As much as you may love eating at a traditional American barbecue joint, odds are that the sides aren’t the focal point of your experience. Baked beans, coleslaw, potato salad, and white bread are the most traditional accompaniments, and a place that is getting fancy might offer some mac and cheese or a green salad. They’re all nice for a break in stuffing yourself with smoked protein, but they’re never the centerpiece for the meal.
Brazilians take their barbecue very seriously, but there is much more variety in the side dishes. Though this might be missed in one of the all-you-can-eat places where waves of meat come to your table, the sides are front and center at Copacabana, a small place in Hermosa that has an interesting approach to the cuisine. The restaurant offers four meats hot from the skewer and over twenty buffet items that round out the meal.
The tiny space here seems unlikely for a Brazilian barbecue – there is seating for only about twenty people, though on both visits I saw a lot of people packing take-out boxes. They charge by the pound, $11 for buffet plus grilled meat, $9 for just the buffet, and if you’re a light eater who doesn’t usually visit one-price places it’s a perfect solution.
On a recent visit I decided to start with buffet items and have the grilled meats as a second course. The cold section included kale salad, arugula salad, hearts of palm, Caesar, beet salad, potato salad, Brazilian chicken salad, pasta salad, fruit salad, vinaigrette sauce and shoestring potatoes. The kale may seem like an attempt to follow a modern craze, but it’s not – the vegetable was introduced by the Portuguese in the colonial days and is often sautéed or used in stews. It’s also eaten in salads with orange slices and slivers of red onion in a light citrus dressing, as it is served here, and this is delicious. The arugula salad was fairly standard, with nuts and cheese, but still fresh and tasty. I ignored the hearts of palm because it was served unadorned and I prefer it in other things, and the Caesar salad and beets because I wanted to focus on the more exotic fare.
Potato salad is one of the only staples of an American barbecue that also appears here, but the Brazilians have an alternate take on it. I’m not certain what was in it, but I’d bet against the mustard that’s typical – this had green vegetables and herbs and was altogether more interesting. The chicken salad also was unlike the American standard, with tartness from apples, raisins, and citrus, and well worth a try.
I moved on to the hot dishes: fried plantains, collard greens, black beans with manioc flour, brown rice, coconut shrimp, chicken and mushroom stroganoff, fried yuca, rice cakes, and the little cheese rolls called pao de queso. I like the caramelized fried plantains but only had one because I was concerned about running out of room, preferring to try the Brazilian-style collards. In the Southern U.S., these are usually cooked to rags with bacon and other items that obscure the flavor but this recipe proved that they are fine when lightly sautéed with a little olive oil, shallots, and garlic. The black beans are served next to the manioc flour, the raw ingredient for tapioca, and it is intended that you sprinkle the flour on top of the beans. There should be a sign to let people know this, as taking a mouthful of manioc is like consuming a similar quantity of sawdust. I like it with the smoky beans, but having eaten it straight was careful to let my companion know to avoid the experience.
The coconut shrimp were average, stewed in a light sauce reminiscent of curry, but the chicken and mushroom stroganoff was so good I could have happily had it as a main dish. I only took a small portion because there were still the fried dishes to try: crisp risotto balls, the tuber called yuca (which when ground produces manioc flour) and the cheese rolls. Those cheese rolls were the only major disappointment of the meal – they’re some of my favorite items when hot and fresh, but these had obviously sat for a while and cooled.
After adorning my plate with colorful dabs of a dozen different items and demolishing same, I headed back for some roasted meat. Brazilian barbecue is sliced off of rotisseries rather than sitting on a grill, and they only serve four items here: chicken thighs, mild sausages, beef tri-tip, and picanha, otherwise known as sirloin cap. Brazilian beef is usually grilled with no spices except salt – here the salt level was unusually low, just enough to enhance the meat, unlike places that just want to sell a lot of drinks and use lots of salt.
The chicken at Brazilian places is usually marinated overnight in some combination of garlic, spices, chili, and either vinegar or citrus, but the version here was uncharacteristically mild. Had I tried the meats in between bites of the salads and other items I would have probably enjoyed it more, but my strategy of having the meats last emphasized the sameness of the flavors. It was tasty but lacked a certain zinginess that I enjoy.
Copacabana doesn’t serve alcohol, but some Brazilian soft drinks and juices are available. Our very full meal for two, without beverages, ran $34 – remarkably reasonable for a lot of good food. Copacabana is a fine place to get a fast, varied meal, and unlike just about every other barbecue place I know of, there’s a lot more to the place than just hunks of protein.
Copacabana is at 118 Pier Avenue in Hermosa. Open Monday through Friday 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m to 8:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday noon to 9 p.m. Street parking only, no alcohol served. Some vegetarian options. No online menu, phone 310-376-1985.
