Cafe Mineiro is a Brazilian bakery and cafe on Nolensville Road, just north of the train trestle at Grassmere. It’s been open a year now and is festively decorated with Brazilian flag banners, but I’d been reticent to try it because the extent of my experience with Brazilian food was a churrascaria off the beaten path in Las Vegas that I visited nearly 20 years ago. But a friend recently stopped in and was impressed, so I decided to check it out.
There are two printed menus (Portuguese to Spanish and Portuguese to English) for the restaurant/cafe, plus chalkboards with additional items, including juices and bakery items (baked fresh daily). We’ve actually visited twice and had some mix-ups with orders, so don’t rely on the menu’s number system when you place your order.
Enough of the technical details, though. The most important thing to know is that the food at Cafe Mineiro is delicious and a lot more vegetarian-friendly than I’d expected. To start, get the pao de quiejo, which are traditional two-bite size baked cheese rolls, and the empahinha do palmito, which is like a miniature pot pie filled with creamed hearts of palm. Meat-eaters should try one of the risoles, which are like large fried cheese sticks with either ham or ground beef. The empanadas are almost entree size and come with a variety of fillings in the flaky pie-crust-like pockets.
Though there are plate lunches/dinners available (served with black beans, rice, plantains or yuca fries), we opted to get sandwiches during both visits because they come served on the bakery’s freshly-made bread, which is fantastic (and huge, almost muffuletta size). Twice I’ve ordered the vegetariano, which is stuffed with grilled eggplant, red and green bell peppers, zucchini and squash, yellow kernel corn, french-fried potato sticks, cheese, lettuce and tomato. I had to eat several vegetables first just to fit the sandwich in my mouth. I ordered mine with a side of yuca fries, but we also ordered the batata frita a Mineira, which is fries topped with ketchup, mayonnaise and Parmesan cheese (which is better than it sounds).
My husband first ordered the pao no chapa completo, which is a lot like a breakfast sandwich. It’s the house-made French bread with fried egg, ham, bacon and cheese, which is assembled and pressed down on a griddle. My daughter got the cheese version, which includes mozzarella and minas cheese (a Brazilian cheese), which she loved. For the second visit, my husband ordered the Mineirao, which includes “rump” (which is a hamburger, which he opted to exclude), ham, bacon, sausage, fried egg, cheese, lettuce, tomato, corn, and potato sticks (a pork lover’s dream).
Despite having to put at least half of our dinners in to-go boxes during both visits, we still managed to enjoy desserts. The yuca cake is made with yuca (a root vegetable) and coconut, and is hearty and not too sweet. The Brazilian style flan (pudim) is denser than other flans or creme caramels (which can border on slimy at times), making it more satisfying. The bakery also makes sweet French breads and sourdoughs in loaves as well as sandwich rolls, but they can sell out early. There are also usually a cinnamon doughnuts, and a selection of cookies and other pastries (check out their Facebook page for mouth-watering photos). I ordered a passionfruit mousse, though, which had a strong flavor, but was not too sweet. Other flavors included corn pudding and pistachio (also very tempting). If you’d rather drink a dessert, the cafe offers a variety of juices and smoothies. My husband loved the pineapple mint juice.
There’s a kid’s menu of American-style kid food, in case you have a picky eater, but mine was happy with her cheese bread, fries and dessert.
Something to note is that the restaurant is primarily a breakfast and lunch destination (I need to get the Brazilian coffee next time), opening at 8 a.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. on Saturdays (it’s closed on Sundays). We’ve only been for dinner, but have arrived early to squeeze in before the 8 p.m. closing. Also, the prices are very reasonable. Despite ordering a ridiculous amount of food on both visits, our bill was around $40 each time. The restaurant also has a small market for Brazilian specialties as well as a patio and TVs for watching soccer matches.
3744 Nolensville Pike
Monday - Friday 8 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Saturday 9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
