Café brings a taste of Brazil near campus

ANGIE LEVINE Café Brasil, located on Venice Boulevard,
serves as a site for Brazilian cuisine and conversation.

By Kenny Chang
Daily Bruin Contributor

What looks like a homely little bistro that could be found on
Third Street, or even in South America, is found right down the
street from UCLA on Westwood and Venice.

Café Brasil, found in the middle of the hustle and bustle
of Venice Boulevard, seems almost inappropriate at this location.
Trellises run around the patio dining area, trying to block out the
rest of the world.

The restaurant is organized like a take-out place, and diners
order their food first and wait for their number to be called to
pick up their orders.

There is self-seating, and one can choose from any of the
miscellaneous furniture on the patio or from the two tables inside
the ordering room. 

Café Brasil’s eating structure is as mismatched as
its tables and chairs.  It is a take-out restaurant without
the typically low take-out prices. Fortunately, the food is served
in large portions.

Appetizers at Café Brasil, however, are portioned a bit on
the smaller side. The Coxinha, consisting of shredded chicken
wrapped in deep-fried bread, is $2.50 and comes a bit smaller than
the size of a scoop of ice cream.

Very similar to this in taste is the Risoli, offered at fifty
cents cheaper with beef inside the deep fried flour. The other
appetizers are also offered around the two-dollar mark and these
five Brazilian treats will tantalize the tongue in both taste and
pronunciation.

There are basically three different types of meals to choose
from: hot sandwiches, which come with lettuce and salsa; pastas,
which come with veggies and a soup or salad; and entreés,
which are all fresh from the grill.

There are also vegetarian plates in each of the three
categories, and the house dressing and pastas are guaranteed 100
percent dairy free.

The Churrasco, a $12.95 Brazilian-styled steak in the
entreé menu is delicious with meat so tender that it comes
apart as you bite into it, almost melting in the mouth. The steak
is grilled with onions with flavors that are not too strong or
imposing.

Chicken Dark Meat with onions is near the bottom of the
entreé price range at $9.95 and just as delightful. Although
the portion is a bit small, the meat is extremely fresh, the
flavoring just right, and the chicken is grilled to an ideal state
of juiciness.

All entreés are marinated with Brazilian spices, such as
black peppers, and served with white rice, black beans, two tasty
slices of fried plantains, and soup or salad. The house dressing
concoction has a strong mustard flavor, and the homemade salsa
consists of chopped tomatoes, onions, parsley and cilantro.

If in the mood for a nice drink, one can order conventional
beverages or a variety of more foreign drinks. 

Café Brasil provides Guarana Classic, a Brazilian soda, and
some fruit drinks such as St. Tropez, fresh lemonade with
grenadine, House CK, a sweet passion fruit juice mix with sugar
cane juice, and Tropical, a mango and passion fruit juice with
grenadine.

Grenadine, often used as flavoring in beverages, is a thick
sweet syrup made from pomegranates.

If there is still room for dessert, the restaurant offers
homemade desserts that are Brazilian-inclined as well.

There are Brazilian candies, Apple tort, mousses, pound cake and
even a Brazilian flan.

The homemade pound cake is absolutely delicious and can put Sara
Lee to shame. It is moist and springy with an aroma of butter that
makes one’s taste buds tingle. However, it would be even more
perfect if strawberries complemented this cake.

Café Brasil is a cozy restaurant ideal for a date and for
forgetting the stresses of school. Diners can let themselves go and
easily forget the traffic of Venice, not even 50 feet away.

As dusk approaches, candles are set out and the serene glow
simulates a commercial set on a beach in paradise.

In the middle of Los Angeles, Café Brasil is a nice trip to
paradise for a relatively decent price.