A local humble favorite among the glitz
685 North Robertson Blvd. (@ Santa Monica Blvd.)
Phone: 310-657-5070 | map
7181 W. Sunset Blvd. (west of La Brea)
Phone: 323-436-7999 | map
website

Place yourself on Robertson Blvd., by the corner of Santa Monica across from The Abbey, and you'll see Bossa Nova tucked next to a dry cleaners. Everyone to whom I have introduced this humble Brazilian joint loves it, a place to sit outdoors, watch the cars and people, and listen to conversations. You can also wind your way inside past the busy kitchen area to sit at the benches.

This is the place I've blogged about most often, whether it be because Bianca and I begin chatting with total strangers and end up sitting together and sharing desserts, or whether I overhear the oddest conversations, or hear unexpected music, or watch absurdly rich people swerve into the dry cleaners to get their clothes. Bossa Nova is one of our top five favorite places to be, and one of the first places I'll take someone visiting Los Angeles.

The food is consistently good, specializing in flat planks of steak or chicken served with black beans and white rice, or satisfying sandwiches like the Bauru (ham with egg) or the Lambada (breaded chicken with mozzarella), with toasted Italian bread and green mayonnaise. The Bossa's Salad with chicken (romaine, chopped almonds, gorgonzola, and I usually swap the balsamic vinaigrette for their honey mustard) is a lunch favorite.

The "Willy's Favorite Burrito" is very nearly mine too, a large, comforting, eat-with-a-fork chicken/cheese/black bean affair; the Tuna Roll is simply a tortilla folded over tuna salad and tomatos, and it's about the only tuna salad I actually think about during my spare time.

I heartily recommend the plantains--sweet and fulfilling--with dashes of Cholula hot sauce (you have to ask for it) poured atop. The Bossa on Robertson does them moister and sweeter than the Bossa on Sunset.

They have four locations now; Bianca and I often visit the location on Sunset, which serves pizza, and from which you can glance across the street at the Seventh Veil and speculate on the people going into it. That one also has valet.