Culinária Paraense is successful with a restaurant inside a car wash in the east of SP

Despite the place being called Culinária Paraense and displaying a red flag with a white transverse stripe and a blue star on the facade, owner Renê Gomes, 33, often repeats the same question to potential customers of his restaurant: “Do you know?” .

Afterwards, he explains to newcomers about the dishes he serves at the house, in order to prepare them for a gastronomic trip to the North region of the country — the destination, of course, is Pará.

The traditional recipes of the state are the specialty of the address, which occupies a room inside the family’s car wash, located right in front of the Dom Bosco station, in Vila Carmosina, east of São Paulo.

Renê was born in Pará, but soon came to São Paulo. He lived on the outskirts of both places, in neighborhoods such as Cremação, in Belém, and Cidade Tiradentes, São Mateus, Itaquera and Rio Grande da Serra, in the Southeast.

A former publicist, he changed areas in 2016, when he accepted an invitation to manage a bar and pizzeria. There, he learned to do the shopping, accounting and all the administration of a business.

So, after the family acquired the property that they would turn into a car wash, Renê took advantage of a room that was free and what he had learned about restaurants to set up a business that had his face. “I’m not from São Paulo at all. I’m from Pará, okay? I just live in São Paulo,” she says.

In early 2021, Culinária Paraense opened. The venture was born with a freezer, a refrigerator and, above all, the support of the family — especially that of his mother, Niranil Castro Gomes, 56, who took over the kitchen. “I’m pretty good at home cooking,” she says.

Some of the ingredients on the menu are not easily found in São Paulo. Items such as shrimp, fruit pulp and flour are sent by family members who are in Pará and the orders are picked up at the Guarulhos airport.

That’s why the trade only operates on weekends for now. “It’s an investment here and there too. For example, when açaí is brewed on my family’s land, on Ilha das Onças [comunidade ribeirinha, a cerca de 4 km de Belém], it has to be frozen on the spot. We managed to buy a freezer for my uncle. That’s why it’s good [em São Paulo]”, explains Rene.

Due to such obstacles, a traditional restaurant from Pará is a rarity in São Paulo. “There are no places like that in Pará. It is difficult to find. This is from my own experience. We look for flour, there is no flour. We look for açaí, there is no açaí”, explain mother and son.​

For this reason, many people from Pará end up looking for the place to kill their homesickness. “The majority [do público] it’s from here in the region, but there are people who come from Osasco, from Horto Florestal. Have you ever called me and asked if there is real food from Pará?”, he says.

The restaurant was visited by fellow countrymen right at the opening, attracted by a banner. “I wrote ‘Paraense’. Then I just put the opening date. On the same day, a girl came in and asked if there was tacacá”. After that, Renê painted the state flag on the wall.

And yes, there is tacacá. As well as maniçoba, açaí, chicken in tucupi, camusquim, caruru, rice from Pará and fruit juices such as buriti, cocoa and bacuri to accompany.

Those who are not used to Northern cuisine may be surprised by some of the flavors. Açaí, for example, is very different from the one sold in São Paulo, which is sweet and served as ice cream.

“[No Pará, a fruta] it’s like a bean. Don’t you eat beans and rice? There it is açaí with fish, shrimp, egg, bologna, with whatever you want to eat”, explains Niranil. For Renê, it is necessary to forget the idea that açaí is dessert.

To help those for whom salted açaí is a novelty, Renê details the house’s recipes and indicates what would be the most suitable for the client’s taste. “We can tell if the person is from Pará or not, but we always ask. If not, I try to explain that we eat açaí with flour, dried meat.”

Today, he can’t see himself without Culinária Paraense, where he shows the world how proud he is of his homeland.

For the future, he hopes to transform the restaurant into a space similar to the Centro de Tradições Nordestinas, in the Limão neighborhood, in São Paulo — that is, a place where the public can experience the cuisine, music and atmosphere of Pará.

“When I said I wanted to drink bacuri juice, no one knew. I wanted to eat a maniçoba, and no one knew what it was. Now, with the restaurant, people can know.”