Lua Café

Buzzing along on the rural stretch of Route 59 just outside of old Abita Springs, about the last thing a body would expect to run into is a Brazilian restaurant. But indeed there it is, Lua Café, an inviting spot tucked away inside Full Moon Gardens, the lovingly tended garden center owned by Craig Houin and his partner Sirlei Guidry, who happens to be the cook responsible for this South American surprise. 

The pair, now partners in life as well as business, met nine years ago, when Sirlei wandered into Houin’s last garden center, Half Moon Gardens.  The two shared a passion for plants and gardening, and an easygoing friendship was forged. Guidry would often host dinners, cooking specialties from her hometown, Curitiba, in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná. Houin fell in love with her cooking, and after life circumstances shifted, the friendship grew into something more about three years ago.

The idea of serving her native dishes in Southeast Louisiana wasn’t a stretch for Guidry, who lives in Mandeville.  “There are actually many similarities between the two cuisines,” she said.  “We eat rice and beans, pork, fried foods.  Our roots are also African and European, Spanish and Italian,” she said. “I wanted to introduce home cooking with fresh herbs, non-GMO ingredients, ethically raised meats, oils including olive, coconut and avocado, Himalayan pink salt. That is how I like to cook.”

Guidry, a permanent resident in the U.S. since 1998, was raised on a farm, one in a family of eight. “Everything we ate, we produced and made ourselves,” she recalled.   “It was a very interesting life.” The family moved to the city so she and her siblings could attend school, which brought on hard times and years of doing without.  “I respect food a lot, because we didn’t always have enough to eat in the city,” she recalled. 

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After moving to the States in 1996, Guidry ran a small restaurant in Virginia before moving to Mandeville with her then-husband.  When she started collaborating with Houin, the idea of opening a Brazilian café percolated. The pair opened Lua, which means “moon” in Portuguese, in August 2017.  Offering indoor and outdoor seating for seventy guests, the café is surrounded by plants and flowers, along with gift items including handmade, decorated Vietnamese pottery; baskets, garden pots, sculptures, furnishings, and water features; and plants large and small. A golden chalice vine straight from Brazil weaves luxuriously throughout the greenhouse, dangling its fragrant, bell-shaped flowers over amaryllises and crotons. Guidry works in the café’s stainless open kitchen, interacting frequently with her guests. 

“There are actually many similarities between the two cuisines. We eat rice and beans, pork, fried foods.  Our roots are also African and European, Spanish and Italian.”

The nursery is a lovely backdrop for Guidry’s savory menu of Brazilian street food, tapas, and desserts. Priced between $2 and $12, the nibbles are downright irresistible­—like coxinhas, little croquettes of fried goodness filled with chicken and a very creamy cheese called catupiry. Pasteis are the Brazilian version of an empanada, easy to eat hand pies filled with the likes of spiced ground beef, shredded chicken, cheese, shrimp and coconut sauce, pulled pork, homemade pickles, and hearts of palm (though not all at once).  A salad of beets, tomatoes, and hearts of palm arrives studded with fresh herbs.  Fingers of yucca are deep fried and wrapped in sizzling bacon.  

Local shrimp is featured in a few of Guidry’s dishes, including camarão à Paulista, a sauté of garlicky shrimp that would be at home at any Spanish tapas bar.  Shrimp bobó is a dish inspired by Brazil’s African roots, most notable in the northern state of Bahia: the dish features small shrimp sauteed with herbs, sweet peppers, and coconut milk thickened with yucca flour. 

If gumbo married jambalaya, it would taste a lot like feijoada, which is often offered as a menu special.  Considered Brazil’s national dish, feijoada is a savory stew of black beans, rice, and collard greens served with sliced oranges.  The south of Brazil, where Guidry is from, is known for its hearty fare and barbecue, called churrasco, what is served at meat-centric churrasqueira restaurants like Fogo de Chao in New Orleans. Guidry’s menu balances meat with plenty of veggies, but she does offer costelinha de porco: baby back ribs marinated on a bed of herbs, onions, peppers, and slow cooked to tender perfection.  

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For dessert, pudim, a Brazilian style flan, is flavored with vanilla, coconut, chocolate, or coffee.  Homemade truffles, called brigadeiros, provide a mouthful of sweet goodness in flavors like coconut and chocolate. The restaurant is BYO, with fresh juices and Brazilian iced tea, soda, and coffee also served. 

For foodies interested in trying down-home Brazilian cuisine, Lua Café is an out of the way gem worth discovering.  As she builds her business, adding parties and special events into the mix, Guidry hopes to offer her country’s toothsome gastronomy to a wider Louisiana audience.  Looking ahead, she wants to bring her show on the road, serving crowds at festivals on both sides of Lake Pontchartrain.  “My food is homey and fresh,” she said. “It’s something different for most people. Once they taste it, I think they’ll be back.” 

This article originally appeared in our March 2018 issue. Subscribe to our print magazine today.