Named to invoke one of Brazil’s most recognizable cultural elements, Samba Bowls brings a taste of the country’s rich food traditions to downtown Ann Arbor. Jamille and Lucas Chamon’s first culinary enterprise offers an array of tropical bowls and smoothies from a refreshed storefront on W. Washington St. that long held Vogel’s Lock & Safe.
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The couple met as children and first moved to Michigan in 2015 but “missed açai the most,” Lucas says. “It was part of our lives in [an] almost daily basis in Brazil.”
The fruit of an Amazonian palm tree, açai (pronounced “ah-sigh-ee”) resembles a blueberry in appearance, but “it’s not sweet at all,” he says. Traditionally prepared with some form of sweetener, it’s blended to a creamy smoothness and enjoyed with toppings of granola and banana.
Açai products became trendy in the U.S. early in this century, but Lucas says they’re aiming for authenticity with this antioxidant-rich staple food. Starting with imported fruit bases developed with the suppliers of their favorite açai shops back home, they reduce added sugar by blending in dates and guaraná, a fruit seed with naturally occurring caffeine. Other bases include pitaya, mango with passion fruit, and cupuaçu, a chocolaty Amazonian fruit related to cacao with tropical flavor notes.
Samba offers seventeen bowls, all available in three sizes or a large to-go box, with several fresh or prepared toppings and drizzles. Prices start at $8.50 for eight ounces. Twenty sixteen-ounce smoothies (including build-your-own) start at $10. Customers with vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free free diets have a wide variety of choices.
The Novi couple, he an engineer developing automotive audio systems, and she a former biomedical researcher at U-M, are still coordinating with their suppliers on new recipes to expand the range of rainforest riches available at Samba Bowls. As Lucas says, “The plan in the future is to bring a lot more exotics like you guys never heard about.”
Samba Bowls, 113 W. Washington. Tues.–Sun. 10:30 a.m.–9 p.m., Mon 10:30 a.m.–8 p.m. sambabowls.net
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