Why a City Market favorite is jumping the state line — to the food court at Oak Park Mall

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.

Taste of Brazil Passion Fruit Mousse

Taste of Brazil Coxinhas

Taste of Brazil Açai Berry Bowl

Taste of Brazil Açai Berry Bowl

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.”

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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.