That's one way to rise above the crowd.
At noon, it was already difficult to maneuver along Little Brazil St. — the stretch of West 46th between Fifth and Sixth that harbored the bulk of the Brazilian food on festival day. (You'd find a little more in the blocks just to the east and west, but the closed-off stretch of Sixth Ave. hosted generic street-fair stalls to the north, and a packed-tight crowd in front of the main stage, to the south.)
After warming up with a chicken croquette called a coxinha (co-Keen-yah, I think; $3) — the name means "little thigh," and traditionally it's shaped more like a drumstick — I picked up my most curious item of the day. A cachorro quente Brasileiro ($5) is a "Brazilian hot dog" freighted with peas, corn, crisp slivers of fried potato, ketchup, mustard, mayo, and grated parmesan from a can. The dog itself was indifferent at best, but at least I got a start on my veggies for the day. Chopped collard greens accompanied a serving of the meat-and-beans stew called feijoada (feh-Zhwah-duh; $10), though my healthy-eating brownie points took a hit from that pork rind garnish. Also shown below: paste for acarajés being stirred, then deep-fried; the busy stall for those black-eye-pea fritters; and a pair of desserts.
Brazilian Day Festival
46th St. between Seventh and Madison Aves., and Sixth Ave. between 42nd and 56th Sts.
www.BrazilianDay.com/2011/index.html
Late August-early September
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