I just returned from a week-long business trip to São Paulo, Brazil and I have to say, the food I ate in that city was extraordinary. Aside from enjoying some of the best sushi I have ever had (did you know that São Paolo has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan?), I found an unexpected emphasis on fresh ingredients and an openness to different cuisines and traditions that reminded me very much of the food scene back home in New York. Even more jarring, my hotel was right in the middle of a newish financial district and emerging hot neighborhood called, of all things, Brooklin Novo, or New Brooklyn. That’s really what they call it. When I asked a colleague about this, he told me with a straight face that it was named after ‘the big financial district’ in New York. Although the details of the translation might be a bit off, it seems that the Brooklin/Brooklyn name carries its cachet far and wide, even with a Portuguese accent.

If you go to Brazil and in particular São Paolo, there are three things you absolutely must not only try, but throw yourself into unreservedly. First, the huge variety of tropical fruit that seems to be available everywhere, but most especially on the never-ending breakfast buffets of most hotels in the city. If New York has three or four kinds of bananas (normal, baby, red…), Brazil must easily have 20, along with varieties of mango and passion fruit that I have never seen before (and with US import laws, probably never will). What’s more, I was stunned time and again by the quality of the fruit– biting into my first piece of local Brazilian pineapple was as revelatory as when I saw color TV for the first time and realized the astonishing inferiority of black-and-white.

Second, even if you are not partial to java, you have to drink at least at least one cup when you visit– it is spectacular. This may come as no surprise, Brazil being the land of coffee, but it’s still a shock to taste how smooth well-made espresso can be and to see the volumes of it that are consumed. Brazilians as a rule seem to like their coffee hot, concentrated, and sweet; every business meeting I attended in São Paolo opened with the arrival of a woman carrying a tray of small espresso cups and glasses, one for each participant. And like clockwork, a new round of coffee was brought in each hour, whether anyone asked for it or not, as if the office staff understood that the only way we could keep going was with more caffeine. Best of all, espresso in Brazil is less bitter than its Italian counterpart; my friend Daniela taught me to ask for a ‘Carioca’ which, in addition to its meaning as someone hailing from Rio de Janeiro, also is the word for a shot of espresso with extra water, resulting in a less intense experience. I also learned another alternative, which is the ‘café com leite,’ or a coffee with hot milk– not quite a cappuccino, but like the Italian counterpart, it is drunk mainly in the mornings.

The third thing you must try is feijoada, Brazil’s national dish. Part barbecue, part social gathering, feijoada is often prepared in restaurants only on Wednesdays and Saturdays, so make sure you schedule time appropriately. I went on a very sunny Saturday afternoon with two old friends from my Washington days, Daniela and Mario, both Cariocas but now reluctant Paulistanas (São Paulo-ers), along with their wonderful children, Ana and Julia. We met at Figueira Rubaiyat (1739 Rua Haddock Lobo, in the swanky Jardim Paulista neighborhood), part of a small chain of feijoada-cum-churrascaria restaurants in the city. While more expensive than many places, Figueria has a wonderful atmosphere, loads of outdoor seating organized around an ancient and overgrown fig tree, and English-friendly waiters and menus. It turned out that the girls’ school had organized its own Feijoada da Primavera springtime celebration for students and families the very next day and, as having feijoada twice in one weekend would be far too much (it is a very heavy dish), my companions and their children ordered off the regular menu, while I was heartily encouraged to head straight for the enormous buffet. I did not need to be told twice.

The feijoada buffet, which includes an equally amazing all-you-can-eat dessert buffet, will set you back about US$35 per person and does not disappoint. Cauldrons of thinly sliced pork bubble beside heaping piles of rice, and black beans (feijão is Portuguese for bean, hence the name); and literally no part of the pig is left unrepresented on the steaming display: pig ear, snout, offal, feet and tail are all available. Fittingly so, given that feijoada was introduced to Brazil by its slaves, who used the least expensive parts of the pig to bulk up the dish.Now the various cuts and organ meats bob and boil in separate pots to appeal to the sensibilities of visiting gringos, no doubt. Side dishes are plentiful too– collard greens and farofa, a dish of toasted and sautéed manioc flour were two of my personal favorites. I somehow managed to taste a tiny bit of everything, minus the ear and snout, and went back for seconds and thirds of the tastiest selections.

Now that I’ve done it, I know that there is no better way to spend an afternoon with good friends than by lingering over a good feijoada. There are places in New York that serve the dish (Circus on the Upper East Side and SOB’s on Varick Street are ones I’ve heard of), but neither Nosher nor I have heard of a place that serves up an authentic Brazilian feijoada buffet on a regular basis. Until we find one, I will have to just relive my fond memories of São Paulo, and of course, of the other Brooklin.