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The ever-vigilant other lifestyle sites/magazines in this city have picked up the news of local restuarant maven Eduardo Vargas' crazy inflated plans for expansion, so we figured we'd chat about it too. Basically, if you haven't read Urbanatomy or Smart Shanghai's takes, here's a summary.
- Azul is being made over, turning from its current Spanish tapas-style self into "modern Peruvian." We wonder if this means they'll also be overhauling their brunch, which while still delicious, has lost a little of its lustre through the year. For those who haven't passed it by, Azul's on that Dongping Lu fancy expat food street.
- A new restaurant will be opening on the Fumin-Donghu strip: Bistro Burger, a... place that will sell bistro-style burgers. Never would've guessed, right? There'll also be spiked milkshakes and combo plates.
- Then there's Balthazaar, another bistro place, though not French like the infamous Balthazaar of New York. More American food this time around (though he says he'll have coq au vin too...). This'll be on Taikang Lu, in Tianzifang no doubt.
- and FINALLY, there will be La Brasa, a Peruvian chicken concept. Funny story about La Brasa:
Over the summer, we got wind of a special deal that was supposedly happening at this new chicken place. It was all-you-can-eat from 3pm to 6pm for some insanely low price. Excited about the possibility of gorging on Peruvian chicken for insanely low prices, our interns called La Brasa's number and asked if this was really true.
"Wei?" said the person on the other line. Our interns explained their intentions. "Uh... English... uh... deng yi xia."
"Wei?" the next voice said.
"Is this the place that serves chicken?" our interns asked.
"Yes, we do delivery," the voice said back.
"No, no, we meant, do you guys have that all you can eat chicken deal?" they tried to clarify.
"Yes. Delivery!" the voice told them.
Flabbergasted - as interns easily are - by this exchange, they hung up the phone, shrugged their shoulders and assumed La Brasa didn't actually exist. Now that we're reading about it again, we think we have figured out why there was that confusion - the La Brasa we contacted was probably the first one, a Vargas + someone else deal that went sour. We're hoping for a slightly more successful experience with the new location.
Photo from Shanghai Star
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