Life's a Beach w/ Treats!

If you want to live like a true carioca (native of Rio), you gotta know Rio beach food. Rio de Janiero has one of the most beautiful beaches in the world- soft sand, beautiful warm water, and of course great food!

What could make any beautiful beach day better? BBQ!!!



Food on a Stick: Beach vendors go around w/ with hand held charcoal grills in one hand (above) and a cooler filled with either meat, cheese or shrimp on a stick and grill your food right there on the spot-- Ahhh, the life!!!
Shrimp on a stick served w/ fresh limes:
2 sticks for R$5 ($2.50 US)



Mate Gelado:
Nick being the Baltimorian that he is was overjoyed to discover the matte man. A guy walks up and down the beaches with 2 ice cold kegs- one filled with iced tea (or matte) and the other filled with lemonade. For R$2 (or US $1), he lets you fill up whatever proportion of half-and-half (or Arnold Palmer) you prefer.

Other great beach and/or street vendors:
- Corn on the cobb with as much buttery goodness as you can brush on
- Tapiocas: crepes made on the spot and filled with anything from cheese to coconut
- Roasted Nuts
- Fresh coconut water
- Caipirinha-- a national favorite drink
(more on the latter 2 in future posts)

...and of course beer (SKOL!)

Quite Possibly the BEST burgers in the DMV: Ray’s Hell Burger

Everyone loves Five Guy’s- and who can blame them? With real ground beef, never frozen, made to order burgers and unlimited free toppings, it’s hard to go wrong. They’re definitely a step up from your typical Mickey D’s.

Ray’s Hell Burger is sorta like Five Guys, but UPGRADED (no Beyonce).

First, they get the prime beef used for their burgers from Ray’s the Steaks, their sister restaurant and grind all the meat on site several times a day. From there, you can choose your burger style (seared with peppercorn crust, brushed with a spicy chipotle marinade, etc), doneness/ temperature, and toppings (for no extra cost). Toppings include classic such as grilled onions as well as your classics jazzed up a bit such as cognac & sherry sautéed mushrooms.

Now this place isn’t the cheapest but for a few bucks more than Five Guys, you can get some top quality ish! Your standard 10 oz burger with any of the toppings from the set list will cost you about $7 (no cheese). If you decide to add any of the specialty toppings such as seared foie gras with truffle oil or roasted bone marrow, you’ll be charged a few bucks more.

Like I mentioned earlier, cheese is an additional cost. Of course, they’ve got your typical Mozzarella, Munster, or Cheddar cheese, but if you really wanna go all out, this place offers specialty cheeses including Chimay a la Biere, Aged Danish Bleu and Imported Double Cream Brie.

If the endless choices and options make you dizzy, you can also order from a menu of burgers, all with nods to hip-hop artists, including the B.I.G. Poppa, the Fat Joe, and the Mack.

If you decide to check this place out, be prepared to make a get your hands dirty… any place that has rolls of paper towels at each table is sure to be a bit messy. The buns don’t hold the delectable, juicy patties very well and the bread tends to fall apart. Also, none of the hot, hell or heck sauce is very hot… at least not nearly as hot as I would like it to be.

Sides are great (but don’t expect any fries) and they feature a delicious draft root beer. Don’t expect to find a menu online (except here)- this place has no website… it doesn’t even have a sign outside.

If you do plan to venture out to Ray’s,
don’t forget to write down the address:

1713 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 22209

Adele’s Chicken Sandwich

It’s been a while since I’ve been back to the University of Maryland and it’s been even longer since I’ve known anyone with extra dining hall points that I could mooch off of. In order to appease my yearning for an old college favorite, I decided to re-create the infamous Adele’s chicken sandwich at home.

(Makes 4 sandwiches)

Ingredients:
4 Kaiser Rolls (sandwich buns)
2 chicken breast- boneless, skinless
6 slices of bacon
1 apple
4 oz Brie cheese
3 Tb Poultry or Grill seasoning
Salt-n-Pepa

Directions:
Carefully butterfly each chicken breast into 2 pieces. Flatten each piece by pounding it out *pause.* Season both sides with poultry (or grill) seasoning and Salt-n-Pepa.

Cut the bacon strips in half, cook in a hot skillet (or however you prefer) and set aside.

Cook the chicken breast in a hot skillet (or grill pan if you have one) over medium heat until cooked and brown on both sides.

While the chicken is cooking, thinly slice the apple (½”- ¼” pieces) and slice the brie cheese into thin pieces small enough to stack on your sandwich.

Assemble your sandwich by placing the chicken breast (and whatever condiments you like) on the roll. Stack the sliced apples, brie cheese and bacon on top and heat in a toaster/oven until the cheese is melted (be careful not to burn your bread though).