Cafe Brazil

What a fun night! We were invited to dinner by two wonderful couples in our small group, Christina & Eric and Jeremy and Leslie.  What a great night of food and fellowship as we had the opportunity to get to know both couples more!

It was also a new night for me. I consider it to be my first of many “blogging dinners.” I’m still getting used to taking pictures of everything I eat and do. Well, I forgot about it tonight until the food came out and it just looked SO good, I wanted to take a picture of it. I asked, “do you mind if I take a picture of my food for my blog?” 🙂 After that I wasn’t scared. So thanks to Jeremy, Leslie, Christina and Eric; I also enjoyed my first blogging dinner! (I do need to apologize for my food picture skills….according to Nate, I need to do a better job, because the pictures just don’t do the food justice!)

They had heard great things of the restaurant we went to, Cafe Brazil. What a great decision! It is located on the west side of Denver in a quaint little neighborhood. When I walked in I felt like I was back on my honeymoon. (We didn’t go to Brazil, but it had a similar vibe to the Dominican Republic with the “Caribbean music, bright colors and fun drinks that I imagined were in a coconut!) Besides looking out at the construction taking place outside, you could’ve plopped this place in the middle of somewhere down south, on a beach, with blue ocean water across the way!

We got the menu and OH My GOSH….it was over whelming! I mean I love to try new foods, but I’m always hesitant and it takes me forever when I don’t understand what the title of the dish is. I need to read through all the descriptions on every entree and all the drinks! There were so many great sounding options! I made some very good decisions on dinner and I believe everybody at my table enjoyed a wonderful meal as well.

I started with a Batida: A sweet cocktail featuring a choice of spiced rum or cachaça* shaken with my choice of tropical fruit.  The first tropical juice I chose was the Mango followed by the Blackberry! The best drinks I’ve had in a long time! (Besides the glass or two of wine that regardless taste good after a long day at work!) 😉 This is a picture of the Blackberry Batida. I think they used real, fresh blackberries and mangos–not just processed juice! Delish! I could’ve drank many more to enjoy all the flavors, but I didn’t want to end up on the floor–and probably not the best choice in caloric intake either, but hey–who said I was counting calories tonight!

We all got different appetizers and I enjoyed the calamari and soup (and the soup was free!)

When the waiter came around for entree decisions I did what I always do and wait until the last minute and then pick on instinct! He told me it was the spiciest thing on the menu. I began to doubt my decision and asked, “how spicy?” He said, “pretty spicy—I would say medium spicy to most brazilian foods.” Great answer waiter…..this is my first time eating brazilian food, not sure what thats suppose to mean. I asked him is it was possible to tone the spiciness down on the entree.  mmmmmmmm….it was perfect! Not the picture, the meal! The vegetables (Zuchinni, Red Peppers & Carrots) were stacked around the rice, prawns and scallops. It reminded me of building link-in-logs around my toys when I was little! And for you foodies out there this is the real description of the food.

LA CALEÑA — Large prawns and sea scallops simmered in a sweet hot sauce of fresh-diced tomato, mango, passion fruit, green onion and Italian Parsley, finished with Brazilian Chile’s. Served with herbed rice and vegetables.

It was SOOOOOO good! Definitely better than anything I could’ve cooked for Nate and I!

And now for dessert…..I typically don’t get dessert because I am so full from the meal that I know I won’t enjoy the dessert to it’s full potential. BUT….I heard the waiter say a dessert option of Chocolate and Hazelnut Gelato. Waiter…you had me at GELATO!! I LOVE gelato! It’s so smooth in texture and very light feeling for being ice cream….so we indulged and had the great tasting gelato!

 

Nate and I are so blessed to have wonderful new friends from our small group! We had such a great time getting to know them and enjoying delicious food! We cant wait until our next dinner out, we we’re already discussing some possible options….Hops n Pie anyone?!?!

Do you consider yourself a foodie? Like to try new foods? or keep it simple? 

❤ God Bless