Wow - this was pretty darned good (especially considering it is run by the Mamma Lucia Italian restaurant next door). This place has more selection and better meat quality (tasty, tender, fatty) than what I've experienced at its competitor on 6th Avenue. Great sides add to this too (olive oil and garlic infused rice, steamed mussels that were surprisingly fresh, etc). Even the pineapple was good: hot, toasty, and sweet. I'm definitely coming here again. The only gripes I have about Mamma Lucia are the lack of black beans (I think it's called feijoada? - I like 6th Ave's version), and surprisingly, the terrible caipirinhas (I actually caught them cheating by pouring some locally bottled lime juice in! Yuck!).
I haven't tried Carnivore yet, but I hope to soon. The Mamma Lucia owner says that the reason why theirs tastes so good is because the meat is all imported from the Americas. This place definitely beats some of the churrascarias that I've been to in California (which, isn't exactly known for good churrascarias, I admit). But it's still not as good as Barbacoa in Tokyo (they apparently only have two locations: Sao Paulo and Tokyo), where they had this amazing cheese as part of the rodizio: lightly crispy on the outside, melted on the inside...mmmm!
If you can't get to Barbacoa, then I definitely recommend Mamma Lucia. Then again, I've never been to Brazil to verify the real deal before, but I can say this tastes good from a "meat on a fire" standpoint. And to my credit, there was a big table in the back of the restaurant tonight that was filled with Brazilians, on the assumption that they wouldn't eat anything less than authentic.
1 comment:
Hello hungry boy. I'm in Tokyo and will stay here for another two weeks. I'm missing so much the Brazilian churrasco that I will head to Barbacoa in Tokyo this weekend and inform you if it is the real deal or not. In south Brazil churrasco is so firmly entrenched in people's culture and menus that new appartments don't sell well if not come with a balcony with an integrated "churrasqueira".
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