Need a good Caipirinha

Anyone know where I can get one? Had one at Coobah the other day that was terrible - like a tall glass of lemonade and it had a couple of squirts of soda water in it. Blech.

Mas used to make a good one . . . but that won't help you. I say, make one yourself! (I like mine strong, and that's one way to achieve that.) If you want to purchase one, my recollection is that Carnivale has a decent one.

Cafe 28 does a very good job.

http://www.cafe28.org/

Cafe 28:
1800-1806 W. Irving Park Rd
Chicago, IL 60613
773.528.2883

One of my favorite, if not the best, Caipirinha I've had in the City is at Ñ.

Ñ
2977 N Elston Ave
Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 866-9898
<map>

i'd have to go with makin your own too. i did and it was easy, fun and turned out great. plus, you can mix up levels of sugar/booze/limes to your taste...

Cheers,
Clay

For those that aren't aware, here's a very basic recipe for a Caipirinha

2 oz or so Cachaca (brazilian liquor made from sugar cane, Sam's, Binny's and just about any liquor store worth a visit carries it)
1 tsp of sugar
1 lime cut into chunks (little secret here, before you cut up your lime roll it on the counter a few times covering the entire area- it will help release some of the juice)
ice (cubes)

Muddle the lime and sugar in a glass
Add ice (to slightly over the rim of the glass)
Pour in cachaca
Stir
garnish with a lime wheel

While I don't see a cocktail menu on the site anymore, the bar at Nacional 27 turns out some great drinks, and my wife really enjoyed the Caipirnha she had there.

Nacional 27
325 W. Huron


SSDD

The Fogo de Chao on LaSalle makes a textbook caipirinha with a copious amount of fresh muddled lime segments, still very strong. Friendly bartenders. It can be very loud in there, so I recommend either going for lunch or stopping by for dinner on the early side, or just sitting at the bar area, which is comfortable.

I love a good Caipirinha, and have had them both south of and north of the equator. Nothing compares with the first one I had on the beach in a small town about 2 hours from Sao Paolo... I was there for work and finished up at about 5 AM, and found a bar open on the beach just as the sun was rising. Location is important

That being said, the most authentic I have had in Chi-town was at Fogo de Chao...

In my opinion the jury is still out on the use of club soda in a Caipirinha, but they do use a little in the ones made at Cafe 28, and they are very good there.

I have made them at home, and my favorite preparation:

Take one lime and cut into eighths, roll in super fine sugar, muddle in a highball glass until the sugar cuts into the zest enough to really bring out the aromatic quality (this is very important, cachaca has a heavy petrol aroma which is nicely offset by the zest). Add ice to fill the glass halfway, and add1.5 oz of cachaca. No matter what anyone tells you, there really is no such thing as a "good" cachaca... it's supposed to be a rough, rustic spirit, so don't spend too much money trying to upgrade the spirit... Add soda to taste, less is more in my opinion, but a splash also helps wake up the aromatics.

Cachaca sounds like a real ol' fashioned grappa, like you buy up in the hills in Sud Tyrol!

Wonder what the drink would be like using pisco?

Geo

Geo wrote:Cachaca sounds like a real ol' fashioned grappa, like you buy up in the hills in Sud Tyrol!

Wonder what the drink would be like using pisco?

Geo

Cachaca has some of the same mouthfeel elements of grappa, but is distilled from sugar cane rather than grapes

Nacional 27 has some great drinks, although they may stray from the traditional recipes - but almost always with good results.

tikibars wrote:Nacional 27 has some great drinks, although they may stray from the traditional recipes - but almost always with good results.

In a recent issue of Time Out Chicago, Heather Shouse wrote:Nacional 27 bar chef Adam Seger dips into the kitchen’s produce supply quite often for his cocktail concoctions, especially once warm weather kick-starts the parade of boxes from local farms. For his “snap-pea-irinha,” Seger saves sugar snaps from salad boredom by muddling them with lime then adding simple syrup, gin and crushed ice. Taking a cue from salads, Seger uses fresh cracked black pepper to finish the job.

