of superb restaurants in São Paulo, but many gourmands believe that D.O.M. is the best in Brazil. (D.O.M. is an acronym for Domus Optimus Maximus, a Latin phrase asserting that this is the optimum, maximum dining experience.) Here, ground-breaking celebrity chef Alex Atala blends classic French elements with exotic Amazonian ingredients: Foie gras is paired perfectly with crispy wild rice, and breaded oysters are enhanced with tapioca marinade. Atala is also the mastermind behind Dalva e Dito, across the street, a paean to simple Brazilian fare, such as the classic prato feito of rice, beans, and meat.

At Brasil a Gosto, chef Ana Luiza Trajano does a creative take on traditional comfort food from Brazil’s backwaters, while at Mocotó, cow’s-foot soup and other time-honored specialties from northeastern Brazil are prepared with modern panache under the watchful eye of rising chef Rodrigo Oliveira. Celebrities are frequent guests at Maní, claiming seats in either the garden or dining room to sample the panethnic creations of forward-thinking chef Helena Rizzo.

Figueira Rubaiyat is known as much for the gnarled trunk of a magnificent old fig tree that reaches skyward from its front patio as for its cuisine, the highlights of which are meat from the owner’s ranch, as well as a rich, traditional paella and simply prepared fish-of-theday. The finest choice for Italian cuisine in the city is the elegant, uberfashionable Fasano, in the hotel of the same name.

Restaurants that serve contemporary cuisine open and close in the blink of an eye in São Paulo. But Carlota has thrived since the 1990s thanks to Chef Carla Pernambuco’s talent for reinvention. Set in an old brick pousada, the restaurant features such globe-spanning dishes as crispy shrimp risotto with ham and sweet pepper chutney.



Mercado Municipal: Tel 55/11-3228- 0673; www.mercadomunicipal.com.br. 

D.O.M.: Tel 55/11-3088-0761; www.domrestaurante.com.br. Cost: dinner $95.

Dalva e Dito: Tel 55/11-3068-4444; www.dalvaedito.com .br. Cost: dinner $40. 

Brasil a Gosto: Tel 55/11-3086-3565; www.brasilagosto.com.br. Cost: dinner $35. 

Mocotó: Tel 55/11-2951-3056; www.mocoto.com.br. Cost: lunch $30.

Maní: Tel 55/11-3085-4148; www.manimanioca.com.br. Cost: dinner $35. 

Figueira Rubaiyat : Tel 55/11-3063-3888; www.rubaiyat.com.br. Cost: lunch $40. 

Fasano: Tel 55/11-3896-4000; www.fasano.com.br. Cost: dinner $65. 

Carlota : Tel 55/11-3661-8670; www.carlota.com.br. Cost: dinner $35.


By Patricia Schultz in "1,000 Places to See Before you Die", 2nd. edition, Workman Publishing, New York,2011, excerps pp.1019-1020. Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.

Share this post