D.O.M. An Exploration of Brasil Through Food

By: Juliana Mattos & Paul H. Christian Photography by: Paul H. Christian

World renowned Brazilian Chef Alex Atala has good reason to be proud of his restaurant – it excels on so many levels and exemplifies his passion for his native Brasil and it’s flavors. Without leaving your chair in the warm, wood-covered dining room of D.O.M., you are transported across the many regions of Brasil, and at every turn, with every bite, uncovering the magic that has made Brazilian cuisine a cultural powerhouse of food.

So much has been written that at first it seemed pointless to write another ode to D.O.M. However, there are details that I have not seen fully conveyed in one article – the intertwining of traditional Brazilian flavors with modern technique and presentation, the use of indigenous, often over-looked ingredients, the seamless approach and execution by the entire team, creating an experience that stimulates, and borders on overwhelming, each and every of the diner’s senses, and the beautiful way that these elements somehow still work together in perfect harmony.

In both my work with chefs and restaurants and as one who has experienced many of the top restaurants in the world, my aim is to provide a balanced perspective, while highlighting the true nature of the food and the overall experience. However, I admit up- front that I was in awe throughout the exploration.

Upon embarking on ones culinary journey to D.O.M., you must first traverse through the bustling city streets of São Paolo, and it’s constant traffic. After weaving your way through one of Brasil’s many lively open-air food markets, you find yourself on a small, “quiet” cul- de-sac, and soon come face-to-face with the massive 3-plus meter tall door hiding one of the world’s top restaurants. After a warm greeting by the doorman as he slowly opened this gateway, revealing an elegant yet inviting interior, we made our way into the spacious bar area, backed by impressive windows that must be 8 meters tall. The area opens to a charming, crisp, well-lit, high-ceiling dining room with chairs, tables, and floor all made from Brazilian hardwood – yet with all the hard surfaces, it is surprisingly serene and peaceful. The central chandelier and stairs leading to a private dining room catch the eye, but the focus is the spotless, glass-enclosed kitchen and the chefs in their immaculate attire.

Chef Alex wanted the theme to be one of (re)discovering Brazilian ingredients and he accomplished this with aplomb. From the start, the menu featured drinks, grains, fish, meat, cheeses, fruits, and flavors from all regions of Brasil – and all were presented in creative styles and accompaniments.

While the restaurant offers tasting menus only (no à la carte), there are still multiple options for you to choose – standard or vegetarian, Optimus or Maximus (8 or 12 courses plus snacks and dessert), with or without wine pairings. We opted for the standard Maximus menu for the full experience. Although our menu listed 16 items (an introductory amuse bouche then sorbet, 12 savory dishes and 3 dessert items), we enjoyed over 20 different plates – all of appropriate but generous portion size to fully enjoy each item and leave feeling filled to sufficiency. Service was impeccable – the staff was very well trained, excellent teamwork, menus well explained and allergies noted, never an empty glass, perfectly paced, not stuffy, yet attentive and flowed smoothly. All dishes were artistically placed with style, all items removed after each course, including the crisp white tablecloth after a diner mishap made it not so white!. Many serving plates and bowls were handcrafted earthenware with colors to highlight the dish being presented.

The entire menu shone. Most tasting menus have high and low points and one of the true strengths in our meal was no down dish – consistent excellence throughout. Every dish was well on-point, unique, artistically presented, with ingredients (known and unusual) representing the many regions of Brasil, prepared with creative balance to highlight the textures and flavors of each item.

The menu is interesting and creative so it is well worth describing every item. But it might be best to eat first, as these vignettes will make you hungry! The amuse-bouche, an introduction to the meal by means of one of Brasil’s most famous exports, the caipirinha. An explosion of cachaça (Brasil’s renowned sugar cane rum) and lime in a hardened, crusted sugar treat taken in one bite.

This was followed by a Brazilian chili sorbet paired with a shot of chilled sake served in two hollowed green peppers presented in a bowl of ice. The sake was a nod to the large Japanese population of Brasil. The chili set off the sorbet and the sake awakened the palate (if it wasn’t already!!) for the next course – a “snacks’ course: five different elements served concurrently.

