Forneria Sao Paulo (Itaim Bibi)

Forneria Sao Paulo
Rua Amauri, 319
No website

I had been told that this place was kind of fancy for a pizza place, and Abby and I were freaking out just a little that our shoes wouldn't be up to par for an upscale SP crowd on a Saturday night. Not to worry, though...even though this hip and BUSY restaurant definitely attracted a trendy, young crowd, you can come as you are. Apparently, you can also bring your young children at 11 at night, too. And if you're 16 and your driver is with you, it's okay to hang out there late on a Saturday with a bunch of your high school friends.

Oh, and I don't think it's a pizza place.

I can't find a website, so you'll just have to go and check out the menu yourself. Not being a fluent Portuguese speaker (or reader, for that matter) I was looking for the PIZZA. But it seemed that there were just SANDWICHES. They are sort of like calzones, and there's 3 or 4 different kind of encasings for your 30 or so choices of "toppings". Being at the table with two vegetarians, we all opted to share two salads and one pizza-sandwich. The special salmon (grilled) salad was light and perfect. The pizza-sandwich split perfectly into 6 equal (if not small) pieces, but I really was missing a vat of marinara dipping sauce. Why can't this city get it straight that marinara sauce is delicious and should be put on everything Italian??! Especially something resembling a calzone. I am still on the search for a good red sauce to stain the front of my shirt as I slurp up spaghetti.

The prices were a little high, but the place is cool. Very modern...you feel hip just sitting there, like you are in on some cool little secret. It's a great energy, a wonderful buzz, and I am sure the place is packed until 2 am...we left just before midnight and there was a line out the door. (I also like that there's a Starbucks right across the street.)

Great dessert menu, too. We split a white chocolate mousse cake, which was served with fresh, warm chocolate sauce drizzled all over the top. I could have eaten the whole thing by myself (and then some) if there's hadn't been other people at the table digging in.