Serra Dourada
48 Newtown Rd., Danbury, (203) 730-0802, www.serra-dourada.com

I asked several Brazilian acquaintances where to get good Brazilian food. They said Port Chester. Wrong county. So I went to the second-most recommended city, Danbury.

Serra Dourada’s ranch theme evokes the gauchos of southern Brazil. Saddles, wagon wheels, steer horns, fake cow and horse heads decorate the room. With its long wood tables, it’s a place to go with a big group of friends. The live music (Fridays and Saturdays) and lively conversation will distract you from all that is lackluster about the food.

First, we ordered caipirignas. The sugar-cane distilled spirit cachaça is poured over muddled limes, crushed ice and sugar. The drinks were refreshing and pleasantly intoxicating, though very sweet. Sipping our ciaprignas, while the scent of roasting meat wafted through the air, we felt hopeful.

So when the waitress brought us an appetizer of what I had thought would be a small skewer of grilled chicken hearts but was instead a heaping platter of them, I had a flicker of doubt. There were just two of us at the table. (You’d think the waitress could have warned us.) The hearts were juicy, chewy and flavorful. But how many can one person eat? Four was enough for me. (I avoided the disconcerting slice of congealing cheese on top.)

The waitress recommended quibe, a dish that reflects the Middle Eastern part of Brazil’s mélange of food cultures (Native American, Portuguese, African, German, Italian, Syrian, Lebanese and Asian). The egg-shaped meatball of bulgur and ground meat was filled with cheese and deep-fried. Here, the meat was dry and the flavor uninspired — with no hint of mint.
One was enough. A second platter of uneaten food cluttered table. It was the beginning of a pattern.

Our garlic sirloin steaks ($29.75 for two) arrived impaled on a three-foot skewer stuck into a butcher-block base. But the flavor was marred by the garlic brushed on after grilling. It tasted like jarred minced garlic. The waitress told me it didn’t come from a jar. Perhaps the off-putting flavor was created in house by pre-mincing large batches of garlic and keeping them in oil.

With the meal came a thoroughly uninspired vinaigrette, a sauce similar to pico de gallo salsa, which Brazilians spoon on top of meat. Anemic pink tomatoes swam in unadulterated, unflavored vinegar. Rice shared another platter with a heap of french fries.

I have never acquired a taste for farofa, toasted flour of manioc (yucca). At Serra Dourada, it was made more unpalatable by the addition of bits of dried beef. One mouthful was enough.

Oddly, beans were not to be found on the menu. When I asked about black beans, the waitress said she could bring us brown beans. I’m glad she did, because they were the one satisfying side dish on the table.

This was a dispiriting meal. But the caiprignas were good.



Taste of Brazil
167 Main St., Norwalk. (203) 840-1919

Our trip to Taste of Brazil in Norwalk, however, was a treat. The small (nine-table) renovated storefront opened about two years ago. This bright and exceptionally clean restaurant mostly draws in people for the buffet lunch ($6.29 a pound), which offers an ever-changing selection of stews, rice, beans, plantains, vegetables and salads.

I enjoyed the mosquesa de camaroa, a bright orange dish of shrimp cooked in coconut milk, tomatoes and dende (palm) oil with minced peppers, onions, capers and cilantro ($13.99). The shrimp were so tender and the sweet-sour sauce so flavorful I scraped up every last bit.

You can get a well seasoned (though thin) sirloin steak topped with tasty caramelized onions, accompanied by rice, black beans and a whole sweet ripe plantain fried golden brown ($12.99).

True, their churrasco is not true churrasco, having been cooked on a griddle rather than on a grill. (The owner told us she couldn’t get permission to install a grill.) And the churrasco da casa ($22.99 for two) offered a selection of filets of chicken, pork, steak (and peppery sausage) rather than more flavorful cuts. But eaten with the side dishes, it added up to a pleasing meal.

In our two visits to Taste of Brazil, all the side dishes were well prepared, even the rice. Each grain was fluffy and distinct. The vinaigrette was chock full of finely-minced tomatoes, green peppers, onions and parsley, and seasoned with salt and pepper in vinegar and oil. I could have eaten spoonfuls of it. The soft consistency of the beans indicated that they were canned, but they had been doctored, and were smoky and satisfying.

Collard greens ($4.25) were an appealing bright green chiffonade studded with scallions and sprinkled with minced garlic. They were a tad salty, but a welcome accompaniment to an otherwise heavy meal.

Taste of Brazil is not a fine dining place. But if you want a quick meal in a pleasant atmosphere, if you want to eat food that tastes home-cooked by someone who cares, you can’t do better. And the bathroom was the cleanest I’ve ever seen in a restaurant.

My Brazilian food adventures will continue.

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