Carnivore's delight
Romancing Rio in the southern comfort of Old Pasadena’s Malagueta Bar & Grill
By Dan O'Heron 01/21/2010
In Texas, after a hard day of chasing down “little dogies,” the sweaty cowhand has a large drink and big steak before going back to a bunkhouse to fold up like a feed sack.
In Brazil, after thinning the herd with a big steak dinner at the ranch house, the cowboy gauchos up in a lacy, billowing silk shirt, polishes his prideful anchors — black, hand-tooled leather boots — and goes to town.
In this nation of jubilation, there’s always room for more food and drink, a gumbo of parties and parades, pulsating music, two-cheeked kissing and woozy thoughts about permanently bronzed beauties clad only in dental floss bikinis.
In Pasadena, when this urban ranger is primed for steak — medium rare and always well-done, supported by delicious shady sides of Brazilian ambiance — I go to Malagueta Bar & Grill for dinner. My relish is eating a grilled skirt steak, deftly marinated for unique flavor and surprisingly tender for a cut from a beef flank ($17) while lapping up two or more of caipirinha cocktails.
Or, if I get off my chores early, I’ll savor something from Malagueta’s $3 happy hour menu: like a mini thin-crust pizza that sputters to my table from a special almond-wood-fired oven.
At any time, with caipirinha cocktails working the temples of my mind, the design of the restaurant — just like the food — warmly rubs in good feelings for the restaurant and Brazil. Particularly touching are seven large bamboo-framed wall panels. In each, spangled green and red malagueta chili peppers — an important part of the restaurant’s cookery — are depicted in intricately constructed beads and pebbles set against throbbing paints that reflect the changing positions of the Brazilian sun.
Designed by Atigheh Rashidi, who partners with her sister, Faith, to operate Malagueta, the panels get me thinking seriously about colorful Brazilian life; the white sandy beaches, crystal-clear waters, Sugar Loaf mountain, a red-chili-spiced cuisine and a glowing respect for the utility of a bikini: like razor wire, it is said, the bikini protects the property without obstructing the view.
Whew! Is it that these panels are magical? Do they really conjure up a coming-out party for a genie from Rio de Janeiro? Or is it the drink caipirinha? Made from cachaca, a Brazilian sugar cane brandy similar to the jolting white rums of the Caribbean, drinking caipirinha — if ordered straight — is like asking to be struck by white lightning.
But when it’s cut with lime juice, sugar and such, the caipirinha cocktail is margarita-like refreshing, only sweeter and more addictive. So easy going down, I sometimes stop ordering just long enough to look for a crossbar with which to do the limbo.
When I’m not on a drink- and meat-loving bacchanalia — other great steaks here include a New York ($23), a rib-eye ($20) and a top sirloin ($20) — I can turn to any one of 10 remarkable pizzas (12-inch thin crusts from $10 to $14). Some of these reveal their Mediterranean inflections, like the “Margherita,” which is made with fresh buffalo mozzarella, the most prized of all fresh mozzarella because of its softer, sweeter flavor and excellent melting qualities.
Other pizzas that combine the best of three worlds include the barbecued chicken, made with Italian mozz, smoked, nutlike Dutch Gouda and feisty South American chimichurri sauce (cilantro, white vinegar, olive oil, mint, jalapeno and something secret, like a spike of malagueta chili peppers perhaps).
“In traveling the world,” said partner Faith Rashidi, “while most women look for bargains in shoes, I steal menus and recipes.” Not only pizza is elevated by her stops in the south of France and Italy, but so is the lamb “Garibaldi” that I feasted on the other night. This slow-cooked (to tenderize) shank over veggies, salsa and mashed potato ($18) commands attention and salutes you like soldiers did for Garibaldi, a 19th -century Italian leader.
But why hasn’t Faith incorporated into her menu the popular Brazilian-style “churrascaria” barbecue: continuous meat service where fist-size hunks are brandished on swords and spiked at your table for your tweezing. She said that they tried it for several months after opening six years ago but gave up on piling meats for show when guests showed a preference for “our more serious” dishes plated in the kitchen. Personally, in a crowded room, I’m glad that I don’t have to bump against a waiter carrying a sword of meat, charred nicely at the edge but bloody red near the metal — a tradition in southern Brazil.
But on Sundays only, Malagueta does feature the national dish of Brazil, feijoada. As I remember, feijoada is a steaming bowl of black beans, simmering with sausage, smoked ham hocks and pork ribs. When poured over sautéed collard greens, crushed yucca, fried plantains and rice — letting it all smooch together — it becomes a most extravagant blending of contrasting flavors, a special dish that cannot be tasted just anywhere.
On Friday nights, Malagueta features live South American music. There’s no dancing but it’s kind of sexy to get close to a traditional Brazilian appetizer — “Bossanova” cheese bread.
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