Brazilian eateries abound around Boston
From Martha's Vineyard to Lynn, about 250,000 Brazilian immigrants live in Massachusetts, according to estimates from the Allston-based Brazilian Immigration Center.
Of that number, 12,000 to 15,000 live in Framingham, the largest Brazilian community in the region, says BIC director Fausto Da Rocha. Downtown Framingham, filled with Brazilian-owned businesses, ''is like little Brazil," he says. Padaria Brasil Bakery serves fresh-pressed sugar cane juice and puffy cheese bread, called pao de queijo, as well as assorted sweet breads, pastries, and fresh juices. The three-month-old Maya market sells American, Brazilian, and Spanish groceries, including bags of frozen pao de queijo ($3.99), which are worth having in the freezer after you polish off the fresh ones from the bakery.
Two of the area's best-known Brazilian restaurants are in Allston. The regional chain Cafe Belo, which general manager Sonia Bellini says was the first food-by-the-pound Brazilian buffet in the area, has two locations in Allston, one in Somerville, and two under construction in Everett and Framingham. Also in Allston, Green Field Churrascaria is known for grilled meats and rodizio-style service, where waiters carve meat tableside.
Somerville's Union Square is dominated by Brazilian businesses, despite all the Irish bars and Indian groceries. On quiet Bow Street, Casa de Carnes, a Brazilian meat market, displays looped piles of homemade pork and beef sausages, and the picanha cut of top butt beef that Brazilian customers favor. Neat rows of Brazil-imported snack foods, candies, beans, corn, and manioc flour fill the shelves. Across the street in the center of Union Square, Pao de Acucar Market sells Brazilian groceries including huge bottles of guarana soda, dried beef for feijoada, and clay pots.
You don't have to go far to eat like the South Americans do.
Framingham
Padaria Brasil Bakery, 165 Concord St., 508-872-8698
Maya Market, 80 Hollis St., 508-370-4006
Allston
Cafe Belo, 181 Brighton Ave., 617-783-4858; 1243 Commonwealth Ave., 617-202-6277
Green Field Churrascaria, 80 Brighton Ave., 857-559-9000
Somerville
Cafe Belo, 120 Washington St., 617-623-3696
Casa de Carnes, 38 Bow St., 617-625-1787
Pao de Acucar Market, 57 Union Square, 617-625-0022
-- LEIGH BELANGER
