Sandwich Of The Week: New York's Best Bauru

The bauru — you remember — is that Brazilian sandwich that consists of soft, hollowed-out bread with a flaking crust, tomatoes, pickles, moist roast beef or ham, and oozing melted cheese. The Bauru originated in São Paulo in 1934 at Ponto Chic, but there are three worthwhile renditions in New York, the best available only at brunch.

The bauru at New York Pão de Queijo.

At $3.75, New York Pão de Queijo serves the least expensive Bauru in the City, and you can get it any day of the week. Ham, cheese, tomato, and oregano. It's a fine sandwich, like a salty, melted, grilled cheese. But given that it's served on sliced bread it doesn't much resemble the original at Ponto Chic. pão de queijo, açai na tigela, the X-Tudo burger, this little café does great quick snacks, but the next two places are better bets for the bauru.

Beco's bauru features sliced filet mignon.

Beco, a great little Brazilian bar and restaurant a few blocks from McCarren Park in Williamsburg makes great pão de queijo. But their daily menu also features a very good bauru. There's ample cheese, tomato, queijo prato (a Brazilian soft cheese), and sliced filet mignon on a crispy, tear-with-your-teeth-baguette.

Casa's bauru — New York's best?

Casa only serves their rendition of the Bauru on the weekends for brunch. Two small rolls with airy insides, and a thin, flaky crust. The melted cheese is spread over Applegate Farm's ham, tomato, and pickle. It's served with a lightly-dressed side salad with hearts of palm, and a ramekin of a jalapeño hot sauce. The kind of bread, the amount of cheese, the ratio of bread to cheese, it's New York's best version, no contest.

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