Audio By Carbonatix
Q:I just came back from a tour of South America, and I wonder if Denver has places that serve things like feijoada, from Brazil, or Peruvian dishes?
A:That fare has been slow to catch on here, and the town’s oldest South American restaurant is still your best bet. Café Brazil (3611 Navajo Street, 303-480-1877) serves stunningly flavorful food, including a fabulous feijoada (pronounced fay-joh-dah), the national dish of Brazil. It’s a tongue-teasing combination of tastes: dried beef, chorizo, onions, garlic, tomatoes, chiles and oranges, served with a side of rice, fried bananas, collard greens and orange slices, all of which is supposed to be mixed together.
Piscos (1120 East Sixth Avenue, 303-777-8222), named for the Muscat-based brandy cocktail, also offers innovative, Peruvian-influenced dishes; both Los Cabos (1512 Curtis Street, 303-571-0007) and Sabor Latino (4340 West 35th Avenue, 303-455-8664) are good choices for snappy South American cooking. And a new Peruvian place that just opened shows real promise: Chavin Peruvian Cuisine has taken over the old home of El Chalan (2257 West 32nd Avenue, 303-455-8712).
