Brazilian/Argentine on West 45th & 46th

R.e. the several Brazilian (and a couple of Argentine)
restaurants on West 45th and West 46th Streets
(between 5th and 6th): Which ones are good? Which ones
are skippable? I see Cabana Carioca on Jim's downhill
list---does that still hold true? It's been quite a
while since I've been there.

Susan

Hi Susan --

It's neither Brazilian nor Argentine, but I really
*loved* Pomaire when I went last Friday. It's Chilean,
but in many small ways, the menu seemed to be a mix of
Peruvian and Chilean food. The food was delicious, the
sangria was just right (maybe too right!) and the bread
they served was very much like the bread I had in Cuzco
and other parts of Peru -- thinnish but puffy and a
touch of sweetness... a little like the pao arabe that
you can find in Brazil. I've never been to Chile, so I
can't say if the food is authentically Chilean, but it
was very good, and I'm looking forward to going back
again.

Take care,

Katherine

PS Pomaire is on the north side of 46th street, just
off the corner of 9th avenue.

oh, I forgot to add: definitely, definitely skip
Cabana Carioca. ugh. I'm no expert, and it's been
about six months, but I have to walk by it to go
home, and I still get the shivers. The feijoada was an
oily, gloppy, relatively tasteless morass into which
utensils sunk and never ever returned. The salads were
not fresh and well, I was just glad to leave.

I can't remember the name of the place right now
but tomorrow I'll post the name of the restaurant on
46th between 5th and 6th where I've enjoyed wonderful
lunches: beef stewed with pumpkin and potatoes, great
steaks, fresh and bountiful salads....

There's also a take-away store on the south side of
43rd between 9th and 10th whose owner/chef is
Brazilian. It's just next to the Little Pie Company.
You could have dinner there, and have one of the
amazing pies or tarts from Little Pie for dessert!

okay, enough from me.

Katherine, thanks for the good words on Pomaire and
the low-down on Cabana Carioca. I'll have to go to
Pomaire. And do post the name of the place on 45th
when you get a chance. That sounds good. I'm quite
often around those W. 40's streets between 5th and
6th; that's what's made me wonder about the Brazilian
and Argentine places. I've done a little digging
around, and from what I can tell, both Brasilia and
Ipanema are worth visiting.

I know that little carry-out shop by the Little Pie
Co.; it's good, isn't it? I used to swim at Manhattan
Plaza and would stop off for pie at the L.P.C. on my
way home. Completely annihilated any calorie-burning!

Susan

Connie and Tida,
thanks for the reco's of the places in the West
40's. And, Connie, what is a muqueca? I'm curious!

Susan

Hi Susan --

The place I go to for lunch is Emporium Brazil
(Brasil?). I love the food there, and sometimes if
I'm walking past and am not hungry, I'll run in and buy
a fist-sized "cheese bread" for a dollar and a
laranja sucos to have as a snack later. Also along
that street is Ipanema Restaurant, and though I have
never eaten there, I went in one day after work for a
caipirinha, and it was very well-made. The atmosphere
at Ipanema is very cozy, posh, very nice and the prices
were reasonable, I thought. It is also open later than
Emporium Brazil which always seems to be closed when I
walk home after work.

I've started walking home the *other* way after
swimming at Manhattan Plaza -- L.P.C. and the take-away
store right next to it are terrible temptations, and
swimming always leaves me starving!! It's a bad bad
combination... !

Also, I don't know if I should post this under "what's
my craving" but I've been craving an acai sucos... can
anyone help?!

Take care,

Katherine

Curse the luck...feijoada and salad are the very worst things at Cabana Carioca.

It is indeed on my downhill list, because it used to be
uniformly wonderful (a loooong time ago), but it's in my book
because there are still some really good (and fantastically
useful) things to order there.

If you're looking for a riodizio ( meat on the skewers, salad bar, all you can possibly stand to eat ), I enjoy Plataforma. The selection of salads they have is enormous and the meat is so plentiful it's almost overwhelming. The sausage is very tasty! I think the atmosphere is festive without becoming so loud you can't really hear each other. They also make excellent caipirinhas. It's expensive though so make sure to bring your appetite.

A Brazilian restaurant that serves an out of this world feijoda is Beco Azul (212-840-9304, not sure where in Little Brazil they were). They have a number of fish, meat, veggie dishes and it is not a riodizio. Their black bean and their chicken soups are wonderful-almost meals themselves.

I've also heard that Via Brasil (on 45th, I think)
makes a good muqueca, which is not that easy to find.
Haven't tried it yet.