Sabor Brasil
42 Canal Street
Nashua, NH 03064
(603) 886-5959
This place is like a little slice of real Brazil come to New Hampshire. Although most Brazilian churrascaria joints in the States are massive restaurants featuring gaucho-style waiters wandering around with swords of meat held aloft, Sabor Brasil is a tiny 10-table neighborhood eatery that feels as if you are eating at a friend’s house. A Brazilian friend.
A lot of the diners and staff speak Portuguese, and those who don’t, have thick, beautiful accents. The decor is simple and dominated by a big hanging picture of Brasilia, the country’s capital city. Sabor Brasil is located in old downtown Nashua, situated near the water and several old brick factories. If you catch one of the two window tables, you can almost see factory workers from a hundred years ago, making their way home in the evening, lunch pails swinging by their side. The building looks and feels as if it were a watering hole in those days, the original tin ceiling still elegantly in place.
You can choose to pay by the pound ($5.99) or all you can eat ($17.99). Just let the servers know, then go for it.
In the back of the shop is a long buffet table, stuffed with cold and hot dishes. There are salads, salsas, spicy pickled vegetables, and fruits. Then various rices, the beans (both black and brown), giant grilled onions, and dishes of fish and chicken. Make sure to try the concoction of collard greens, sausage and rice. Each dish is nicely labelled for the newbie, and everything looks and tastes delicious. The gentleman at the end of the buffet will graciously pull a variety of meats from the warming cabinet. You ask, he cuts. As much or little as you like. Garlic steak, beef tenderloin, beef hearts, sausages, pork tenderloin, and more. It’s easy to end up with a platter as big as Brazil.
On the way back to your table, grab a bottle of pickled peppers, so you can sprinkle the oily juice on everything you just got. It’s got some kick, so go easy at first, but it makes anything and everything taste better. If you have never tried it, ask for a Guarana, a highly-caffeinated Brazilian soda that has a wonderfully unusual flavor and compliments the meal nicely.
Then, sit back and savor the flavors of Brazil, listen to the accents, and think yourself far away and in another place. Like say, Brazil.
Just Good Eats © 2011
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