Why a City Market favorite is jumping the state line — to the food court at Oak Park Mall
August 29, 2025 | Joyce Smith
Its Brazilian dishes — using recipes the owners grew up eating in São Paulo — have been a City Market draw for more than a decade. Now Taste of Brazil restaurant is expanding to Johnson County, but as a quick-serve kiosk with a limited menu.
Taste of Brazil Express plans a late September opening in the food court of Oak Park Mall, 11149 W. 95th St., near Macy’s.
Owners Marco Rabello and Cristian Maciel, who signed a five-year lease, liked the mall’s year-round foot traffic, the visitability it would give their brand, and an opportunity to try out their offerings on the Kansas side of the metro.
“That’s a busy, busy location and we believe we have products that the clientele that goes there will love — the most popular Brazilian street snacks,” Rabello said. “We are really happy about introducing Brazilian cuisine to customers.”
Taste of Brazil Express will serve fan favorite snacks and desserts such as coxinhas (marinated shredded chicken and cream cheese croquettes with chimichurri sauce), açaí bowls, and pão de queijo (gluten-free cheese bread), along with Brazilian sodas and tropical juices. It will have four employees.
Oak Park Mall’s food court entrance; photo by Joyce Smith
“We’re thrilled to welcome Taste of Brazil to our Oak Park Mall food court,” said Christine Poehling, Oak Park Mall marketing director, in a statement. “Their vibrant flavors and authentic Brazilian cuisine bring a fresh and exciting addition to our dining lineup, and we look forward to the unique culinary experience they’ll offer our guests.”
Rabello earned a full scholarship to play volleyball at Park University in 2002. Two years later, his coach recruited his best friend Maciel.
The friends always planned to return to their homeland. But they met and married local women and started raising their families here, while also working at area hotels and Brazilian restaurants.
In 2013, they started sharing their family recipes at their Taste of Brazil restaurant in the City Market. They later moved next door to 21 E. Third St. so they would have a basement for a prep kitchen.
The restaurant offers sandwiches such as porção (grilled Brazilian pork sausage on a baguette with cheese and chimichurri), risole (fried dough filled with ham, provolone, mozzarella and chimichurri sauce), and Brazilian-style lasagna. It also serves Brazilian beer, sangria, wine and cocktails.
Cheese bread from Taste of Brazil; photo by Joyce Smith
A small retail area offers Taste of Brazil’s frozen cheese bread, which also is sold at some area grocery stores.
They rolled out a food truck in 2017 for festivals and private events including weddings.
Oak Park Mall’s food court has mostly national chains as Chipotle, Panda Express, and Mrs. Fields Cookies.
But Taste of Brazil will join such local tenants as Acapulco Paradise, and another City Market neighbor, Dragonfly Tea Zone, which just opened a shop by the food court.
Dragonfly Tea Zone founder Duc Phung said he had longed for a Kansas location, but waited until he had a trusted manager in place to keep standards high.
“Definitely a lot of folks at Oak Park Mall already know us from the City Market,” said Phung, who has four locations. “And I can reach out to more people faster that don’t know us.”
Startland News contributor Joyce Smith covered local restaurants and retail for nearly 40 years with The Kansas City Star. Click here to follow her on Bluesky, here for X (formerly Twitter), here for Facebook, here for Instagram, and by following #joyceinkc on Threads.
2025 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Fund me, KC: Garden Thorn wants to turn your thumb green
Startland News is continuing its segment to highlight area entrepreneurs’ efforts to accelerate their businesses. This is an opportunity for entrepreneurs — like The Handy Camel CEO Tom Gray — to share their stories to gain a little help from their supporters. If you or your startup is running a crowdfunding campaign, let us know…
Entrepreneurial foundation names local ‘startup champion’ as director
The Kansas City Startup Foundation’s year-long search for a new executive director ended right where it began. The foundation — whose mission is to unify Kansas City’s startup and entrepreneur community — recently hired Matthew Marcus as its executive director. Marcus, who most recently served as the foundation’s chairman, will begin his tenure in May. “It’s…
How wearables could change America’s pastime and Amazon’s big oops
In this week’s roundup of watercooler talk from the region’s startup hubs, we have the dish on Major League Baseball wearables, Amazon’s flub with expanding the digital divide and Chicago’s STEM workforce issues. Check out more in this series here. Mobile Commerce Press: Major League Baseball gives the nod to wearable technology No, this doesn’t…
The red carpet, garageband and laboratory of funding models
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. “Funding! Funding! Funding!” It’s the warrior’s cry of the startup community. In the world of entrepreneurship, there’s an incredible amount of pressure to run a startup that can be described as “disruptive,” “innovative” and “scalable.” Those descriptions come with a hefty price tag,…