LUKE GARCIA

oct14-Sao_8.13.indd 28 8/19/14 9:49 AM À LA CARTE The 2015 Rotary convention will dish up something for everyone

by  

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oct14-Sao_8.13.indd 29 8/19/14 9:49 AM ANDRÉ DEAK FOR ART OUTSIDE THE MUSEUM ANDRÉ DEAK FOR ART

Which is the better city, or São Paulo? That is the great debate that dominates Brazilian life, and probably always will. Rio is the global poster child for beachfront hedonism, with its mountains and jungles and beautiful people in skimpy clothing. This is something paulistanos grudgingly admit. They then invariably ask, “Where in the Marvelous City can you get a decent meal? ” Because São Paulo, its concrete towers peering from a plateau over the coastal plain, is a monument to fine living, a tropical version of New York. Its busy denizens pride themselves on being the business heart of the world’s seventh-largest national economy, and they argue with justification that Sampa, as the city is known, is the culinary capital of South America. Aside from the sheer concentration of wealth in São Paulo – its central skyscraper canyon, the Avenida Paulista, contains 1 percent of the nation’s GDP in its milelong stretch – part of the city’s gastronomic greatness stems from having the largest Japanese population outside of Japan. This legacy of the early 20th century, when was hungry for immigrants and post-feudal Japan was suffering famine, has left an entire area of the city center, known as Liberdade, full of Japanese shops, festivals, and amazing sushi restaurants.

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oct14-Sao_8.13.indd 30 8/19/14 9:49 AM PREVIOUS PAGES: The all- female Samba de Rainha is a popular São Paulo band. OPPOSITE: A panel by artist Maria Bonomi titled Epopeia Paulista connects metropolitan and subway trains at Estação da Luz. THIS PAGE: Chef Alex Atala, whose restaurant, D.O.M., is considered one of the best in , champions locally sourced ingredients. COURTESY OF D.O.M. RESTAURANT COURTESY

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oct14-Sao_8.13.indd 31 8/19/14 9:49 AM A few blocks away from Liberdade – if you stroll past the hulking cathedral, or Catedral da Sé, and the crumbling art nou- veau facades of apartment blocks built when the center was still surrounded by tea plantations – you come to São Paulo’s ground zero: the 16th-century Jesuit mis- sion, an oddly rural-looking relic standing on a small square and dwarfed by high-rises and grandiose century-old office buildings. The monks who ran the mission are long gone, replaced by bakers who sell a mean bolo, or cake, to be savored with Brazilian coffee in a small courtyard out back. But to really leap into São Paulo’s exotic gourmet heart, start at the Mercado Mu- nicipal, the vast Victorian market hall that looks a little like a London railway termi- nal from the outside. For Rotary conven- tion goers, it’s an easy cab ride across the Tietê River from the Anhembi Convention Center. Inside, you’ll find a labyrinth of stalls selling all varieties of Brazilian spices and fruit, cured meats, and salted cod. (At the Porco Feliz, you can pick up an entire pig, or order a capybara, the largest rodent in the world.) Upstairs is a huge balcony packed with cafes where you can down ULRICH PETERS sandwiches and ice-cold draft beer, called chope, and contemplate the bustle below. If you’re looking to go upmarket, São Paulo has some of the world’s highest-rated restaurants. At the top is D.O.M., in Jardim Paulista, frequently cited as one of Latin America’s best – if not the best. Its chef, Alex Atala, made Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people last year. He harvests his ingredients from sustainable sources in the Amazon, making frequent trips to seek out plants and fish with unpronounceable names, and helps small farmers produce or- ganic crops profitably. The result is a home- grown Brazilian haute cuisine that has been much imitated, but not yet rivaled.

