Exploring São Paulo
It’s now long past the 4th of July, but for those of you in the USA, I hope you all had a wonderful red, white and blue celebration! We didn’t manage to recreate an awesome American BBQ, but we enjoyed some bbq chicken sandwiches, potato salad and a red, white and blue fruit salad in honor of Independence Day.
This is just meant to be a quick post to share a few places in São Paulo we’ve been enjoying along with a few pictures. As you can see from the list below, we’ve been busy exploring the city and busy at work as well (creating landscape plans, updating investment materials and helping to manage the hotel development project) – so, needless to say, time is flying by. We’re totally shocked at how our days here are dwindling, but happy to have some fun plans for the next month, which include: a weekend with Heinz and Elisabeth at their organic farm near São João Bella Vista, a few days and nights with Lone and Rance at Fazenda Alfheim, a Brazilian baby shower for Mirna, and a party at Picinguaba for FLIP in Paraty. And we just spent a few days in Ilha Grande and a few more at Picinguaba with two of our very best friends Tucker and Catherine (some pics and stories coming soon).
Restaurants:
Chou: Wow, what a special place. Not only was the food delicious and thoughtfully prepared, the ambiance, decoration and setting were perfect. The head chef works front and center in an open food preparation area between the kitchen and waiting area putting finishing touches on every dish. We sat on the charming outdoor patio of this converted home with Leo and Brittany just a few steps from the herb garden.
Filipa: The Thai-Brazilian fusion cuisine is delicious and I loved my caipirinha with sake and lyche (thanks Brittany!).
Bardo Batata: Right across from our flat, this Swiss-style potato restaurant (still not exactly sure what that means, but that’s how they describe it) has incredible, thick potato pancakes with every filling imaginable!
Pilico e Bia: We enjoyed wonderful shrimp moqueca at this modest restaurant where a mother and daughter run the show.
Marina di Vietri: Reasonably priced, great Italian food – finally! Our new friends Michelle and Nigel introduced us to this restaurant in Itaim where they offer relatively inexpensive bottles of wine with traditional, tasty Italian food.
Kosushi in Shopping Cidade Jardim: Cidade Jardim is one of the fancier malls I’ll ever walk into and the price of the sushi supports it. However, the sushi was incredibly fresh and very delicious.
Veridiana: We’ve been to Veridiana a few times with Emmanuel and always enjoy their pizzas bem-passado!
La Frontera: Right near our office, this Argentinian restaurant is great.
Bars:
Blá: We went to Blá with Marina for a friend’s birthday party. We were upstairs in a private area, but the bar downstairs was packed with a fun atmosphere. At about 1am most of the crowd started to head toward the neighboring club.
Volt: Good drinks in this 80s decorated bar in Bela Cintra / Consolação. We enjoyed a few mojitos with Fernando here one night.
Boteco São Bento: Jeff and I enjoyed an incredible sunny Sunday afternoon together in Vila Madelena sitting in the open air bar with a sizzling platter of meat, rice, tomato vinaigrette, farofa and chopp claro in front of us. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Frederico Boteco: We went to this bar in Moema for the US world cup game. Bar food and drinks were good.
Tapas Club: This bar was on my list after I discovered it online, so Jeff and I went at 6, when it opened for Happy Hour on a holiday Friday – so it was dead, but the happy hour specials were a good value and the tapas we had were tasty. Looking forward to going back to hear some music at some point.
Mercearia São Roque: There is a unique feel to this typical open-air bar in Itaim with splashes of color and palm trees throughout. We had drinks with Jeremy and his wife here.
Other:
Le Tire-Bouchon: We were lucky enough to tag along with Emmanuel for wine tasting as he finalized the new wine menu for Picinguaba at Tire-Bouchon. We’re happy to know about this wine shop, which also has a little bistro offering wine parings.
Cristallo: We enjoyed a cappuccino with Leo and Brittany overlooking the tree lined street and park in Vila Nova Conseição. We’ve officially realized that a cappuccino in Brazil typically comes with chocolate powder in it – fyi!
Chocolate Lab: There is a little chocolate bar and café down the street from our office in Hygienopolis with little bits of dark chocolate heaven and incredibly tempting (and delicious) coffee drinks.
Pão (Padaria Artesanal Orgânica): Delicious, organic breads, need I say more?
Bella Paulista, Casa dos Pães: We’ve enjoyed a few lunches and bowls of Açai na Tigela at this bakery/restaurant/market.
Empório Santa Maria: Fancy shmancy grocery store that I could wander around in for hours and hours. Though I was disappointed in the lack of organic produce, I was impressed with the self-service wine tasting upstairs!
Zoológico de São Paulo: Tiger petting day – check it out.
Pinacoteca: What a spectacular building with intriguing and varied exhibits. Praça Luz, the park next door, is also great. Unfortunately the area around here is deserted with an unsafe feel – get to work São Paulo!
Work is going well. We have spent the first week or so mostly getting oriented and it’s looking like we’re going to really enjoy the work. We’ve already determined that we love the people we’re working with – 6 of us in total at the office. Here’s a shot of our first day on the job – exploring the company’s small project on Rua Oscar Freire, which will be Calvin Klein and Levi’s stores, in addition to a new Fasano Restaurant – Gero Panini with some fun green spaces. Our primary focus at work will be on a much larger, mixed-use project, the details of which are not yet public…let’s just say we’re very excited about it!
