BREAKING: It's Bye Bye Brazil for the 405 diningscape

Midtown's Cafe do Brasil to close on April 29

Hate to start the week with bittersweet news, but that’s what I got: Midtown is losing longtime favorites Café do Brasil and the Bossa Nova Bar gave their two-week notices.

Chef/owner and complete bad-ass Ana Davis made the announcement via email and text Monday morning, stating “It is with a heavy heart (but a little excitement) that we are announcing the closing of Café do Brasil, Bossa Nova Bar and Sugar Loaf Catering on Saturday, April 29th.”

Chef Ana Davis and her Brazilian food are regulars at the annual Festival of the Arts

When Ana came to Oklahoma City she didn’t speak English and had few job prospects. She took a job at Chelino’s where she learned everything she needed to know – good and bad – about restaurant life. Her first venture was a partnership with brother Mario called More Than Muffins in 1994.

“The first day, we made $65; the second day, $120 and I thought ‘Yes, yes!'” she told me many years ago. “But we worked really hard cooking and cleaning, and had a little money to pay ourselves after we paid our staff, which eventually grew to seven.”

Four years later, Ana bought out her brother, added native Brazilian cuisine and changed the name to Café do Brasil. It grew a nice audience at 18^th and Classen in the space now occupied by Café Antigua.

It proved so successful, Ana and her husband Larry, an immigration attorney, bought and renovated the old Garrison Funeral Home at 440 NW 11^th Street. Larry hung a shingle there, and Ana opened a 15,000 square foot restaurant in the basement in November of 2005.

The Midtown district as we now know it was still a dream. The rebirth of Plaza Court, and the rise of the Ambassador Hotel happened in Café do Brazil’s shadow. In Midtown, she established the rooftop Bossa Nova bar and expanded Sugar Loaf Catering for larger events. It was there Ana began taking regular summer trips back to Brazil to train with chefs on the latest trends and techniques from the Motherland.

But Ana made a promise to herself that turning 65 would mean a change in course. That day comes April 27.

“I have decided to leave vertically instead of horizontally!” Ana wrote in her farewell. “It’s been a great journey for the last 27 years with so many blessings from this community who embraced me and my culture. Back in 1994, not very many people had even heard of Brasil, knew where it was located or what the cuisine was about. But little by little they were flocking in for black beans and rice, feijoada, our so-popular cheese bread, or just come in to listen to the beats of Bossa Nova on Saturday mornings. It feels like it all happened yesterday, but so many years have gone by with so much joy, blessings, laughs, stress, tears at times, but one thing I can assure you: I lived it up every single moment, every single day and still am loving what I do.”

When anyone gets to make change on their own terms it’s reason for celebration. The good news is there is still time to celebrate Ana’s decision on the rooftop with a caipirinha raised high. And do not skip the cheese muffins or the apple cake.

 Good luck to Ana and Larry!