If you’ve always wanted to go to Brazil, but don’t have the funds to fly to South America, Café Brasil is the next best thing. With its brightly colored façade, banana tree, palm trees, and coterie of Brazilian expats cooking and serving the food, one can easily imagine one’s self south of the equator. In fact, our friends Daniel (from the state of Bahia) and Gisele (from the state of Sao Paulo) bring their mothers here for the Feijoada. The in-laws then proceed to argue over the use of Farofa, as its application varies wildly over the country. There is one thing that the mothers do agree on, which is the quality of the Feijoada. Both say it is almost as good as what they make at home.
Café Brasil is only open from 8am-3pm, so it only serves breakfast and lunch. Although, if you get the Feijoada Completa, you might only need one meal. The Feijoada is a heavy, slow-cooked stew that’s filled with black beans, beef and two types of sausage. It becomes “completa” when you get rice, greens, chopped tomatoes and plantains served on the side. You can then decide what your favorite mix of ingredients is and whether or not you’re a fan of Farofa.
Since Café Brasil is so close to UCSC, you can expect a wait if you arrive around brunch-time on weekends. Luckily, you can grab a cup of coffee to enjoy while waiting. If you’re not into waiting, you can order your meal online and take it over to the ocean for a spectacular picnic.