Brazilian roots. Houston wheels.
Batata
Rösti.
Crispy potatoes.
Meat. Melted cheese.
A pretty convincing argument.
How this followed me home
It started
in Macaé.
Work took me to Brazil. My Brazilian colleagues took me to the boardwalk and soccer bars in Macaé. Those colleagues became lifelong friends—and somewhere along the way, I fell in love with batata rösti.
It wasn't just the food. It was sitting with those friends, a game on, a cold beer, and something ridiculously good on the table. That's what I want to bring home to Houston.
I kept coming back thinking: why isn't this everywhere here? We already love hash browns, potatoes, meat and cheese. Put them together like this and it makes perfect sense. I'd love to introduce more people in Houston—and beyond—to the dish I got to know in Brazil.
So, what is it?
A potato
with plans.
Think of a thick, round, stuffed hash brown. Grated potato forms the outside, pan-seared until it's crisp and golden. Inside: generous savory fillings, tender meat and melted cheese. Cut into it and you get that crunchy shell, the soft potato, and everything tucked into the middle.
The Brazilian version takes the Swiss potato cake in a much more generously stuffed direction. Chicken with creamy cheese. Beef with a good melting cheese. Sausage, bacon, shrimp, different cheeses—plenty of directions to explore. The final menu is still being worked out.
No complicated pitch: who doesn't love some combination of potatoes, their favorite protein, and cheese?
Made for a cold beer. Or, as my Brazilian friends would say, a chopp—draft beer—and another round of conversation.
Bring it home
A little Brazil.
A lot of H-Town.
A Houston truck with some local personality, serving the kind of food I still think about from those trips. This is the idea taking shape—not a launch announcement. The truck, menu and opening plans are still in development.