Crazy Thick Sandwiches at Brazil Fresh Squeeze Cafe in Berkeley
Brazil Fresh Squeeze Cafe's veggie sandwich features five vegetables in every bite—if you can get your whole mouth around it, that is.
Like novels, sandwiches get bragging rights when they are so thick, they make you stop and think, "wow, that might take you a while, but I bet it's good." At Berkeley's Brazil Fresh Squeeze Café, the veggie sandwich is four-inches thick, and that's only after squeezing it to clear the roof of your mouth.
Homemade nutty, fluffy grain bread (an inch per slice) smashes together fresh ricotta, diced carrots, folded-over romaine leaves, corn kernels, tomato slices, and green olives—the martini kind with pimento centers, but somehow it works here. With all the vegetarians in Berkeley, it's nice to see something that can hold them over in the way only a big hunk of meat could.
Brazil Café owner hawking tri-tip samples.
If meat hunks are your thing and you're craving the true Brazilian carnivorous experience, go for the tri-tip sandwich. Look pensively at the menu long enough and one of the owners will hand you a toothpick-pierced sample of the sandwich's super marinated and tender beef. The meat is smothered with Brazil Fresh Squeeze Cafe's house garlic and cilantro sauce, a green potion that's featured all over the menu in just about every dish. Eaters are notorious for ordering extra plastic cups of it, as if preparing for a Cali earthquake.
Brazil Fresh Squeeze Cafe
2161 University Avenue, Berkeley CA 94704 (map)
510-845-8011
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8 Comments:
Want.
erinlovestoeat at 4:53PM on 06/25/08
DOUBLE WANT.
roboppy at 5:16PM on 06/25/08
I see tomatoes. SCARED!
victorylow at 8:42AM on 06/26/08
Yay! Finally, a Berkeley eatery place! :) I've been salivating over unreachable restaurants in NY and Chicago too long...hehe
Pammeh at 1:53PM on 06/26/08
@Pammeh: There's another delicious Bay Area sandwich report on the way! Stay tuned.
Erin Zimmer at 6:39PM on 06/26/08
I'm so glad this place is getting some recognition! This is a true hidden jewel of the Bay Area. I lived on the tri-tip sandwiches when I went to Cal. The smoothies are excellent too. Delicious and reasonably affordable!
ak3700 at 2:59AM on 06/27/08
Back when I was at Berkeley a decade ago, there was a Brazilian guy with a sandwich cart that he always parked on the edge of campus near the law school. He made sandwiches that looked just like that, but with thinner bread. That was my favorite lunch in college. Does anyone know if this is the same guy?
faycat at 2:49PM on 06/27/08
yes, faycat, it is the same guy.
karen r at 6:35PM on 06/28/08