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January 29, 2005
Carnivore Mecca
We did our walk-through on the house this morning - some little stuff (cosmetic) the builder will be addressing this weekend, and we found a solution on the paint. See it's wet up here. Really wet - not that it's raining much - just that the air is very moist. So the paint on the house isn't drying - and the mud around the house is so, well, muddy, that the painters ladder is sinking in over a foot. So we decided that the builder will do his best to make the street-side of the house look finished, and give us a bit of cash back against him coming back once the place has dried out and finishing the exterior painting.
After the walk-through we tried to hook up with Brad and Kat, but Kat wasn't feeling well, so we hopped the next ferry back to the mainland and went out to complete some furniture shopping that had been interrupted a few days back. Bought seating for the living and entertainment rooms - and got stuff we really liked for under our budget (a nice change, vs the table and bed).
We decided, on the way back, to give the newly opened Brazilian place another go, so I dropped Dawnise off in front of the building and went to park the car. They had opened up the rest of their seating tonight, so we were seated without delay and after getting the obligatory "red mean stop brining meat, green means bring it on" talk, dinner was underway.
If you've never been to a Brazilian BBQ place before, one word of caution - vegetarians need not apply. It's all about meat. Chicken, Beef, Pork, Lamb, Sausages, you name it. Ipanema (their domain doesn't work yet, but that's the URL on their menus) is a prie-fix arrangement for dinner - you pay one price and "meat stewards" (called passadores) interrupt you every few minutes to offer you some cut or another. We tried everything they offered at least once.
The Tri Tip, the Sirlion, the Bacon-wrapped Pepper Steak, the Pork Loin with Cognac, Honey and Lime, the Lamb in Yogurt and Mint, and the grilled pineapple were all outstanding. The chicken was descent, as were the beef and pork ribs. The meal is served with various side-dishes, including collard greens, rice, black-beans, and (our favorite) fried bananas (no plantains?!).
I had a Gostosa - muddled limes with sugar and cachaca (cane liquor) laced with passion fruit juice - quite tasty. We were going to try desert, but we really didn't have any room for the chocolate torte with strawberry sauce or the cream of papaya - the two of the six desserts on the menu they had this evening. We decided, instead, to have a bit of fruit from the "Mesa de Frisos" (cold table) and a couple more fried bananas.
For a restaurant that only opened last night - the wait staff was operating like a well-oiled machine. Water glasses were never empty, and the meet came faster than I could possibly keep up with it. If I didn't know they'd just opened, I'd have never guessed.
I'm completely sated - and I've had my quota of red-meat for the month.
Be that as it may, I expect we'll be back there on a semi-regular basis - and hopefully it'll take them a while to realize that at $35 a person, they're pretty under-priced. You could easily spend as much on one steak down the street at the Ruth's Chris - and if given the choice, I know where I'd spend my money.
Posted by dberger at January 29, 2005 8:15 PM
Comments
Consider this an official request to put Ipanema on the itinerary for our trip up next month...
Posted by: Hendel at January 30, 2005 10:59 AM
No plantains???!?!?
Posted by: Brian at February 3, 2005 5:42 PM