Since the 90s, a stretch of Venice Boulevard on the border of Culver City and Palms has served as a destination for Brazilian food in Los Angeles. While Los Angeles lacks an official “Little Brazil,” this is as close as the city gets to an unofficial hub. The most obvious landmark is a strip mall at the corner of Venice and Westwood called the Brazilian Mall, whose exterior is splashed with a colorful tile mural of Brazilian iconography like Christ the Redeemer, anchored by a stunning covered patio festooned with Brazilian flags.
None of the business owners I spoke to are quite sure why the neighborhood took off. Several people said they opened their businesses in the neighborhood because there were already Brazilians there. Rodrigo Garcia, an employee of 30 years at Cafe Brasil who took over the restaurant after the owners retired last year, believes his restaurant jump-started the community when it opened there in 1991. A 2014 Los Angeles Times article pinpoints the raucous parties during the 1994 World Cup at another nearby restaurant, Zubumba, which closed after the owner’s tragic death.
In the ensuing decades, restaurants have come and gone, but the neighborhood remains a unique destination for Brazilian food in the city. Visitors can sample Brazilian pizza, sandwiches, homestyle cooking, and, of course, barbecue.
Since the pandemic, however, the rising costs in Culver City has made it harder to launch new businesses. Pedroca’s Burguer, which operated out of a shared kitchen in the Brazilian Mall, wasn’t able to find a space in Culver City. Instead, this month owners Pedro and Thiago Carvalho opened farther south in Lawndale, slinging Brazilian burgers, piled high with the traditional corn and potato sticks.