First, we popped two bite-sized discs of mango, which sandwiched coconut sorbet topped with seaweed. The crunch of the dried mango with the creamy semi-sweet coconut sorbet was wonderfully offset by the brininess of the seaweed. Next was a quenelle of heart of palm brandade topped with a savory Cantabrico anchovy, served on a slightly charred palm husk. The contrast of the sea and land was very evident on the palate, creating a wonderfully harmonious balance of flavors in just a single mouthful. The following offering brought a spoonful of multi-colored, granular powders, intriguing to look at and delicious to consume. The spoons were comprised half each of dried farofa (toasted cassava/mandioca flour, which is a Brazilian staple used in many dishes) and bottarga (salted, cured fish roe ground to a powder), served on a small disc of tree trunk. This was a simple but effective way to again sample the earthen flavor of the root vegetable contrasted with the brininess of the roe. With barely an inch of table space not utilized by the array of dishes, we were also served a breaded oyster with sago (the edible starch from inside the trunk of a palm) in an oyster shell shaped dish. A bit of texture from the breading on the oyster played well off the the sago, crafted into gelatin-like pearls, and salmon roe. This was all encompassed within an oyster broth, adding a touch of sweetness to the dish as well. Delicious. Finally, the last item in this single course was the skin of the giant (2 meter) Amazonian river fish, the pirarucu, served over its amazing scales with a plantain puree to bring out the sweetness. The effect was perfect as the flavor and richness of the elements complemented each other, while the crunch of the skin with the smooth, silkiness of the puree comprised a truly harmonious bite.

After the table was again cleared and we were given a brief opportunity to take a breath in between bites and reflect on the meal so far. Only three courses in and already well into our journey through Brasil and it’s vast varieties of ingredients and flavors. A few moments later, we were presented a gorgeous, earthenware dish of slightly cured, almost raw sea bass with julienned cará (a Brazilian white yam, quiet different from the version commonly found in the US), with a small bright yellow dollop of a citrus puree and some fresh herbs. This was accompanied by an açaí sauce that was poured tableside creating a small pool surrounding the fish. The delicate texture and flavor of the salt-cured sea bass paired with the earthiness of the cará, is set off by the sweet and sour combination of the citrus puree and the açaí sauce, creating a truly well-rounded flavor profile and certainly a highlight of the meal.

One of the primary continuities between the courses was the constant use of the indigenous fruits to elevate the other ingredients and explore unique flavor combinations. The next dish was no different, coming in two parts with the pairing of a scampi and coconut against coconut and scampi, a very clever juxtaposition. The first was shrimp served sandwiching a slice of fresh shaved coconut. This was partially immersed in a scampi broth with parsley and tomato. The second plate was a coconut “cake”, a light, airy puffed coconut creation that encapsulated the scampi and over which was sprinkled dried coconut. The coconut didn’t overpower the scampi in either scenario and the two methods of preparation gave different texture experiences, and even separate flavor profiles, to the same ingredients.

The bread course followed, an excellent intermezzo between the lighter appetizer courses and the upcoming main plates. Brazilian native manioc bread with one each of a baked and a caramelized garlic, served with curd set in olive oil from the Mantiqueira mountains and accompanied by the must-have traditional pão de queijo (cheese bread), elegantly served on a D.O.M. embossed papiere on plate. The manioc bread, soft with the consistency similar to a thick crepe, was served warm on a heated tile covered with napkins and was rich manioc flavor. The silky light curd combined well with the bread and the light richness of the olive oil and the complexity of the two differently cooked pungent garlics.

We next moved northward with a heart of palm ravioli. This was a play on vatapá, an Afro- Brazilian dish common in the north, and was presented as a folded packet with tiny shrimp inside, surrounded by a coconut milk sauce. The palm served as a well-suited mimic to the typical pasta it was replacing, while maintaining a lightness that allowed the shrimp to shine through.

After trying the skin of the pirarucu earlier, we now were able to taste the flesh - two beautiful white pieces, pan-seared with a light crust. These were served with sweet chilis, caramelized onions, an açaí puree, and topped with a drizzle of an aromatic chili oil. The fish was mild, yet packed with flavor, a firm texture, which played well with the heat from the chili, sweetness from the caramelization of the onions, and a bit of tartness from the açaí, which when all combined brought an exquisite richness to the dish as a whole. Shrimp and manioc may sound basic but the “julienne” shrimp in a shrimp and herb sauce accompanied by a tempura style puffed manioc worked well as the softer texture of shrimp balanced with delicate sauce and the light crunch of the manioc.

Next on the menu, a heart of palm fettuccine with yanomami mushrooms – one of Alex’s signature dishes, and the one which helped put Alex on the map. The ribbons of al dente heart of palm twisted beautifully together and saturated with the additional earthiness of the mushroom sauce were amplified by the inclusion of a blend of dried onions and herbs, adding a much needed crunch to the dish. The combination of the elements highlighted the natural flavors of the land, with enough textural diversity to remain interesting, and even exciting, in the mouth.

