Last month, São Paulo's
D.O.M. restaurant was honored by the
S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants award committee, which named it the world's seventh-best restaurant. (Read more about the award
here.) The whole idea of determining the 50 best restaurants in the world strikes Flavors of Brazil as impossible as well as a bit silly, but "best lists" are not going to go away, so they probably don't really do too much harm in the big picture - as long as one doesn't take them too seriously. Apparently Alex Atala, the chef/owner of doesn't take his seventh-place position too seriously. He was quoted in the Brazilian press shortly after winning his award as saying, "O sétimo lugar é uma merda." (Seventh place is the shits). Atala, a punk ex-house painter and backpack-traveller, is as famous for not mincing words as he is famous for mincing exotic Brazilian ingredients and adding them to his creations.
Whatever one thinks of Atala's cooking, whether one thinks he deserves first-place, seventh-place or seven-thousandth place on the list, there's no denying that his kitchen knows how to put out a beautiful dish. Atala's plating skills are legendary. Recently, the Rio de Janeiro newspaper
O Dia published online photos of some of Atala's gastronomic beauties. Here they are for your visual delectation: (Remember, you can click each photo to see a larger version.)
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| Okra four ways: fried, boiled, caviar and paper |
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| Aged beef file with watercress, foie gras and bitter chocolate |
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| Green-tomato gelée with Brazilian and Peruvian perfumes |
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| Consommé of mushrooms with flavors of the Amazon |
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| Priprioca-perfumed crème caramel with lime and banana raviolis |
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| Pupunha palm fettucine with glazed shrimp and coral butter |
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