Brunch at Sounds Of Brazil SOB's in NY, New York

Please note that the meal was complimentary. However, the opinions expressed in my blog are 100% my own!

I do not know how many times I passed by SOB's, but I truthfully thought it was just another club that entertained many for more than 25 years. Until I received an invite to come and try it. This venue that can accommodate up to 450 people is huge and composed of different sections:

The bar area:

With its table football that was there especially for the World Cup.

Its large dining area with a stage where they play music for patrons who either want to eat, drink or dance.

In fact, during our brunch, there was band playing some Brazilian songs.

I admit that when they arrived on stage, I was thinking that it will probably be loud and annoying as I like to enjoy my meal in a atmosphere where I can talk to my wife without screaming. It was perfect, being more in the background; the acoustic was fantastic and the band was very good.

They brought us the brunch menu that, for $31, includes unlimited sangria (red or white), an appetizer, an entree and a dessert. I was more inclined to try a caipirinha, Brazil's national cocktail made with  cachaça, sugar and lime.

I truly appreciated the fact that it was not too sweet and well balanced, with a nice quantity of lime in it.

At the same time, they brought us a bread basket:

Churrasco at Fogo De Chao Brazilian steakhouse in NYC, New York

Fogo de Chao (means "fire on the ground" in Portuguese) is a Brazilian steakhouse located Midtown Manhattan that opened few months ago, in December 2013. It is a chain in fact with multiple locations in Brazil, where it originated, and in the US (Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Las Vegas...). 

Typically, when you know you are going to a Brazilian steakhouse, you know you need to wear stretch pants, because it is all you can eat. Now, that is what I call paradise for meat lovers! And it is not all you can eat passable food most of the time: it is all you can stuff in high quality meat. Here is how it works:

The staff goes around the restaurant with large skewers (coming from "churrasco", concept of grilling skewers of meat over a wood fire, the churrascaria being the restaurant serving them) and will check a chip that is given to you, at your table. The chip has two sides: green and red.

The red side that says "No, Thank You" means that you do not want any meat, and the green ("Yes, please), means you want them to serve you some meat from the skewer.

The pace can be fast; for instance, this is what I ended up with after just couple of minutes:

The portions may not seem big, but you can ask for more and do not forget that they are walking around anyway, ready to serve you again.

Before I go into detail more about the feast I had, let me tell you few things about the place itself.

Emporium Brazil in NYC, New York: Surprising dish!

Recently, we went with some of my colleagues to Emporium Brazil, situated in Little Brazil in New York City. It was the first time for me in this restaurant. The decor has nothing extraordinary and I was surprised not to see a more pronounced Brazilian related decor. 

They had a lunch menu, but the only items they proposed were...Italian! So I went for the Moqueca de camarao that is a shrimp stew with coconut milk sauce, served with white rice. This is a traditional dish from Bahia, apparently influenced by African cuisine. The fact that there is coconut milk, I would have more thought about cuisine from India or China, but it is true that cuisine travels and so many cuisines have similarities!

When the Moqueca came, I was blown away by the beauty of the dish!