Moving on to the main protein dishes, we were served a duo of quail with Combu Island chocolate. A small, but extremely succulent breast on top of a small crostini for a bit of contrast in texture was paired with a wing for an excellent variance between the light and dark meats of the quail. The flavor of the quail was even further enhanced by smear of liver puree across the plate creating a luxuriously richness in the dish. This richness was cut by a sweetness created by a slice of grilled pineapple and chocolate shavings, and brought harmoniously together by a quail and pineapple sauce, allowing for a full intermingling of varied elements and a wonderful piquancy.

The final main plate of the meal was wild boar neck on a bed of manioc flour paired with grilled jackfruit. The boar had a beautiful crust while remaining incredibly tender inside, falling apart with just the lightest touch of the fork. Again the use of manioc, this time in one of it’s most common forms, as farofa, a toasted cassava flour mixture, brought a continuity to the meal as a whole, while adding a bit of crunch to the dish. The addition of the jackfruit, an increasingly popular fruit in the US thanks to it’s delicious taste and versatility, added a sweetness and fragrance to the dish. A truly tropical combination, giving us the feeling that we had been whisked away to an island getaway, sitting on a beach with a pig roasting nearby, couldn’t have been a better way to transition into the next stage of the meal. The progression of the meal was adeptly handled moving next into a version of a cheese course, a play on the French aligot. Traditionally a mixture of mashed potato with butter, milk, and a traditional French tomme cheese whipped together, Alex and the team instead incorporated gruyère and Minas (one of the most famous regional cheeses of Brasil) cheeses into the dish. This created a lighter version of the aligot, but still packed with a similar richness and flavor profile to the French version, without the density. The aligot was served tableside by the waiter, twisting and twirling it in a rhythmically mesmerizing dance between two spoons until a round dollop was gently lowered onto the plate, a captivating sight to see and an excellent precursor to the dish itself.

We branched off menu to one of the most iconic items at D.O.M. – the sauva ant – an Amazonian ant served two ways, plain and on top of a cube of fresh pineapple. Traditionally used by many of the indigenous Brazilians living in the very north of the Amazonas region as a seasoning in their dishes, the small ants were packed with an unexpectedly huge amount of flavor. A very simple preparation, with the ants caught, washed and cleaned, and then refrigerated before being served whole. With the guidance of starting first with the plain ant followed by the paired ant and pineapple, we, with only a slight hesitation, popped the first ant into our mouths. At first an initial crunch and then an explosion of flavors, predominately lemongrass but with hints of cardamon, ginger, and anise, a very interesting morsel. When paired with the pineapple, the sweetness of the ant comes more to the forefront while maintaining a superb balance. However, for such a unusual bite, we preferred the ant by itself, completely natural, allowing its organically pure flavors to shine through and us to fully appreciate it’s uniqueness.

We now moved into the final segment of our voyage, the desserts. First, a curd mousse, with cashew two ways, and a riesling wine reduction. Most people know the cashew nut, but the fruit (usually referred to as cashew fruit or cashew apple) is also edible. It is native to northeast Brasil, pear-shaped, usually yellow or red, and exudes hints of mango and raw green pepper with some citrus flavor. The silky texture and mild flavors of the curd played well off the cashew fruit and nut, adding both flavor and texture to the dish and the surprisingly not too sweet wine reduction rounded it out with beautiful floral notes for a lovely start to the end of our meal. The penultimate dish was a brown sugar “mochi” with mate herb ice-cream – gelatinous mochi discs paired with mate ice cream, nuts, and pomegranate seeds. Mochi is traditionally a Japanese rice cake but can be made with flour, sugar, and water. Mate is another traditional item usually drunk socially with ceremony. It is derived from the dried leaves of yerba mate and in the ice cream it imparted a counter balance to the sweet mochi.

For the culmination of our culinary odyssey, we enjoyed a charcoal grilled mango puree with puxuri cream and fresh cacao powder. The grilled mango puree pooled in the bowl catching the eye with it’s bright orange color and sweet smell. Nestled next to it was a quenelle of the puxuri seed cream (an Amazoic seed from the northwest of Brasil), and then topped with a small pile of cacao and a spiral of chocolate. Sweet and fruity, with a hint of bitterness from the cacao for balance, this perfectly completed the Brazilian themed flavor experience and sent us out the door with full stomachs and smiles beaming on our faces, sure to venture here again.