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Eatery offers Brazilian cuisine
YOUNGSTOWN
A new restaurant here offers fresh and authentic Brazilian cuisine at low prices and leaves no customer hungry.
The restaurant, which opened Jan. 23, is BomBocado, a Taste of Brasil, which is at 3649 Canfield Road in Coal Creek Plaza in the city’s Cornersburg area.
BomBocado is Portuguese for “good bite,” with Portuguese being the language of Brazil.
The restaurant owners, who live in Lake Milton, are Sheila Rehlinger, who was born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and came to the United States in 1987, and her American-born husband, Eric.
“This is the food I grew up with” in Brazil, Sheila said.
“We use simple ingredients. I cook with a lot of onions and garlic. I don’t use a lot of spices,” she said. “To me, simple ingredients is what makes food so good.
“I don’t have anything frozen, nothing processed. All my meat, all my vegetables, everything’s fresh,” she said.
The main menu, consisting of chicken, pork or beef over white rice at $8, $8.50 and $8.75, respectively, includes seven side dishes.
Those sides are pinto or black beans, collard greens, fried banana, vinagrete (tomato and onions), Brazilian potato salad, potatoes and onions, and Salpicao (shredded chicken, carrots, green apples, mayo and potato sticks).
“I wanted them to experience the whole thing. ... I didn’t want anybody leaving my restaurant hungry,” Sheila said, explaining why she decided to include for her customers so many side dishes in every meal.
Also featured are two appetizers.
One is a meat pastel, priced at $2 each, which is a thin-crusted pie filled with ground beef, eggs, cheese, green olives and onions.
The other is a seafood pastel, priced at four for $3, which is a thin-crusted pie filled with crab meat, shrimp, cream cheese and green onion.
Desserts, which cost $3 each, are pudin (vanilla flan) and brigadeirao (chocolate mousse).
After 10 visits, customers get a free meal.
“The food is delicious. The price is good,” said Dee Horne, of Schenley Avenue, a regular BomBocado customer.
The restaurant owners have pleasant personalities, she said. “They are fabulous,” she added.
Customers may dine inside the restaurant or outdoors on the patio, but 80 percent of BomBocado’s business is carryout.
The high percentage of carry-out business likely results from the food being served in sugar cane-based compostable containers, Sheila said.
“I thought people were ready for change” from the usual restaurant routine, she said, explaining why she decided to open a Brazilian restaurant here.
“I am confident that, if they try it, they will like it,” she said of customers savoring Brazilian cuisine.
BomBocado is open from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays, and closed Sundays.