Buteco — Restaurant in Atlanta

I've been tempted to keep this place as secret as I can, but the truth is everyone should know about Buteco. It's my new favorite place in town, it makes Grant Park a better place, and I know you'll love it.

I've never been to Brazil, but my ideal vision of the culture is spontaneous community around good food and live music. If you were to distill and encapsulate that idea, it would be a buteco.

Buteco is the Portuguese word for bodega. It's a place you can go at any time of the day to find a drink, some food, and someone to share it with. Rafael, one of the owners, grew up in Sao Paulo and spent a lot of time at his dad's buteco. His passion for the connection, the culture, and the music is what led him and co-owners Will and Ballard to recreate their own version of the Brazilian gathering spot, aptly named Buteco, in Grant Park.

I'm so lucky to live just a couple blocks away. We've visited so many times! We go when we want to relax, when we want to celebrate, or when we need a pick-me-up. The food highlights Brazilian street food and is made in a food truck connected to the main building by a roof. The building itself is quite small, and the food and drink menu are small-ish and focused. The food plates are tapas-sized, and some guests will order one of everything and make a meal of it. If you're looking for a filling dinner, I'd recommend Patria Cocina across the parking lot, but if you're wanting some delicious snacks that give you a taste of Brazil, this is your spot!

Location & Ambience: The Buteco building is hard to miss at the southern entrance of The Beacon. Lot and street parking is easy and close by. Don't be confused by the food truck - order everything inside and the team will bring it to you when it's ready. Inside, the seating is limited and intimate. It has all the best parts of that hole-in-the-wall feeling, but if you're feeling too close indoors, you can sit on the patio or in the covered outdoor area behind the bar. Come by on Fridays and Saturdays for live Brazilian music and remember that Rafael is a professional, world-traveling drummer well connected with the Atlanta Brazilian community (aka - you don't want to miss the live music)!

Food : So far, I haven't had anything I didn't like. I especially love croquettes (coxinha = chicken and mozzarella, quibe = beef, wheat, and mint, more like falafel, and bolinho = beef), and I can't believe I haven't tried the corn & cheese risole or the black bean soup yet! I've already found some favorites, and it's hard to stray from those to try something new. The waffles (guava topped or stuffed with ham and cheese) are chewier than you'd expect due to the tapioca batter. My husband and I got both flavors for brunch once, along with cappuccinos, and left very full.

Drinks : The coffee is always excellent, I'm working my way through the delicious cocktails, and don't overlook the soft drinks! Guaraná is a Brazilian soda made with a Brazilian berry called the guaraná. I love its unique flavor. But back to the cocktails - many use cachaça, a Brazilian spirit made from sugar cane. Eddy the bartender calls it tequila's Brazilian brother and uses it to make their signature cocktails and his versions of margaritas. (If you get to know the team well enough, they may tell you about some of the unlisted cocktails they're working on, which brings me to...)

People : We've gotten to chat with the folks at Buteco quite a bit, and as if the culture, food, drinks, location, ambiance, and music weren't enough, the people are great. The wait for food can be long, but the customer service is always friendly and on point. If you get to meet any of the owners, it's obvious how thankful they are for the community's warm welcome. They've offered a sincere and humble "thank you so much" whenever I've talked about how much I love having them...

My review is for Buteco’s coffee only. I stopped into this location after my Sunday farmers market run because the thousand faces coffee booth was sold out of the 3.50 12oz iced coffee I usually get.

I went to Buteco and ordered two iced Americanos. I watched the barista pour the hot espresso directly into the empty plastic cups. Then water & ice were added. To me, this is incorrect because these plastic cups are not made for hot beverages. With ALL iced drinks, they should be built in the cup with the correct amount of ice first, then liquids. Good baristas will measure milks in the milk steamer jug, add espresso to the milk, and pour over ice so espresso milks/water are pre mixed. But never, never put the hot espresso at the bottom of the plastic cup, come on!

The americano also had too much water for a 2 shot espresso (if you only carry a 16oz cup for iced drinks, it doesn’t need to be filled all the way for 2x americano in my opinion). This is one of those coffee shops where the menu doesn’t have prices… So after watching hot espresso aerate the plastic cups, I was charged five dollars for each Americano which is pretty steep - especially when the espresso ended up tasting really mediocre. Neither me nor the person who drank the other Americano thought be espresso was very good. Weak and lacking zest. Based on the build of the drinks, the price, and the flavor of the espresso, I genuinely wouldn’t return.

Side note for Matcha Lovers: I also watched the other barista make a Matcha latte for the customer right after me in line. This drink was also made incorrectly. I watched the barista dump the scoop of Matcha directly into the cup, and add hot water and mix it with an electric whisk. Now, I’m not such a purist that I think you have to use a bamboo Matcha whisk. But the one step that for me is unforgivable to skip, is sifting the Matcha powder through a metal sieve. If sifting is not done, you will without fail, no matter how much you whisk, end up with clumps of Matcha in the bottom of your drink. The entirety of the Matcha does not get steeped by the hot water and you end up with grainy little balls in your mouth when you’re trying to drink the last of your latte. This is my pet peeve and this can be avoided by quickly sifting the Matcha. You can even press it through the sieve with a spoon to go faster. These small steps that are skipped lead to lower quality beverages, which is unfortunate, especially when the price point is higher than some other shops.

This is definitely a pretty granular review, but for me choosing a coffee shop to patronize is based on the preparation and care that go into crafting each drink. If the drink is sub-standard, why...

We have been here twice now. Once a few days before they opened, and yesterday. Typically, we drop by to get something to drink after doing some work at the local community garden. Personally, I really like the owner and the work he did to get this place opened. But that aside, this place is super pretty on the inside. From the metal encircled wooden tables and the cute chairs, the wooden shelves lined with pretty glasses and a ton of bottles, the metal tins that hold the metal spoons (nice to stir a coffee and not be wasteful), the cute metal milk containers, to the music and the screen projecting singers. This place really has a specific feel to it. Just one adoration, the little juice glasses you get with some drinks are so small (actually hold a decent volume) and pretty that it is hard to not take notice, even when you’re exhausted from the afternoon sun hacking away at giant weeds.

There are plenty of draft beer choices, and a very big selection of beers in cans. The iced coffee I had was very good, but I haven’t tried any of their more complex options. However, as a benchmark, it is important that the simple things, like iced coffee, are made and served correctly.

Also, there are plenty of juice drinks to choose from. I had an orange jigger and my wife got a mineral water with some lime juice on the side. Both had a very unique flavor that is not something you encounter in other places.

I understand this place is going for an authentic Brazilian cafe feel, but I have no idea what that’s like cause I’ve not been to Brazil or experienced their food or drinks, but Buteco has good drinks and atmosphere so I’m interested to experience more.

Also, there’s food, but we didn’t have the time to check those options out yet, but looking at the table next to ours, there was good looking...