Jamie's Italian - Jamie Oliver's new restaurant in Sao Paulo

Opening day for Jamie's Italian, April 7th 2015, drum-roll please..................

A few weeks ago, perhaps it was even Tuesday April 7th, a gal pal of mine mentioned that Jamie Oliver was opening a new restaurant in Sao Paulo; 'we should go', she said.   I said YES, YES, lets go, how about tomorrow?  She said, oh I cannot, I am leaving to go home(Sweden) for a few weeks but certainly we shall upon my return.  

Feeling disappointed because I wanted to try it NOW,  I got on my computer to get some information about the restaurant and ended up making a reservation.  Making a ressie is super easy, it can be done all online.  Of course you can call if you prefer.  Since this was not one of my 'practice my Portuguese language skills days' I decided to take advantage of the online system.  The first available lunch time was on April 23rd at 1:00pm, just two weeks away.  Not bad.  I booked a table for four and signed off.

Judy and Liz feeling happy and hungry!

I invited one of my dear friends Judy who lives in Sao Paulo, and Sirley from book club and Judy invited one of her friends, Kristen.  It was a group made in heaven, eager to eat and socialize, we had everything in common!!

The restaurant's atmosphere was warm and inviting even though it seated at more than 100 patrons.  The lunch crowd was lively and there was quite a buzz of happy customers eating Jamie's Italian food.

Busy lunch time crowd.

Tall and inviting bar space.

We began with two appetizers to share - music bread and the grilled veggie board.  The music bread was a crisp homemade cracker (which is on the far right-side of the board pictured below) topped with a thin slice of pecorino cheese, a dollop of chili jam and a slice of red hot pepper. The grilled vegetables were sliced, char grilled and marinated in a herby olive oil and served on a plank with buffalo mozzarella, music bread and some bruschetta.

A large plank of grilled marinated veggies

We each ordered our own plate for lunch.  I had the hamburger and garlic and parsley french fries.

Kristen enjoyed the Caesar Salad with crispy procuttio

Sirley had the Tagliatelle Bolognes which consisted of beef and pork ragu with red wine and parmesan.
And Judy had Jamie's Sausage Pappardelle, a ragu of slow cooked fennel & free range pork sausages with incredible Torrione Chianti, parmesan & herby breadcrumbs.  

We shared the Epic Brownie, a freshly baked warm fudgy brownie with salted caramel ice cream and caramelised amarette popcorn. 

All the mains were quite salty and my hamburger was well done, although I ordered it medium.  The ice cream as indicated in the description above was also salted.  Overall the food was good, not great.  It was quite affordable with drinks, appetizers, mains, dessert and a couple of coffees came to 400R$.  

I am glad we had a chance to experience this restaurant but I would not go back only because there are so many other restaurants I would like to try in Sao Paulo.  I would recommend going so you can say you tried it and check it off your list.  And who knows maybe the chef won't have such a heavy hand with the salt on the day you visit.

Grazina Boga - a tribute to my Aunt

Easter 1973 - Norwalk, CT - Aunt Grazina and her Mom (my grandmother)

Yesterday was a sad day, we were informed that our Aunt Grazina had passed away.

Gražina is a Lithuanian feminine given name. The name was created by the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz for the main character of his 1823 poem Grażyna. The name is derived from the Lithuanian adjective gražus, meaning "pretty", "beautiful".                            ( Source: wikipedia )

Aunt Grazina was the youngest of three siblings, my Mom (Bea) is the oldest and Uncle Kasey the middle child.  Aunt Grazina was born in France in 1945 at a time when the family had fled from Russian occupied Lithuania.   They had escaped to France and my Grandmother worked as a translator during the war, she spoke Russian, Lithuanian and French (all the while churning out one more little Boga, Grazina!!!).

Aunt Gracie received her professional nursing licence in New York City and was also involved in research with the Rockefeller University where she is cited for her contributions in these articles :

Structural Protein Markers in the Avian Oncoviruses - 1977
http://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC516007&blobtype=pdf

Independent regulation of endogenous and exogenous avian RNA tumor virus genes - 1976
http://www.pnas.org/content/73/7/2259.full.pdf

Detection of Avian Tumor Virus RNA in Uninfected Chicken Embryo Cells - 1973
http://jvi.asm.org/content/11/2/157.full.pdf 

I only recently found these articles that were linked to my Aunt and I find it absolutely wild that she was working on avian 'flu' research and 35 years later I possibly had contracted H1N1 also known as the Bird flu or Avian Flu.  I was very sick for six weeks back in 2010 while living in Shanghai.  Although my Dr. never made a formal diagnosis he concluded that I had either contracted Bird Flu or Whooping Cough.  And since H1N1 (another name for the Bird Flu) was quite prevalent that year in Shanghai and I was an avid wet market shopper - where the live chickens were sold and carried the "flu" we can logically assume, it probably was Avian Flu.  So my Aunt was working on cutting edge research way back when, what a gal!!

