Cafe Brazil rolls out a samba for senses

John Lehndorff, Rocky Mountain News

Published November 29, 2002 at midnight

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Sometimes at night it's hard to tell if Cafe Brazil is open for business. The outside lights on the windowless building are dim until you get near the front door and motion sensors trigger a spotlight. Open the door and you are swept up by bright colors and big aromas, raucous conversation and tropicalism rhythms. You may join the party already in progress.

Set in a converted storefront in northwest Denver, Cafe Brazil shares an eclectic, multicultural block with Pirate Gallery and Pasty's Inn. Vibrantly hued artwork by co-owner Marla Zarlengo fills the blue and pink walls of the two small dining rooms.

Once you start eating, the party commences in your mouth. The menu's appetizers include the super-rich palmito ($10.95): tender slices of white hearts of palm in an alfredo-like cheese sauce. We were also wowed by a special starter that coupled smoked mussels with spicy cocktail sauce and semisoft cheese.

It's listed as lula frita ($12.95) but I know calamari when I see it and I see it everywhere. Luckily, it's tender little squid caps and ringlets dipped in a sweet, citrusy and spicy tomato salsa. The serving was large but still seemed overpriced.

Each entree includes a choice of black bean soup or red cabbage salad. The soup offers a concentrated smoky, meaty broth full of black bean flavor. The ''exotic'' cabbage salad is just red cabbage slaw tossed with a strongly herbed mango/tarragon dressing.

Dinners come with tiny bowls of incendiary hot sauce and chopped peppers and red onions plus a basket of sliced breads sweetened with banana, pineapple and raisins.

Cafe Brazil's recipes reflect the impact of colonization and immigration, with hints of Portugal, Africa, Italy and Asia. Start with Brazil's national dish fejoada completa($15.95), a complex black bean stew laden with smoked sausage and made South American with fried bananas, collard greens, and bits of farofa - crunchy fried cassava flour - that soak up sauces. We loved the hot fried bananas ($5 side), discs of crisply breaded sweetness that helped cut the fire, and the well-cooked collard greens ($5 side).

In the Thai-like pernambuco ($17.95) large, tender sea scallops are arrayed over rice in a coconut milk sauce pumped up with garlic, shallots, kafir lime leaves and crispy red and green bell peppers. The chef has an admirable penchant for al dente vegetables.

The waiter asked if we liked ''spicy food'' when we ordered cazuela Colombiana ($18.95). Good thing he did. Three jumbo shrimp and chicken pieces did the breast stroke through a dark- as-the-Amazon, oil-slicked, chili-fired broth boosted by a mystery seasoning and of all things, gorgonzola cheese.

You needed to be a geologist to unravel the complex strata of seasonings in some of these dishes. Like its scintillating music - think Girl From Ipanema - Brazilian spicing is no one-note affair. If one herb is good, three are better and this flavor layering unfolds like a samba across your mouth.

A tangle of red pepper strips and white rice on the black plate made la calena ($18.95) a visually captivating entree that almost begged to be consumed. On this canvas was arrayed perfectly cooked prawns and sea scallops in a Chinese-like fruity sweet and sour sauce.

We were captivated that the sensuous seafood Copacabana ($18.95) contained many of the same ingredients as la calena but tasted vastly different. One of my lady guests said it was like two women wearing the same dress to a party but it looks different on each. A garlic- and shallot-infused Parmesan, white wine coconut milk sauce transforms the ingredients into something completely different. The creaminess balanced the curry-like warmth.

This complexity makes up for the sameness that marks Cafe Brazil's menu. Out of 15 entrees, eight contain shrimp, 10 list coconut milk as an ingredient, 13 are served with rice, and most come with green and red bell pepper strips. One variation is the Italy-weds-Brazil vegetarian pasta zangado ($15.95): penne pasta graced with a tomato, coconut milk and Romano sauce magnified with chiles and cilantro.

Juices, wine and beer are the beverages served at Cafe Brazil. Beer may be the best choice but there is a short selection of Spanish and South American wines ranging from the thin, tart Solaz Tempranillo Cabernet ($5.50 glass, $25 bottle) to Valentin Bianchi Savignon Blanc ($35 bottle).

Desserts are usually limited to two choices each night. Our favorite was a surprisingly marvelous cheesecake-dense guava flan. The smooth, pumpkin- hued guava paste filling in the fruity graham crust was alternately sweet and sour and ultimately quite satisfying.

Overall, we loved the freshness of the ingredients and the careful, creative preparations. Each plate composed by Marla and Tony Zarlenga looks beautiful. However, we have some definite qualms about our dining experiences at Cafe Brazil.

The eatery dishes a filling amount of bread, rice and veggies, but we often found ourselves asking ''Where's the beef?'' There was no overabundance of shrimp, scallops, chicken and sausage in these not-inexpensive meals. Too many of the dishes felt overpriced for what we got.

At the price, the ambience is lacking, too. The plastic lawn chairs have got to go. The bathrooms need fixing and tables near the doors get blasted with cold air every time they are opened. Also, between the extreme cacaphony and the Brazilian accents, it was sometimes impossible to understand the waiters who have a tendency to be brusque anyway.

After a decade in business, we think Cafe Brazil needs an upgrade which will help assure that this longtime favorite will thrive and still be dishing fejoada in 2012.

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