Food: 3 stars, Drink: 5 stars!…read more A friend and I split the cheese/jamon plate, pan tomate & pulpo with potatoes. Spanish ham and cheese came with a little side of green olives and was tasty, although not cheap at R$74. Pan tomate was a little bit strange -- or at least not what I'm used to. It came on a thick cut baguette and had a generous sprinkling of browned (and cooled) minced garlic on top. Anyway, it was fine. The Pulpo came on a bed of sliced potatoes and was generously seasoned with paprika, salt and olive oil. The salt had just been sprinkled over the top so it required some redistribution. Flavor was great, although the octopus itself was a bit on the chewy side. Red sangria was AWESOME! It comes in a big pitcher with plenty of chopped fruit. I may have had too much fun picking out the juicy bits from my sangria glass and spilling drops of red wine all over myself. Whoops. As a sidenote, the bathrooms are ALL the way in the back behind the retaining wall, which is not obvious when you walk in. All in all, a good meal!

Last time I was in Sao Paulo, the first meal I had was a lunch at La Central, which is located on…read morethe ground floor of a landmark building in downtown Sao Paulo named Copan. The restaurant is in a corner of the building and it isn't very easy to find - it's not visible from the street. The safest way to find this place is to ask someone where it is :-) We began our meal with their fresh corn soup. It's quite good - garnished with fresh watercress and very creamy. We followed that with the sliced sirloin tacos. These don't resemble fast-food variety tacos at all; they're quite delicately seasoned and totally delicious. My friend had the fresh pasta. It was stuffed with corn, and served with a spinach sauce and creamy zucchini - a creative and completely delicious dish! Our cocktails weren't all that wonderful, but they were strong and arrived quickly; next time, I think I'll stick to beer, which is my usual preference with Mexican food anyway :-) The service was efficient and quick, and the ambiance was trendy and casual. All in all, our lunch experience was exceptional, and I heartily recommend La Central to anyone who happens to be in downtown Sao Paulo and loves good Mexican food.

I didn't start off hating this place, but it didn't take long. I knew it was not going to be "real"…read moreMexican food, but it wasn't really food at all tiny portions of bland food. Expensive. Amateurish indifferent staff the hibiscus juice was a tiny glass costing us a dollar per gulp. And then there was this on the menu