TOP LEFT: The Mercado Municipal is a great place to pick up a snack, have a cup of coffee, or marvel at the array of fresh local foodstuffs. LEFT: The Liberdade neigh- borhood, the center of São Paulo’s Japanese community, offers fantastic cuisine. RIGHT:

ALLEN YEH, BIOLA UNIVERSITY A residential area in the Lapa neighborhood.

oct14-Sao_8.13.indd 32 8/19/14 9:49 AM JENNA FRANCISCO

Figueira Rubaiyat commands one of the northeast’s homey seafood-rich dishes. By which rivals single-malt Scotch for most impressive settings in the city, on far the most renowned spot for this is Mo- smoothness and price, but a close second- Jardim Paulista’s glitzy Rua Haddock cotó in Vila Medeiros, a 40-minute drive best, and one to bring home, is Weber Lobo. In its garden, tables cluster around north of the city center but worth the trek. Haus, with a hint of vanilla bean that gives an enormous banyan tree whose branches It began life as a hole-in-the-wall kitchen it the softness of a good Sauternes rather out over diners like diplodocus set up by José Oliveira de Almeida, a mi- than a spirit. necks before disappearing through the grant from Pernambuco in Brazil’s Once your belly is full and your wallet glass roof. Most people go for the Brazilian drought-plagued northeast. His home more or less depleted, it’s time to sample or Argentine beef dishes, but the lamb is cooking – including his trademark meat- the city’s other passion: soccer. Futebol, as among the best I have ever eaten, and the and-bean broth, made according to a secret they call it here, is more than a national selection of meaty Amazon fish is as good recipe – has attracted such a lively crowd obsession; it’s more like a religion, and São as anything outside Manaus. over the years, he was forced to expand Paulo is the place where it all began. The city’s Japanese master chefs have into a full-scale restaurant that Newsweek Charles Miller, the son of a Scottish rail- also gone upmarket: At tiny Aizomê, sit listed as one of the 101 best eateries way engineer and an Anglo-Brazilian along the wooden bar and watch as they around the globe. mother, was born here in 1874 and studied prepare dishes ranging from traditional Mocotó also boasts the world’s first and in Britain, where he became a footballer sushi and sashimi to Japanese-Brazilian only sommelier of cachaça – Brazil’s most for the now-defunct London Corinthians. fusion cuisine, such as grilled oysters with celebrated native drink, originally distilled When he returned to his native city, he passion-fruit glaze. on slave plantations from pulped sugar brought with him two leather footballs, a But in São Paulo, eating downmarket cane. Leandro Batista will give you a tour pair of football boots, and a book of rules. doesn’t mean missing out. Regional cui- of the best brews from the country’s vast The sport quickly caught on, and Brazil sines are well represented, especially the range: His top tip is the Havana brand, went on to become the most decorated

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oct14-Sao_8.13.indd 33 8/19/14 9:50 AM national team in history, with a record five the road, the team of Santos, from the slopes of Higienópolis. With a lively layout World Cup titles under its belt and an dock city of the same name, was the club and a wry sense of humor – despite dealing undisputed roster of some of soccer’s of footballing legend Pelé. with Brazil’s holy of holies – it captures the greatest players. You can combine the city’s loves for fine essence of the beautiful game. Highlights The name Corinthians is now associated dining and football at Morumbi stadium, include a room full of sepia photos of Brazil with one of the most lucrative clubs in the located in one of the swankier areas of São from the time when football first arrived, world, whose fans are so devoted that it of- Paulo, also called Morumbi. There you can and a display of objects that the nation’s fers funeral services for die-hard supporters, trade in the bleachers for a spot at Koji, a street kids – some destined to become complete with a coffin in the team’s colors wonderful little Japanese restaurant whose multimillionaire soccer legends – use in and a violinist to play its anthem. It is no salmon-belly sushi with a citrus twist is kickabouts, from dolls’ heads to rolled-up coincidence that São Paulo was picked to enough to distract even the most ardent socks and even rocks. It also has hilarious host the opening match of the 2014 World fans from the game. It is also one of the audio of radio commentators narrating the Cup in a spanking-new stadium built for few places in Brazil’s dry stadiums where most famous goals (spoiler alert: most end about half a billion dollars, which is the new spectators can enjoy a drink. in an ecstatic scream of “Goooooooooool ”) home of the Corinthians. For more football, visit the Museu do and soccer personalities describing their If you plan to catch a game, you can Futebol under the bleachers of the Paulo most abiding memories of the game. One choose from a host of teams, including São Machado de Carvalho stadium, an impres- renowned commentator describes how, as Paulo, Palmeiras, and Portuguesa. Down sive 1940s arena wedged among the green a boy, his family (like many in Brazil) was BRUNO EHRS/CORBIS ©

