Taste of Brasil, Colorado Springs, CO

It was a cool Saturday evening and my wife and I were up for something different.  It was on a whim that I fell back on a popular foodie app that rhymes with whelp and came upon a new Brazilian place in town.  I was in the mood for meat and good cooking so my wife and I hopped into the car and made our way down to Taste of Brasil.

Now the outside may be a bit underwhelming, but I was happy to see a large sign out front that could easily be seen from the street making this not that hard to find.  Placed between a liquor store and a bar I expected the Brazilian equivalent of a late night Mexican taco shop, but upon entering I was pleasantly surprised.  The interior was clean and well lit.  There was a small amount of chotsky on the walls but mainly there were photos of Brazil and the occasional image of a noted sports figure.  As soon as you enter you see the kitchen with the chef moving back and forth preparing food.  Just one as the place is not that big, maybe 10 tables max, but that just makes it feel more homey.  I was happy to see the shine of clean steel as he worked, and hear the soft but steady clatter of food being prepared.  It instantly put me at ease, and confirmed that the food really was prepared on site.

We were greeted at the door by our server/host who told us to grab a table anywhere.  I want to make it clear that he was one of the nicest servers I've ever spoken to, and that he went out of his way to make sure you felt comfortable, like family some would say.  Unfortunately he had little to no training as a server.  Right after we had sat down he brought us our water and immediately asked us what we wanted to order.  This being the first time my wife and I had gone there we had not had very long to look at the menu so we asked for a few minutes to look it over.  Okay, that was a little thing, and just showed his enthusiasm, that's fine.  As the meal progressed there were more little mistakes, like forgetting to refill our water glass, speaking too softly or too quickly, and not clearing dishes promptly.  I just want to make it clear though that these are training issues.  The young man who served had the most important attribute that is needed for a server, he was incredibly upbeat, polite, and you knew he cared about your experience, which is something that cannot be learned.  You either have it as a server or you don't.

Moving on to the food.  We started with and appetizer called Coxinha, three deep fried balls of dough in a tear drop shape stuffed with shredded chicken.  Okay, I thought, that sounds pretty good.  The first thing I noticed upon taking a bit though was that the chicken was cold in the middle.  Then I continued to chew my wife pointed out that they might have added mashed potato as well.  Not having eaten much Brazilian food I double checked the menu that had been left with us and there was no mention of a potato filling in these appetizers.  After a few experimental bites we realized that there was a layer of uncooked dough surrounding the chicken.  We were so hungry though that we just ate them as is.  Okay, so not a great start, but outside of being not fried through I will admit that there was great flavor to in the little balls of dough, and the chicken had been seasoned well.

 Moving on the main course my wife ordered something they described as a Brazilian style pancake, filled with shredded chicken and covered in a type of red sauce that came with a side of rice.  My first look at it had me thinking they'd brought the Brazilian equivalent of a tamale.  My wife took a bit of it and smiled, and then offered a piece to me.  I took a bite and was happily surprised by a burst of flavor.  The chicken inside of the pancake was cooked perfectly and the sauce was flavorful without being spicy.  Given the chance I'd order the same thing in an instant.

My dish came out the same time.  I had ordered a Prato Feito or Pre-fixed plate.  It was a meat, in my case I paid more for steak, but they also offered a chicken and two pork options that sounded just as good, along with rice, beans, fried yuca fries, and a some type of potato salad.  There was also a little thing of what looked like pico de gallo that had a great flavor to it.  I took a bite of the rice first.  It was perfectly steamed white rice and had a subtle flavor all its own.  Then I moved on to the beans, they were excellent, not overly sweet like you would find at a BBQ joint, these had a subtle flavor and there were bits of what I am pretty sure were pork in there as well.  I took a bit of a yuca fry, and it was also great.  You would never mistake it for a french fry and I mean that in a good way.  Then there was the potato salad... I would have gladly paid for another serving of it.  It was silky and tasty and delicious.  My wife, who normally hates potato salad, loved it.  She said it was because it didn't have that pickle briney taste that most people associate with it.  Finally I moved on to the steak and...

salt, too much salt.  Now I know salt can make every dish from fries to a salad and most definitely steak even better, but it was just too much.  I tried eating it with the rice, with the beans, even with the potato salad but with every bite the saltiness of the steak just overrode the other flavors.  I don't know if that is how Brazilian steak is supposed to be made, but I do know steak in general should not 

 have that much salt on it.

By the end of the meal I found that I was still a bit hungry so my wife and I each ordered a dessert.  I know, I know I was taking a chance after the last two items we'd tried but, well maybe it was our server but I really wanted to give this place a chance.  My wife ordered something called Romeo and Juliet, which was guava paste, white cheese, my wife though it was some type of goat cheese, and a dash of dulce du leche.  I stole a bite and had to admit it was good.  My wife enjoyed it, liking how the overly sweet guava paste mixed with the savory white cheese and topped with a dash of dulce de leche produced a great flavor.

I ended up ordering a desert called Brigaderos, which our server described as a type of truffle and the menu said had the consistency of a dense fudge.  A small plate with three little tuffle looking items arrived at my table.  Not taking a chance I opted to start with the chocolate one.  As I took a bite out of it I had a rush of chocolate, one of my most favorite things in the world, but with a smoother consistency than fudge.  The flavor was smooth and I found myself enjoying the smoother texture more than I would have a regular truffle.  Moving on to the brightly colored Brigadero I took a bite and was happy to find a vanillaish flavor mixed with pieces of coconut.  It too was a pleasant surprise.  Then I moved on to the last piece, a Brigadero covered in white dots and was surprised to find there was some type of filling or fruit in the middle.  Biting down through it I was astounded that I couldn't instantly tell what it was, but what I could tell was that I liked it.  It was just difficult to place, at first I thought maybe a lemon filling based on the color, but it wasn't as tart as a lemon.  Our server came back and I asked him what was in the final Brigadero and he said it was a white grape.

Took a bite out of the chocolate one, as you can see, and it was delicious.

After paying we made our way to the exit only to stop and look at a few shelves that appeared to be stacked with Brazilian ingredients.  I recognized tapioca, and a large bottle of some kind of soda I had never tried before.  Our server saw us looking at the items and explained that they were from Brazil and that he was fluent in Portuguese so that if we had any question about what was there he was more than happy to translate.  Then he indicated a small package of coffee and told us that it was from a plantation back in Brazil and that it had been shipped directly to America.  He seemed very proud of the items on display and was especially proud of the coffee.  We thanked him and made our exit as he moved away to help a new customer.

So in the end maybe not the experience I was expecting, but strangely enough I want to go back.  The little restaurant had a certain feel to it, a feeling of potential.  It really was a nice comforting meal, and the people there were very friendly.  Did I mention that the chef came out to check with some of the tables on how they were enjoying their meal.  Not our table, but some of the other ones.  I think I'll give them some time and then return to a Taste of Brasil, but this time maybe I'll order the tenderloin instead of the steak.

Taste of Brasil
773 Garden of the Gods Rd
Colorado Springs, CO 80907
(719) 394-4194
https://www.facebook.com/tastebrasilcoloradosprings/