June 13 - D.O.M Restaurant

Before I get to the amazing restaurant story, I have one tiny correction to my last post. The plaque on the statue of Pedro Alvares Cabral is in fact not an anti-colonialist protest statement. It’s a quote from Tancredo Neves, one of the most important Brazilian politicians of the 20th century that reads: To Portugal we owe everything: our blood, our history, the origins of our free institutions, the wide space that we inhabit. I verbed wrong and thought it read Portugal took everything. My apologies to Senhor Nevez for my translation fail. Desculpe muito. Anyhoo…

Last night we had dinner at D.O.M., which is a 2 star Michelin restaurant owned and operated by Chef Alex Atala--one of the most famous chefs in Brazil. (Michelin star ratings are out of three, with two stars awarded when “the personality and talent of the chef are evident in their expertly crafted dishes; their food is refined and inspired.”) Chef Atala has his own episode of Chef’s Table on Netflix (season 2, episode 2) and grew up as a punk rock kid before studying French cuisine. His dishes feature ingredients from the Amazon rainforest that he works hard to sustainably and fairly curate from local farmers, including giant fish, cassava root, and honey from bees that only exist in Brazil. And of course big fucking ants.

We had a 12-course tasting meal with different wine pairing for each of them (maybe 2 ounces per course, so not as crazy as it sounds), and it was definitely the best, most special meal I’ll ever eat in my life. It was amazing to experience dishes made with such craft and care, and our waiters explained the ingredients, their origins, and significance in Brazilian culture. Seeing photos of the food online, we were prepared to still be hungry afterward since each course is basically a miniature work of art, but surprisingly it was exactly the right amount to feel satisfied. I’ve posted pics I took of most of the courses, which I swear is highly encouraged by the staff and not just an obnoxious American tourist thing to do.

The first course was the famous ant, served on a tiny square of pineapple with a shot of fermented pineapple juice. The waiter brought it out in a little covered rock, telling us it was a surprise and not to open it until he brought over the juice to pour in the lid. Then he told us to eat the ant first, then the pineapple, then take the shot. So, you might be wondering, how did it taste? Well, it was crunchy like a piece of popcorn, so not squishy at all. The flavor was like very intense lemongrass, which paired well with the pineapple. Honestly, I could see buying a little snack packet of these every so often, but only if they had the legs removed. A couple stuck around a little too long, like when you get a piece of dried thyme that refuses to be swallowed, which unfortunately only reminded me I had ant legs in my mouth.

The rest of the courses were much less Fear Factor-y, and each one was so unique and described in so much detail that it was hard to keep track. That’s mostly why I wanted to take photos, just so it wasn’t all a blur later. Luckily as an extra bonus, our waiter presented us with menus to take home or I would have never known what was what. I’m glad we got the wine pairing as well, as there were a couple times when a dish seemed just a touch too salty or acidic, and then the wine balanced it out perfectly. 

The restaurant itself was gorgeous, decorated with indigenous Brazilian art. However, we were seated in the room above the main dining area, which wasn’t really decorated but had a glass wall so you could look down and watch people receive their courses—which actually way more fun.

On the way out, I saw Alex Atala himself chatting up one of the tables, which made me sad because I’d already created a fantasy in my head where he came to OUR table because we were the coolest people there and then I took a selfie and got his autograph on the dessert napkin that had his Punk + Cooking = Happy Chef drawing which is also one of his tattoos. I learned this by watching the Netflix episode, so it’s not like I’m stalking him or anything. But it was still a nice celebrity moment and it’s good to know he’s not just hanging in a hot tub smoking a cigar in his mansion while his sous chefs do all the work.