Location Index
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Greensboro, NC |
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Uncle Orson's Restaurant Guide
Amazonia Grill
(formerly Dona Flor)
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've been to every Brazilian restaurant in New York and several in other cities, and since the wonderful Brazilian restaurant in Austin, Texas, has long since closed, Amazonia Grill remains, in my opinion, the best Brazilian restaurant in America. Unfortunately, they had a recent change of menu and of chef, so my recommendation may dim a little — already they've removed the marvelous risolli appetizer from the menu, though they promise to continue making them for me if I give them a day's notice. Just in case they repent and put them back on the menu, these are breaded, spicy mixes of meat and vegetables, with a sauce so hot that even a dab will take the top of your head off. It's great even if you skip the sauce; but I warn you, don't be macho and think that you can handle that sauce because you like it hot. It's like Brylcreem: A little dab'll do you.
Kathy Kidd loves what they do with collard greens, but to me that's not a vegetable, it's Easter basket grass. My favorite is the authentic black bean stew called feijoada, which nevertheless maintains pretty high standards in the leanness of the meat and the lack of objectionable pig parts that make feijoada so iffy for foreigners in Brazil itself. (The feijoada at Leblon, the Greensboro Brazilian restaurant that is my second favorite in the states, is so tempered for American tastes that it's bland — the one weak spot on the menu there.) Brazilian chefs know how to do steak, the fish is wonderful and surprising to the American palate, and with black beans, rice, and farofa (a spiced and flavored crumbly dressing made of manioc, which was the staple of native American diet before the domestication of maize), the meals are always both interesting and pleasing.
Reservations are needed on weekend nights, unless you go early. Casual is fine, but many people dress up. The street is hard to find — just off Wisconsin on a one-way Y intersection — and parking is always a noticeable walk away, so dress warm in cold weather. And try the guarana, an authentic Brazilian soft drink unlike anything else you've ever tasted. It's made from the tropical guarana berry, and they serve Antarctica brand, though I wish they'd keep it cold in the can so they didn't have to dilute it with ice.
202-537-0421
4615 Forty-first St. NW, DC. From inside the District, head toward Maryland on Wisconsin. Forty-first angles off to the right immediately after a major cross street with a light, a couple of blocks after Nebraska. From Virginia, take Chain Bridge, turn right on the Clara Barton Parkway, take the first possible left at the light, then continue until you have to turn right — that'll be Nebraska. Stay on it around the first confusing traffic circle, but turn left at the next semi-circle, which will be Wisconsin.