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oct14-Sao_8.13.indd 34 8/19/14 9:50 AM BELOW LEFT: Nightlife spills out onto the streets of São Paulo, whose restaurants, bars, and cafes kick things up a notch after dark. BELOW RIGHT: The caipirinha is Brazil’s national cocktail. RIGHT: One of these kids could grow up to be the next Pelé. PAULO WHITAKER/REUTERS PAULO

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oct14-Sao_8.13.indd 35 8/19/14 9:50 AM RODRIGO SOLDON LIA REIS Á NAT

TOP: A late 19th-century building is an ideal setting for the Museu Paulista, the city’s history museum. ABOVE: One of the at the . RIGHT: Within , you’ll find paths for strolling, benches for reading, and São Paulo’s modern art museum.

so superstitious that he had to sit in the ferocious energy. ” Walking through the city, where paulistanos go to unwind, have a same chair during every World Cup you sometimes get an odd whiff of nostalgia picnic, or jog along paths that weave match while his father held a rolled-up for a place you’ve never been, a faint echo through the greenery. It is beautiful after magazine under his armpit for luck. of the 1950s-era skyscrapers of the New dark too, when the heat of the day is gone There’s not a lot left of historic São York of black-and-white photos. and the fountain on the lake is lit red and Paulo, a once-elegant city built in the colo- The city is easy to navigate – the ex- orange to look like flickering flames. nial European style that has been swept tensive metro is clean and safe, and cabs One treasure that escaped the city’s away by the frenetic pace of expansion and are plentiful and reasonably priced. Avoid wild redevelopments is the magnificent redevelopment. As British novelist James buses at all costs – they are generally Museu Paulista, built in 1895. It was once Scudamore described it in his 2010 novel, packed, chaotic, and move too fast for home to the Natural History Museum Heliopolis, “Town planning never happened: their own safety. and now presents the history of the city. there wasn’t time. The city ambushed its To get away from the bustle of this city It looks out on a park that gently rolls inhabitants, exploding in consecutive of 20 million souls, head to São Paulo’s down a hillside, past fountains and pools, booms of coffee, sugar and rubber, so equivalent of . A leafy sweep to a vast stone monument to independ- quickly that nobody could draw breath to of lakes, lawns, and tropical trees with ence from Portugal. say what should go where. It has been ex- impossible names, Ibirapuera Park, in the But if you really want to escape, grab panding ever since, sustained by all that central Vila Mariana neighborhood, is a cab and ask for the Instituto Butantan.

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oct14-Sao_8.13.indd 36 8/19/14 9:50 AM © ALEX ROBINSON/JAI CORBIS

Looking like a small slice of Belle Époque – and having seen what’s in the cages, you cious cocktail of cachaça, freshly squeezed Europe dropped into the tropical woods won’t want to. lime, and sugar. And one of the liveliest of São Paulo’s western suburbs, this is one São Paulo has a thriving music scene, and streets to enjoy one on is Rua Aspicuelta, of the city’s most bucolic and unusual it moves to the beat of the samba. In the city in the bohemian neighborhood of Vila sites. Built more than a century ago as a center, the Bar Você Vai Se Quiser on the Madalena, which thrums with bars facility after an outbreak trendy Praça Roosevelt has long been a mag- and restaurants, and whose sidewalks of , it houses a huge col- net for music lovers. At Bar Favela in Vila overflow with young paulistanos after lection of venomous snakes. (Fortunately, Madalena, an all-female lineup called Samba dark, doing what their city is famous for because it is still a research center, it is de Rainha plays to a packed house on Sun- – living it up. n also Latin America’s largest producer of days. Or grab a bite at the nearby Grazie a , antitoxins, and .) Dio! dance bar and watch the locals hit their You can wander rows of rattlesnakes, co- rhythm. After dark, it’s best to stay away Register for the 2015 Rotary bras, king snakes, and massive tropical from the old city center near the Sé, but the International Convention, boa constrictors, as well as a collection of restaurant and bar areas such as Jardim Pau- giant tropical that will make your lista and Pinheiros are safe to stroll. 6-9 June, by 15 December skin crawl. A sign on the edge of the leafy One of the best ways to cap off a day for special pricing. park warns you not to enter the forest in São Paulo is with a caipirinha, the deli- Go to www.riconvention.org.

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