Taste of Brazil Cuisine
In Huntington Beach, a chance to sample Brazilian foods a la carte rather than all-you-can-eat
American products are crazy expensive in Brazil due to government tariffs, and Brazilian food is typically very expensive in America due to… well, America’s focus on steaks. The Brazilian restaurant chains (Fogo de Chao, Texas de Brazil) that have achieved notoriety in the United States are all-you-can-eat churrascarias – steakhouses – that commonly charge $50 to $70 per person for beef- and lamb-heavy meals. As Huntington Beach’s Taste of Brazil Cuisine demonstrates, however, it’s possible to enjoy Brazilian food without breaking the bank.
For $25 to $30 per person, Taste lets you enjoy more affordable picanha steak plates ($20), grilled chicken plates ($15), balls of pão de queijo (cheese bread, $7 for 6 pieces), chicken and beef coxinha (croquettes, $4 each), and folhado (banana & Nutella puff pastries, $3.50 each). You can also get beef or chicken sandwiches for $10-13 each, and ham and cheese joelho rolls for $4.
The menu’s small, but everything we tried was pretty good – obviously not Fogo level, but at one-third the price, it’s hard to complain. This clearly isn’t the ideal place to sample Brazilian meats, but they’re solid here, and the chicken parmesan is, too. Given the delicious croquettes and cheese bread eggs, however, you could make an entire affordable meal just from the pastries, combining enough of the baked or deep-fried breading with melted cheeses and ground meats to easily fill up.
One key limitation: On our visit, there was no seating inside Taste, and people were lined up at meal time for one of only three tables set up outside, which are shared by the restaurant, a piercing parlor, and a tattoo shop. This may have changed since then, but be prepared for potential limitations, and consider taking your meal to go.
Stats
Price: $-$$
Service: Counter
Open Since: 2015
Addresses
19933 Beach Blvd.
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
714.650.6135
Instagram: @tastelikebrazil