Smart Brasil Latino Market & Café opening near Rehoboth
Looking to meet the needs of the area’s growing Brazilian population, and to introduce something new for the locals, Monica Oliveira is opening Smart Brasil Latino Market & Café.
This has been a longtime dream and it’s the right moment to bring something new to Rehoboth, said Oliveira during a recent interview.
“We don’t have anything here,” she said. “It’s going to be a piece of Brazil.”
Smart Brasil is located in Midway Shopping Center on Route 1, next to T-Mobile. The idea is to have a mini-market with general groceries from Brazil, said Oliveira. As for the cafe, she said, the plan is to serve a handful of things at first, until there’s a good feel for customer demand.
The market will include items likes rice, beans, chocolate, breads, cheeses and meats. The food menu is expected to include Brazilian coxinha, which is potato dough with a shredded chicken filling, breaded and fried; Brazilian pastel, which is fried dough with different fillings such as mozzarella cheese, cheese and ham, ground beef, banana with cinnamon; Brazilian risoles, which is fried potato dough with a ground beef filling; a Brazilian cheese bread called pao de queijo; and Brazilian French bread. There will also be Brazilian sweets – açaí bowls with fresh fruits; brigadeiro, which is chocolate, condensed milk and butter; and flan; plus beverages including sodas, coffees and juices.
“We’re going to start and see how things go,” said Oliveira.
Oliveira said she grew up in the southeastern portion of Brazil, but moved to the United States all by herself at the age of 19. She said she’s lived in Delaware since 2003 and became a U.S. citizen in 2013. Her mom still lives in Brazil, and Oliveira visits her twice a year.
“She thinks I’m crazy, that I’m doing too much,” said Oliveira. “But I think to myself that I can do it. I’m not afraid of anything.”
Smart Brasil will be Oliveira’s second business; she also owns a cleaning company that she’ll continue to operate. She’s a single mother who works hard, she said.
“I’m tired of cleaning,” said Monica with a smile. “The girls have it under control.”
Oliveira said her dream is taking longer than expected to come to fruition, but she’s near the end and expects to be open soon. To begin, the hours of operation will be 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week, but this summer, around July, the plans are to open at 7 a.m., she said.
For more information on Smart Brasil Latino Market & Café, 18585 Coastal Highway, go to smartbrasilmarket.com or call 302-291-2346.
Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014 and has the local parking passes to prove it. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories, random stories on subjects he finds interesting and has a column called ‘Choppin’ Wood’ that runs every other week. Additionally, Chris moonlights as the company’s circulation manager, which primarily means fixing boxes during daylight hours that are jammed with coins, but sometimes means delivering papers in the middle of the night. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design. People are often surprised to learn that Chris was able to convince someone to marry him and, more surprisingly, convince that person to then have kids with him.