I went to N27 with some colleagues for an after-work cocktail and we went 4-for-4 lousy results. I had heard so much about Adam Seger's genius, but the menu didn't even look interesting, and the drinks we ordered were just not well put together. But this one (and the continued praise here) makes me think maybe I should try again.

Seger is truly a talented guy, but I have to admit that once or twice I have gone in there when he wasn't around, and a few of the bartenders were slacking off a little bit and delivering mediocre renditions of Adam's carefully put together recipes. Seems like he needs to be in house to crack the whip or else things slide a little.

The best Caipirinha I had in these parts was also at Fogo de Chao; by contract, I had a really awful one at Tango (N'ville) recently. The main flavor was sugar, sugar and more sugar.

The idea of substituting Pisco for Cachaca is interesting, but the resulting drink would not be very similar. Cachaca is a more neutral spirit, IMO.

texas de brazil--oh boy another brazillian steakhouse in river north--is opening soon and claims that it's their "signature drink" ...hmm, how original! ... i hope they at least make it really well. (fyi for the curious, they're having a $25 charity event tomorrow night, cocktail reception h'orderves; proceeds benefiting JDRF RSVP to rsvp@paramountpr.com or (312) 643-2462)

... i just bought some cachaca over the weekend for Caipirinhas. i usually buy the more expensive Leblon but i thought i'd get something less expensive to see if it really mattered... i ended up getting the Cachaca 51, which is probably the equivalent of getting the cheapest Bacardi rum to a Brazilian... conclusion: i bought the wrong bottle probably. it's a little "harsh" comparatively... surely there's some in between though.

I think that Morseland mixes a good Caipirinha. This thread steered me to that drink on their cocktail menu last Friday.

Morseland
1218 W. Morse
Chicago

[After a round or two there Friday, we retired to our place to make our own using up the last of our bottle of cachaca. (Why continue to pay for the drinks when we had everything at home? ) It took a glass or two to perfect the balance, but Mr. X also makes a fine Caipirinha.]

It seems like an unlikely place, but I met a friend for drinks last week at Morton's on Wacker, and I had an outstanding caipirinha there... they have a happy hour special with appetizers that are only $5... worth checking out for the tasty drink and eats

I am by no means as knowledgeable as you all, but I had a caipirinha at Churrasco in Villa Park, and I thought it was good. I was wondering if the more experienced had an opinion. This place moved from their original location on St. Charles Rd west of Rte 83. The new digs are nice, and the food is good. I have been happy with my experiences there.

Churrasco Brazil
541 W North Ave
Villa Park, IL 60181
P. (630) 832-0877

http://www.churrascobrazilusa.com/

If anyone wants to make their own, here is a recipe:

Ingredients

2 limes
1/2 C. cachaca (sugar cane rum)
6 tsp. superfine sugar
Ice cubes

Directions

Cut each lime into about eight pieces and place the pieces in two rocks glasses. Sprinkle 3 tsp. of sugar over the limes in each glass. Crush the limes with a pestle or large wooden spoon. Add 1/4 C. cachaca to each glass and stir to mix and dissolve the sugar. Add the ice and stir again.

Thanks for the recipe, chewonthat. I must say I miss a good caipirinha, but since moving back to Chicago from South America, I haven't gone looking for one. Knowing the powerful sedating effect of even one caipirinha, I can't quite figure out how to get to someplace where a good one is made and get back home again without falling asleep at the wheel. When I lived south of the equator I didn't have a car, so it wasn't an issue. Nowadays I think I'd be better off making one at home.

I agree with those who say don't substitute pisco for cachaca; the two are about equally avialable at Chicag-area liquor stores. Use the cachaca to make a real caipirinha, and use the pisco to make a real pisco sour. Pisco also makes a good substitite for rum in a cuba libre; no idea if cachaca would work for that.