While I don't have many memories of my Aunt Grazina I know that she lived on her own terms and never let anyone push her around.  I would like to think she is a product of the 60's woman's movement, strong, independent and taking the world on, on her own terms.

She was a loving and caring woman and she lived with my Grandmother, her mom, for 12+ years.  They shared an apartment together in NYC on 10th Avenue near Columbus Circle in an apartment overlooking the Hudson River - pretty swanky!!  Grazina was the caregiver for my Grandmother when she was struck with ovarian cancer in 1981. A loving and kind woman watching over her mother is who we knew and loved.

One strange memory I have of my Aunt Grazina is her telling me once that you don't need soap to wash the dishes, that hot water is more than enough.  I am not sure why I have that memory, I certainly wasn't doing too many dishes at age 7, which is about the last time I saw her.   Although sad we never got to know each other I am comforted that she lived the way she wanted and brooked no argument with anyone when confronted with conversations which may have included phrasing such as - "you should do this or you should do that", she just said no thank you firmly and went on her own happy independent way.

While we are saddened by the loss of a loving sister and Aunt we are also comforted in the fact that she is together with her Mom and Dad and the Angels in Heaven.

Here are a few pictures of our happy times together.

Makin' Bacon

Well here it is folks, my homemade bacon!

My reason for makin' bacon? Because I cannot find bacon that is made without sugar and additives here in Brazil.  I am sure it exists but at this moment I cannot find it.   I found a simple recipe and decided to try it.

First I headed out to buy some pork belly, the butcher however, insisted I buy this nice piece of pancetta instead.  So I did.  I'm easy.  Pork from/near the belly with fat = Bacon?? Yes?  I gathered up the ingredients and I began.

Salt, rosemary, bay leaf, fennel, garlic, thyme, black pepper, pork belly(sort of). 

Mix all the seaonings together and rub it all over the pork.

Place the seasoned pork in a bag, pour any left over seasonings in the bag and seal.  Place in refrigerator for 7 days, turning the bag over every morning.

On day 7 take pork out of the refrigerator and rinse all the seasonings off.

Pat dry and place on foiled baking sheet. Bake for 2 hours at 200F.

At the end of 2 hours you have BACON!!!

See, lovely cooked bacon (pancetta, whatever).

Trim the skin off the top of the fat, cut a couple of slices, taste a wee bit because you're the cook, and place in frying pan.

Fry baby fry!

The end result, wonderful.  I just need a sharper knife so I can cut super thin slices.   Of course if this process seems too time consuming for you, you can always buy this Brazilian style prosciutto which is quite tasty. 

Ingredients: Pork and salt.  No additives, no sugar!!! Breakfast tomorrow will be bacon and eggs!! Yummmmm.

Entre Vilas - Enology and Gastronomy

The Slow Food Movement is alive and well in Brazil and I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to experience a part of it this past weekend.   I was visiting friends in the rural town of Goncalves in the state of Minas Gerais and they invited me to come along and experience this new restaurant.  Goncalves is located in the Serra da Mantiqueira (the mountains of Mantiqueira) and is a beautiful  town with lots of waterfalls, hiking, mountain biking and loads of organic shops selling jam, bread, cheese, dolce de leite (yes organic), salami, eggs and fruits and vegetables.   It's a mecca of health and well being.  Persons from Sao Paulo have second homes in the hills of this region to escape the concrete jungle and live a simple and healthy life on the weekends.  It's about a 3 1/2  hour drive 

from my house which is in Campinas, Sao Paulo to Goncalves, Minas Gerais. 

Goncalves MG, a view of the region.

Map of Brazil, there are 26 states. 

The drive from Goncalves to Entre Vilas Restaurant takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes, this is due to the small winding roads that you have to travel to reach the top of the mountain where the restaurant is located.

The drive is beautiful and you get to enjoy this spectacular waterfall on the way.

Incredible waterfall at the top of the mountain! 

Small winding dirt roads.

The restaurant is difficult to find and even the address on the business card doesn't really help.

Estrada da Campista x Pirangussu, KM 5.5.  ?? Really??  There are no street signs on these dirt road that I saw and honestly unless you are from the region I don't know if  you can find it.   Although having met the owner and learned about all his endeavors he seems quite famous so perhaps everyone knows where  Street da Campista crosses Priangussu at kilometer 5.5.  

But find it we did as my two friends, Aman and Jan who were introducing me to Entre Vilas had been there just four weeks ago. 

 The 'secret entrance' to the restaurant, vineyard and farm.

One more sign to show you are on the right path, located midpoint on the driveway, not super helpful.

The cosy restaurant, one seating only, reservation necessary! 

Aman and Jan

When we arrived there was a ton of activity going on, apparently two of the chefs were not in/didn't show up(??) so we were told the Slow Food was going to be a little slower then usual.  We didn't care, where did we have to be on a Saturday afternoon anyway?  What better place to be then this beautiful farm, vineyard and restaurant.

