Hanging on one wall inside Samba, Gainesville’s new Brazilian kitchen in Haile Plantation, a photo shows fútbol star Pelé celebrating Brazil’s 1970 World Cup defeat over Italy. A toucan perched on a tree branch looks out at the Amazon rainforest in another photo across from a mural of Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. 

With an atmosphere as authentic to Brazilian culture as their menu, Samba describes on their Instagram profile the restaurant’s aim to let customers “Feel the rhythm of Brazil in every bite” with “Authentic Brazilian comfort food in a casual setting.” 

The new storefront located at 5141 SW 91st Way I101 is open from 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays, noon to 8 p.m. on Sundays and closed Mondays and Tuesdays.  

Walk-ins are available, but staff recommend reservations due to space limitations. 

“There wasn’t a Brazilian restaurant in Gainesville before and there is a fairly large Brazilian community here,” said Erica Gonzaga, one of Samba’s co-owners. “We wanted to have a place where people from Brazil could enjoy their comfort food, pretty much everything that they grew up eating. But also, we weren’t catering just to Brazilians. We wanted to be the ambassador for Brazilian culture and food in Gainesville.” 

Erica and her husband, Luiz, are one of three Brazilian couples who founded the new kitchen in September after the idea was born out of a pandemic passion project in the hearts of the Brazilian’s homes. 

The Gonzaga’s became close friends with Mauren and Priscila Piucco, and Jose Lemos and Jacqueline Abranches, after the couples formed a social circle known as “The Bubble” during the COVID-19 pandemic. With everyone stuck in Gainesville and not able to travel to Brazil, the group cured their homesickness by cooking Brazilian food together. 

“We had the drive-thru testing program for COVID,” Erica said. “So we would all go like on a Friday, get tested and get our results within 24 hours. We would meet up on Saturday if everyone had a clear test and then cook or barbecue.” 

The group carried on the tradition even past the adversity of the pandemic and eventually went to a Brazilian festival in Gainesville this year. Erica said they enjoyed it, but felt like the food options were lacking. 

“One of us just said as a joke, ‘why don’t we start a food truck or a restaurant?’” she said. “And the other partner was like, ‘You know what? It’s been my dream to open a Brazilian restaurant for the longest time. I already have a business plan written up. If you guys are interested, let’s do it together.’ Now we’re here six months later and we have an open restaurant.” 

The partners settled on the name “Samba” after community members responded to surveys asking them to pick their top three to five choices. The name is fashioned after the popular Brazilian style of dance and aims to convey something happy, friendly, cheerful, short and easy to say. 

Erica said Haile Plantation was the best location for the partners who live close to the village and already felt like part of the community. They also wanted a place to start small, knowing that opening Samba would be “a big learning curve” since none of the owners had experience in the restaurant industry. Plus, there’s a playground for the kids. 

After ventilation issues that required replacing the exhaust fan on the roof for the kitchen hood delayed the original launch, Samba opened just a few days after Brazil’s Independence Day. 

“It started mostly word-of-mouth, and we have enough word-of-mouth to keep us going,” Erica said. “We didn’t have this grand announcement, grand opening. We sent it to our friends and families that made a reservation, and from there, it slowly morphed into reservations only, and now we do both reservations and walk-ins.” 

Erica said when most people think of Brazilian food they tend to think of a steakhouse. That style, however, is typically set apart as something for the weekends or a special occasion. Samba wants to provide that and more all the time. 

“What we’re doing is the everyday comfort food that you would eat at home,” Erica said. “The dishes we selected were very popular dishes that we all grew up eating, or if you walk into any restaurant in Brazil, you’ll see these staple dishes.” 

Each of Samba’s founding families comes from different regions of Brazil—Porto Alegre in the southern region, the nation’s capital Brasilia in the central region and Rio de Janeiro in the Southeast. Erica said these, in addition to a kitchen staff equipped with restaurant experience in the US and Brazil, regional influences bring the different flares of Brazilian flavors reflected on the menu.  

“The food changes drastically from one region to another. We tried to capture that,” she said. “The steak, the picanha, would represent more of the south region. The black beans and pork really represent all of Brazil, but very popular in Sao Paulo and Rio, the biggest cities. I would say the seafood is more of the Northeast coastal region. So we have a very diverse menu.” 

Along with appetizers crafted after Brazilian street food and fish stews simmered in coconut and yucca-based sauces, the menu also includes dishes telling the story of Brazil’s history.  

“A lot of people are surprised that we have a stroganoff on our menu,” Erica said. “They think, oh, stroganoff is a Russian dish, which it is. But with all the immigration in Brazil, it actually became such a popular dish. Instead of served with pasta, it’s served with rice.” 

As much as Samba hopes Gainesville’s Brazilian community appreciates having a taste of home in Gainesville, they want first-time tasters to partake of the culture too.  

“We love when people come over to the restaurant that have never tried Brazilian food, and we try to explain the menu and the items,” Erica said. “It’s very exciting to see people come to the restaurant try that dish for the first time and love it.” 

Throughout the week, the six owners rotate shifts at the restaurant so that customers will always see at least one of them on site. Although none of the partners had previous experience in the restaurant business, Erica said the diversity of their other professional strengths work to Samba’s advantage and made the operation a family affair.  

As an engineer at UF working in safety and compliance, Erica knew handling food safety, inspections and compliance would fall into her realm. Another owner works in HR and takes care of Samba’s HR needs, and Erica said customer service comes naturally to her husband, who is a dentist. 

Two of the owners’ daughters also work as servers at Samba, and even the youngest ones want to be involved. 

“My daughter, she’s six and she keeps saying she wants to work there,” Erica said. “I’m like, hold on, you need a few more years. But she enjoys going to the restaurant.” 

Erica said the family atmosphere also stems from the kitchen staff. Mostly all of them are from Brazil and make the kitchen a home away from home. 

“They enjoy going to work, speaking Portuguese with coworkers, [making] jokes or references to things that would only really be understood if you lived in Brazil,” she said. “There is that kind of sense of family environment at the restaurant.” 

In the future, Samba hopes to hire more staff so they can expand their hours for lunch during the week and open on Monday or Tuesday. They’re also looking to add seasonal items to the menu, such as different soups for winter and lighter meals for lunch.  

Erica said customers can keep up with any updates as they’re announced on Samba’s website and posted on social media. Until then, Samba’s original dance continues. 

“It’s this passion project that we want to bring a piece of Brazil to Gainesville,” Erica said. “We want to share that with the community and hopefully the community enjoys it as well.”