Rio2014: Buteco Bars of Rio

bu·tec-o 

[boo-tek-oh]

noun

Brazilian watering hole where you can find tasty salgadinhos, then wash them down with a mean caipirinha or ice cold choppe. 

Some of the best and cheapest eats in Brazil are the butecos or botequim, restaurants and bars serving traditional Brazilian fare with a side of live samba if you're lucky. They do big dishes to share like picanha steak or moqueca fish stew, but I love sharing a bunch of different appetizers or salgados. Butecos are very Carioca and a must pretty much anywhere in the country. And you can hope from one to the next so here's my ideal buteco crawl in Rio de Janeiro. 

*Note: Throw your healthy lifestyle out the window when your'e in a buteco. Just enjoy it.

Bar do David - Morro do Chapéu Mangueira (near Leme)

Everyone raves about the feijoada de frutos do mar, but I thought the croquete de frutos do mar were delicious.

Pavao Azul - Copacabana

This is a real locals spot. Go for the pastéis and the atmosphere.

Bar do Bahiano - Morro dos Cabritos (near Copacabana)

I never heard of this favela near my house and it was the first time I ever visited a comunidade without being invited by a local. Pretty real and pretty awesome bolinhos de bacalhau.

Oke Ka Baiana - Lagoa

This was one of the first places Hub and I checked out and I wrote about here. Love the views, love the pastéis and love the moqueca.

Severyna de Laranjeiras - Laranjeiras

This neighborhood is beautiful...they've preserved a lot of the old colonial architecture and it's peppered with cute boutiques, open markets and restaurants. One starving afternoon my friends and I came here and shared the escondido de camarão. So creamy, so delicious.

Venga Bar de Tapas - Leblon

For my friend Annie's leaving do, we decided to do a buteco crawl in Leblon and we hit up this Spanish tapas bar. The patatas pravas and pulpo were damn good.

sorry for the blur

PIPO - Leblon

This place is a little $$$ but it was so so so good. They do fancy Brazilian food and the caldinho de feijao com espuma de couve (black bean soup with cabbage foam) and ostrix sliders were amazing. We also ordered this bomb ass wine.

There are so many noteworthy butecos in Rio that I'm dying to check out, but haven't. I'd love to hit up Adego Perola, Bar do Mineiro, Brasiero do Gavea, and Bar Urca to name a few. Also I'm only familiar with those in Zona Sul but I'd love to explore the Zona Norte. Just check out the spots included in the Comida de Buteco competition. 

Checked In: Restaurante Aprazível

This weekend I decided I wanted to check out one of the many great restaurants in Santa Teresa, this cool artsy neighborhood that sits on Santa Teresa hill and leads eventually into Lapa. It's the Hackney of Rio and people always talk about the modern Brazilian restaurants up there. We invited our friends Sheena and Sandro to join us and they recommended we check out Restaurante Aprazível, which was amazing. 

After an interesting and thrilling taxi journey to the top of Santa Teresa, I was excited to finally reach the restaurant elevator doors. The restaurant itself is a series of large Amazonian houses connected by little paths, all nestled within the surrounding forest. 

Most of the rooms are open-air which is lovely, but I also liked the cozy feel of the indoor restaurant too. It had warm lighting, interesting framed art and a rockin' wine cellar.

We sat outdoors in the main restaurant, but we discovered a great bar area below with a more relaxed vibe and spectacular views of the city.

I started off with a spicy watermelon martini, but Hub went ahead and ordered the Pedro Ximenez Falernia '13, which was a lovely and easy drinking white. We ordered the couvert bread basket and it came with candied egglplant and a deliciously tangy vinaigrette with baby white clams. So good.

Normally, Brazilian restaurants serve large portions and often they are meant to share. Not here. This restaurant is a little on the pricey side and so we decided to share three mains and an appetizer, which worked out well. For dinner we ordered the Marsanne Reserva De Lucca '10, which was from Uruguay and the sommelier described as very aromatic. I'm a sucker for "aromatic" whites and this one was really special. It tasted so different and unique and I really couldn't make it out, but I loved it. 

the excitement

Retumbão: tapioca couscous with seafood, brazil nuts and acai sauce

Polvo Carnaval: grilled octopus tentacles

Delicious Cabrito: grilled goat marinated in red wine with taro root puree

Galinhada Caipira: chicken risotto with grilled plantain

The food was amazing and although I didn't try the goat or the chicken rice, I did nibble at the veggies around them which were tasty. After dinner we moved onto desserts and lucky me, Hub felt lenient and let me order the least sugary dessert. 

Gioaba do Paradiso: guava, passionfruit and lemon sorbet

Baião de dois: tapioca ice cream with rich acai sauce

Sheena & Sandro tucking in

My date & me

It was such a wonderful evening and I can't wait to come back with my Mom and Step-dad over the World Cup. Such a special place and not to be missed if you're ever in Rio.