Giselle Bistaffa arrived at Rio Market for lunch as she does most days, greeted by the aroma of grilled and freshly fried pastel. That day, she also carried her laptop, hoping to spend some time finding a Brazilian roommate, a search that would soon lead to a new connection.
Rio Market, the Brazilian restaurant-market founded by Ricardo Bastos in 1994, has become a cornerstone for Astoria’s “Little Brazil” community and one of the largest Brazilian markets in New York City. For more than 17 years at the corner of 33rd Street and 36th Avenue, its third location since opening, it has offered a wide range of products imported directly from Brazil, from staple foods to household and beauty items. Rio Market is more than a marketplace, it’s also a place where memories of home are kept alive and where new generations of Brazilian New Yorkers gather to sustain a living and form community bonds.
Rio Market buffet area, with the entrance of the supermarket visible in the top righthand corner. (Credit: Noa Metta)
Plates quietly clanged in the market’s restaurant buffet and grill while soft Brazilian music played in the background. Some customers gathered for lunch, savoring familiar dishes. Others roamed the supermarket’s aisles, where shelves are packed with bright packages of guaraná soda, bags of farofa, and more than 20 different brands of frozen pão de queijo, ready for the oven. One customer paused to buy a pair of Havaianas flip-flops, while another stood at the money transfer counter, exchanging reais for dollars.
“I go there every day for lunch, sometimes for dinner,” said Bistaffa, as she was deciding what to eat from the restaurant’s daily lunch buffet. Options of rice, beans, meats, and colorful salads offer a taste of home to a loyal customer base in the heart of Astoria.
A plate from Rio Market’s buffet section featuring picanha, a popular Brazilian grilled beef cut, served with white rice, beans, quinoa salad, fried plantains, and more. (Credit: Noa Metta)
“It’s not just about having the products there, it’s a way to bring to your life things you have in Brazil,” she added.
That day, Bistaffa pulled out her laptop, hoping to find a roommate through connections she might make at the market. She settled in at a corner table, spending time roaming online ads between bites of pastel. After a few hours, she unexpectedly ran into a neighbor who personally recommended a Brazilian roommate looking for someone to share a place with. Thanks to that chance encounter, Bistaffa found a roommate within a day.
“I made many friends there,” Bistaffa said, a reminder of how the market serves as a hub of community comfort.
Shelves stocked with Brazilian-imported candy brands at Rio Market. (Credit: Noa Metta)
As the low hum of conversation blended with the steady flicker of a television cycling through Brazilian news, Rafaella Rocha, who has worked at the market’s restaurant for seven months, arrived early to her shift to enjoy the company of regular customers.
“The customers, they are not just people, they are friends,” she said. “They know you by name, you grow close to them, and eventually, you are no longer asking how you are just to ask, you actually want to know how they are.”
Bastos also emphasized the importance of the market’s offerings for Brazilian immigrants.
“It means a lot to the community to have these products available because this is what they grow up eating with,” he said. “The people who go there are going to find the same things that they find in Brazil.”
The restaurant’s menu changes daily to offer variety to regular customers. Staples like rice, beans, chicken salad, and potato salad are always available, while other dishes, like meats and vegetables, rotate.
“We have people who eat here every day, so it’s important to have different options,” Bastos said.
While several restaurants in Astoria have faced closures in recent years, and owners have had to reassess their business models as they grapple with rising rent prices and the impact of Covid-19, Rio Market was able to stay open throughout as it was classified as an essential business that operated both as a restaurant and a supermarket.
Bastos also credits the loyalty of his customers for Rio Market’s endurance over these decades. In May 2024, Bastos opened a new all-you-can-eat barbecue restaurant across the street, responding to customer demand for more variety.
Yet, residents say it is the market, with its hum of familiar faces and comforting smells, that holds the community together. Eliane Paulino Dos Santos, the market’s manager, called it a “santuario,” a sanctuary for those far from home.
Dos Santos described why it means so much to the community.
“It’s very special and important because many people don’t have documents to go back to Brazil,” she said. With some immigrants in the community lacking the necessary documentation that would allow them to travel back and forth between the U.S. and Brazil, Rio Market stands out as a place that bridges that gap — a vital thread connecting them to their roots.
And Dos Santos noted the warmth and gratitude of customers. “People say “ ‘Thank you so much.’ ”
About the author(s)
Noa Metta, originally from Italy, is an MS student at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.