 The open kitchen.

 Milling around waiting for the meal to begin.

Chef Rodrigo Veraldi Ismael

We were seated and immediately served tiny marinated olives from the farm, red pepper spread also from the farm, a Grano Padano cheese made locally and a lovely prosciutto also made at a local farm.  That's the thing about slow food, all food is grown and made in the region or in this case at the local.  

We were curious to try the wine from the vineyard, all organic of course.  I am not a fan of organic wine as I have never had one that I really enjoyed.   The one we chose was a Cabernet Franc 2013, very new.   I have to say it was good, not great but a solid good.  It has an interesting spice in the flavor and it did get better the longer it had to breath.   But what was particularly outstanding were the fresh squeezed berry juices!!   Wow!  We had a pitcher of  fresh squeezed raspberry and white berry juice and it was AMAZING! So much so that we had a second pitcher!  Also our 'table neighbor' exclaimed how great his choice of juice was, pure strawberry, and even shared a taste with us, which of course we returned the favor and gave him a sip of our amazing juice.  The strawberry was heavenly but ours, I have to say was better, although I am partial to raspberries.

 Chef Rodrigo pouring wine from his vineyard.

Raspberry and white berry juice, heaven in a glass!

After munching away on the delicious delights of cheese, ham and olives we were served the next course.  A bruschette unlike any I have ever had (except in Italy of course), the tomatoes were sweet and just picked from the vine, the capers also harvested and cured at the farm, homemade bread and the sweetest, softest, velvetiest basil I have ever tasted.  The flowers from the basil were so sweet and added a layer of flavor I had never experienced before.  It tasted like a drop of honeysuckle. 

The bruschetta.

The next course was a 'field salad' with greens foraged from the land we were told.  It came in a parmesan bowl and and was dressed in an elderberry dressing with fresh elderberries on the side.  Apparently elderberries are a super food! 

Field salad with elderberries.

For the next course we were offered grilled trout with almonds toasted in butter served on mashed sweet potato with sweet elderberry sauce or a grilled white fish from the sea with mashed manioc (known as cassava or yucca in English) or ravioli filled with fresh ricotta and Brazil nuts served with a butter sage sauce.   I was very impressed that we could choose.   I chose the trout and Aman and Jan chose the ravioli.

 Grilled trout with toasted almonds in butter served on top of  mashed sweet potato with sweet elderberry sauce.

Ravioli filled with fresh ricotta and Brazil nuts with a sage butter sauce. 

I have to tell you I did not eat all my trout even though it was absolutely delicious.  I was a bit worried that I would not be able to eat/enjoy the main course as I was getting quite full.  I did get to taste the ravioli and it was as tasty as the picture above suggests.    Next up were told to choose between 

beef or pork, I could not believe we could choose again, this guy was very inspired I think!  The ladies chose the pork and I chose the beef.   The protein was to be served with grilled vegetables and potatoes brava.   Yuummm, potatoes brava.......then I asked how would that be prepared and I was told it's a special preparation.  Oh.  So I sat there dreaming about potatoes with a cream/butter sauce or perhaps roasted in the juices of the pork / beef all brown and crispy on the outside and soft in the center.  Hey, I am half Hungarian and half Lithuanian it would be an insult to my eastern European heritage not to adore potatoes! As we waited patiently for our meals to be cooked, remember everything is cooked fresh on the spot so it takes a bit of time, hence the second pitcher of amazing berry juice and we took this time to wander the farm and the cellar. 

Berry fields

Vegetables and Berries

Curing pork.

"Wine curing!!" 

Wine at the ready!

And then came the main course! A MASSIVE cut of grilled prime rib, lovely grilled vegetables and a peach chutney on the side.  It's peach season right now.  But where are the potatoes brava??  Hiding under the beef perhaps?  No, sadly there were no potatoes brava, the chef, we were told, "changed his mind".  Drat! I think perhaps he may have been a wee bit overwhelmed as he was two chefs down and cooking all of this on his own for approximately 20 people.  

 Prime rib......from the ribs of a dinosaur cow I think!

 OK, I used my fork and knife to attack it but I had to check underneath to see if the potatoes were hiding there.

The 'baby pork leg' was fairly large for one person, but everyone managed to eat their portions.

 Dessert was a blissful combination of cooked strawberries and raspberries, fresh whipped cream and toasted almonds. 

Cooked berries and cream

As we departed we purchased a few items from the cellar a red pepper spread, wine and farm fresh eggs.  Sadly there were no more strawberries for sale as he used them all up in our dessert!

If you would like to visit this wonderful place and you are up for an adventure in navigation here is the address:

Entre Vilas
Estrada da Campista x Pirangussu, KM 5.5
Serrano/Vila Maria
Near Sao Bento do Sapucai

Tel#: (12) 9 9745-9897

Hours: Sat. & Sun  2p - 6p  one seating only, reservations necessary.