Since it was Labor Day back home, I took advantage of the holiday by sleeping in for a change. The cloudy, cooler weather helped out too. Soon, it was time for lunch so I headed down the street to a place I had noted previously.

Pura Brasa specialized, as the name implies, various grilled meats over an open flame. The restaurant was bustling with lunch goers, and I snagged one of the last small tables.

I had been wanting to try pollo ala brasa so this seemed like a good spot for that. Indeed they had a few different options but I was intrigued by the boneless one with a couple of sides called “brasa style.” The catch was that one was for two people. Still, the price wasn’t too bad and assumed I’d be able to eat most of it anyway.

Yeeeahh, about that… clicking on the picture and zooming in shows just how much food this turned out to be. The chicken appeared to be an entire one deboned. The broccoli rice was in a huge bowl and the chips were plentiful too (and delicious.)

The bowl in the back right is what made this brasa style – pieces of fried egg mixed with toasted breadcrumbs. I was told to put this on top of the chicken and man was it good that way. Mixing it with the broccoli rice was a nice combo too.

There was definitely enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow, as evidenced by the massive to go bag I was handed. Since it was still my day off, I wanted to check out this brewhouse across the street called The Mad Brew. I was hoping to try a few of their various brews and was pleased to see they had a 6 tasting option – for a whopping $4. Sold.

I selected 3 and told the server to pick 3 he liked to finish them off. It was a nice range of styles/tastes from light Pilsner to dark stout. I liked pretty much all of them but the two standouts were the Strong Ale, which they just started brewing last week and their Wittbier, which had orange and yuzu in it – very tasty.

I made the quick trip back to my place, once again opening my windows to hear the bossa nova music and take a siesta. After my siesta and catching up with the blog, I hopped in an Uber to head to the neighboring barrio of Leblon aka the wealthy one.

My destination though was a causal spot by a famous chef called Boteco Rainha. Basically the Brazilian equivalent of a tapas bar, it was nestled in a small quiet corner spot surrounded by the trappings of a rich neighborhood, including a Louis Vuitton store a block away.

The focus was on seafood small bites and there were several that intrigued me. After chatting with the server about how large the items were, I decided to start out 3 of them.

From left to right was a classic bacalao fritter, a lobster croqueta and finally a shrimp pastel. While all 3 were delicious, the real star was the pastel, which was basically like a square empanada – filled chunks of shrimp in a slightly spicy broth.

My server suggested as a final one their pie of the day, which was a mix of heart of palm and a local cheese. This was another winner with the crumbly pie crust giving way to the roasted veggies and melted cheese. I realized after the fact I forgot to take a pic of the inside. Oh well.

I took an Uber back to my area and had my driver stop at a small restaurant I had passed a few times, which had a nice wine list. It was very nice out so I sat in the small outdoor section overlooking the street enjoying a nice glass of Malbec.

I noticed the couple next to me was speaking Spanish so I asked where they were from- Venezuela as it turned out. I chatted with them for a bit in Spanish telling them how I was relieved to be speaking in a language I understood a lot better than Portuguese.

The female of the couple spoke some Portuguese and both of them spoke fairly decent English too. I actually ended up translating for them as they wanted to know if the 10% added gratuity was common. I told them I had heard that was indeed the case. I wished them a great trip and make the quick jaunt back to my place.

Tomorrow it was back to the digital salt mines for me along with another local restaurant that came highly recommended.