When you first spot him, he’s opening a bottle of beer behind the counter. Two seconds later, he’s already outside the bar, preparing a table on the sidewalk for a newly arrived customer. You blink your eyes and … there he is, writing up a check and making change. A moment later, he’s asking you if everything’s okay, checking whether your bottle of beer is still full, gently inquiring as to why you haven’t yet ordered that sandwich he knows you love. And if he happens to disappear for a few minutes, you can be certain he’s delivering some beer a few blocks away.
Yes, this is what a night at Bar Rebouças looks like, thanks to the wonderful waiter Jorginho. Also known as “The Fastest Waiter in the World” or, simply, “The Flash,” Jorginho has been, for more than 20 years now, the one and only waiter in the tiny but big-hearted Bar Rebouças, a botequim (small bar serving simple, traditional food) in the neighborhood of Jardim Botânico, in Rio’s South Zone.
Jorginho hails from Brazil’s northeast, just as many other waiters do. As Rebouças’s sole employee, he and the bar’s Portuguese owner, Mr. Alberto, take care of customers together every night. Mr. Alberto is getting on in years and prefers to stay seated, serving those who are close to the counter. Jorginho does everything else – including cook! Yes, the waiter of Bar Rebouças is also responsible for some of the bar’s most delicious appetizers.
One of our favorites among his specialties is the caldo verde, a typical Portuguese soup made with potatoes, kale and pork sausage. We also love the pot roast sandwich with cheese and oregano. Jorginho is responsible for frying up Bar Rebouças’s famous shrimp and cheese balls, but these delicious nuggets are actually made by the owner’s wife, Gertrudes, who prepares them along with the meatballs and cod balls at home and sends them frozen to the bar for cooking.
One of the most beloved botequins in the South Zone, and near an area full of TV stations and movie producers, Bar Rebouças is the preferred watering hole of many actors, directors and screenwriters, who can be found drinking, eating and kibitzing late into the night just about every night the bar is open. And taking care of them all is Jorginho.
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Published on January 09, 2015
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