Pizza is love. Pizza is life.

So, for the uninitiated, pizza in Sao Paulo is like pizza in Chicago or New York. In theory it should have a bit of a "international recognition". At very least, it is better than pizza in Rio, where they put ketchup on top.

I'm sure Gabe and Mel struggled with "which" pizza place to take me to, the city is not lacking for them in any way. We ended up at a very 'atmosphere' driven place called Braz. It was packed! We got there at 8:30 and had a 1/2 hour wait (this is 'early' for the dinner rush). They have a nice outside deck waiting area, we ordered drinks and a bread appetizer. The appetizer immediately reminded me of Will!

Not as spicy, but salami and cheese folded into the dough. So good. Ugh, my mouth waters thinking of it right now.

The inside is a big open high roof area, and at the back you can see two tall smoke stacks, they are for the wood-fire brick ovens. Glass walls surround the place, and don't impede the view of the outside. The rear of the restaurant is an outdoor dining area, and some benches. Its nice out there, with large cabana umbrellas and large trees and a somewhat 'jungle feel'.


The pizza. To start, the ingredients are unusual though not the full extent of "crazy toppings" as I am to understand it. Did not have the Quintal, but just as a way to show.

What I did have was the Tacchino, Which consisted of smoked turkey breast, Catipury cheese (like a philly cream cheese I'm told), and leeks. The local cheese was in addition to the mozzarella.

The pizza was good in my opinion. It was the first I tried. I thought the entirety of the pizza was rather sharp. I had the impression it was the cheese in combination with the leeks, but after consulting with my sister and Gabe, apparently no. In fact, there is some catipury cheese in their fridge, at some point I'm supposed to try it. It's very spreadable like cream cheese. I wonder how it would have changed my perception of this particular pizza. The turkey was pretty underplayed, I didn't really pull any distinct flavors from it. Overall, interesting flavors.

Next up, Caprese. A regular mozzarella cheese base, with additional buffalo mozzarella, large slice of tomato, a basil leaf, and black olive pesto. This pizza slice is, if nothing else (and it is very much else), an impressive presentation. Something to be noted about Sao Paulo pizza, it is to be eaten with a fork and knife primarily. This pizza exemplifies that necessity.
The picture unfortunately isn't the best, since the cheese sort of slid. Every bite of this slice ends up a little different, since its basically impossible to get even portions of anything. That said. This was delicious. The olive pesto was really amazing, and obviously the buffalo mozzarella was good, though it was a bit tough to cut through. I actually think that this was the best pizza of the night. I wish I could talk about it more eloquently.



One of the pizzas ordered, we did so because it represented a 'grown up' version of my childhood favorite pizza of cheese and black olives. This is called the Paulistana. Smoked mozzarella, tomato chunks, and sliced olives. With this particular pizza, the best bites were the first bite, and the last bite. The smoked mozzarella  is amazing. It's so rich, and smokey and just...shit. I really need this. The problem is, the flavors in the pizza don't end up consistent. The last bite was good because it had a good slice of olive to it. We all agreed this pizza just needed a little help. Was still really good though..seriously.

The last pizza was Contadino. Mozzarella pizza with in house smoked sausage with fennel. The sausage was chopped really small, and spread quite evenly across the pizza. The sausage is so strong! The little bits of sausage end up being very crispy. It wasn't overly salty at all, or even very greasy, which I think is overly the problem with sausage in your typical papa jonhs/ dominoes/pizza hut. Also to be noted, the crust and bread are quite delicious, and at the table sits a can of olive oil, for drizzling over pizza, or primarily the crust. At this point, I'm full..4 slices of pizza later. Then I get guilt tripped to carry on to dessert.

I don't regret dessert in the slightest. We managed to narrow it down to three options. The tiramisu, the flan, and Panna cotta. None of these are particularly unique dessert options, but they are all REALLY well done. The Tiramisu is not heavy like I've come to expect, but was very light and flavorful. The flan was good, not "technically" flan, and a little more dense. The Panna Cotta won me over completely though. Loved it. So good.


Now then. Time for me to catch up on writing about two more days! I think I'm going to need to start writing more down on paper.