A new pizzeria on Park Boulevard is serving pies topped with hearts of palm, guava paste, and cured beef, all part of an all-you-can-eat rodízio format that opened in Pinellas Park last month. Quintal Brasil Pizza sits at 6119 Park Boulevard, in a plaza already home to the same family’s Brazilian tavern and açaí café, and it’s betting that Tampa Bay diners are ready for a distinctly Brazilian take on pizza night.
The restaurant is owned by Ray and Kaline Barreto, according to St Pete Rising, who also operate Boteco Bossa Nova and Wildlife Açaí & Café in the same plaza. The all-you-can-eat pizza experience costs $34.90 or $39.90 per person depending on the day, with kids ages 7 to 12 priced at $21.90 and children ages 4 to 6 at $15.90. Diners who’d rather skip the rodízio format can also order full or half pizzas à la carte, and the restaurant offers takeout, delivery, and gluten-free dough for those who need it.
Every pie at Quintal Brasil starts with dough made using beef tallow instead of vegetable oil, a detail the restaurant’s menu highlights as central to its approach. The menu leans into flavors unfamiliar to many American pizza eaters: a Sertaneja pizza with onions, coalho cheese, and cured beef; a Portuguesa pizza loaded with ham, hard-boiled eggs, onions, bell peppers, and olives; and a pie topped with hearts of palm and Catupiry, the creamy Brazilian cheese. Dessert pizzas round things out, including a Romeu e Julieta pie with shredded mozzarella and guava paste, plus a banana, cinnamon, and Nutella version. A more familiar Margherita, with mozzarella, basil, and tomato, is also on offer.
What Makes Brazilian Pizza Different
Brazilian pizza is generally known for a thin crust, a light layer of sauce, and toppings that stray far from the pepperoni-and-cheese American standard. That style traces back to São Paulo, where a massive wave of Italian immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries built a pizza culture so dominant that the city now produces between 870,000 and 1 million pies a day, according to Host Milano industry census data, making it the world’s second-largest pizza-consuming city behind New York…