Rice X Beans

On a hot day, my partner wanted to eat at a Brazilian restaurant pretty far from where we live. I ended up walking 2 miles for this Brazilian restaurant. At first, I thought it was supposed to be an expansion of a Rice and Beans place in the city, but I learned this was entirely different. The first thought that came in my head when I sat down was that this restaurant definitely is more of a typical locals stop with no frills fair priced Brazilian dishes. I was not expecting any amazing Brazilian food, but who knows maybe they would surprise me.

Ambiance

The interior was nothing special, but apparently they do have live music on Fridays. We left the restaurant around 7:00 pm as they were setting up.

The service was pretty fast and attentive since it’s pretty small. We noticed there were a bunch of local Brazilians that came in and out from there.

Food

The suco de passion fruit (maracuja) was pretty tart and sour at first, so it’s best to let the ice mix and melt with the juice for a bit. After a while, it tasted pretty much how you expect. This was half drunk, so rest assured, they do pour a full glass of it.

The bolinho de bacalhau was basically cod fish croquettes, some type of pesto-esque dip, and lemon. There was really nothing special about this, but it did taste like almost all of the bacalhau I’ve had before. The interior of the croquette is basically finely minced fish.

The grilled top sirloin with garlic came with roasted garlic, french fries, rice, beans, farofa, and homemade vinaigrette. There was not much uniqueness about this food. The top sirloin was pretty tender, but it was prepared in such a way that reminded me of Carrows/Cocos style steak. I’m sure the meat quality is much better, but that was just the first thought in mind. My partner did want to point out that they thought it was excessively garlicky.

The Brazilian style pork chops came with a garlic wine sauce, sauteed collard greens, and rice and beans. The black beans was served on the side and tasted very typical. The pork chop itself was pretty good although some pieces of it tasted mighty a little gamey. The sauce itself had a light garlic and subtle wine after flavors, but it tasted pretty good with the pork chop. I did think the pork chop itself might not have the best quality, but for a local restaurant at this price point, it’s kind of expected.

Final Verdict

I think there are other better Brazilian restaurants in the city, and it’s definitely not worthwhile to make the trek to Woodside for this restaurant. However if you are around the Woodside area and really craving for it, I suppose this is a candidate.

Yelp Jabs

I always have high expectations when it comes to Brazilian food because I’m Brazilian. Therefore, I was somewhat resistant to try Rice X Beans. What a silly mistake!

Maybe my tastebuds are a little more gringo, but I just don’t think this restaurant is that special. It’s a very typical local joint with pretty mediocre food.

No kidding I watched The Final Table in the afternoon and it was “Brazil” episode where the dish everyone has to cook is feijoada. Somehow I REALLY wanted to try it right away, thus I yelped, found this place … I was so excited for the feijoada but unfortunately it was way too salty for my taste.

I’ve been to quite a few Brazilian restaurants around the city, and each location has its own “flair”. Some are more salty than others, and some have more meat flavors than others. We decided to not get the feijoada because it’s really easy to make at home especially with an instant pot. The hardest part is probably finding carne seca, but the local Food Bazaar market in LIC sells that.