Boteco Brasilian Restaurant

Boteco-Where everybody knows your name! The pronunciation is "Boo Tech KO". In importance the same as the Churrascarias, but different...more a man's thing. The term Bar is not appropriate to describe Botecos...let me try to explain. It is: - the corner bar - an after-work bar - a beer on the weekends bar - your watering hole bar .... well....you get the picture It can't be too fancy, but it can be a dive, pit, hole-in-the-wall, or greasy spoon...no minimum standards apply to Botecos. To survive they have to have a good, cheap snack's menu (tira-gosto) with items such as fried cheese balls, fried chicken or beef dishes and for Botecos along the coast, fish dishes. The beer must be stupidly-cold (estupidamente gelado). Doesn't make sense in English, but it means really, really ice-cold beer. Botecos are not restricted to Brazil by any means, but the term best fits bars in countries with a tropical climate. In Vietnam we had Botecos (in Saudi Arabia..no way), Thailand and Panama. You don't have Botecos in Alaska, Norway or Russia. You have to be in a tropical climate. Some Botecos are organized, clean and presentable...but if too much so then I don't think of them as a Boteco. That describes a bar.