Winfield Street Coffee in Stamford Launches “Tudo” w/ Brazilian Pressed Sandwiches + Smash Burgers

If you hear the word “tudo” being whispered around Fairfield County, don’t try to decipher what it means without your iPhone’s translate app and “Portuguese (Brazil)” selected.

Don’t actually open your app. I’ll do you the favor.

“Tudo” translated to English means “all” or “everything.”

We’re talking loaded and pressed sandwiches. Two types of smash burgers, a hot dog, a fried chicken sandwich, plus a few sides and a couple of unique (at least to this area) desserts.

The coffee shop during the day. At night, you’re welcome to eat your Tudo order here, too. After all, it is a concept within a concept.

Donatti and culinary director Chris Gonzalez

And you can get all of that at…Winfield Street Coffee?!

We’ll clear all this up if you keep reading and if you’re intrigued by Southern Brazilian street food.

You see, Winfield Street Coffee’s founder, Breno Donatti, is Brazilian (and Italian), and it simply drove him nuts that after coffee shop hours were over, the space was just sitting there. Empty. Well, aside from a once in a while evening DJ set or a local business using the space for a hangout to promote a product.

All Tudo orders come wrapped, no matter if you’re staying or going.

The “Tudo Burger” has all the fixins of the regular “Xis Burger” but with the additions of crunchy potato sticks and sizzling chicken hearts.

“This has been a year and a half in the making,” Donatti explains. “It was driving me crazy that I couldn’t fill the space with something at night, even though I do occasionally. I kept thinking that there’s gotta be something I can put in here that’s US. Sometimes we have events, and we make the food, but it’s not the same thing. It’s not like I can sell a lot of breakfast at night. I can probably sell some coffee, but still, I don’t know.”

While on vacation in Italy, that’s when Donatti has his lightbulb moment to launch something that he could connect with, but also something that was different for the area and could fill a need for late night munchies.

Night one and the online orders rolled in right after 6:30. Donatti says, “We want to be the place where you get that late night burger, your drunk food, but inside the coffee shop.”

The “Dog” also comes pressed together with melted cheese, potato sticks, and special sauce

While there’s not much interaction in terms of table service, guests can purchase some alcohol, water, juice, or soft drinks.

“I grew up eating Brazilian street food, like a sloppy version of an American hamburger,” he says. “It came into my mind, and I was like, ‘Oh, actually, no one’s really doing it,’ and honestly a lot of Brazilians don’t even know about it. It’s like a Southern Brazilian thing. I even has someone text me saying they have a Brazilian friend that’s never had it, so I’m like, ‘Where’s he from?’ Oh, Goiás. Yeah, he’s not gonna find it there.’ Urban legend is that an American that came to Brazil in the 1900s tried to make a burger and Brazilians kind of did their own thing with it. It’s really popular and you’ll find it everywhere where I’m from in Florianópolis.”

With all the branding in place and a website, plus the addition of culinary director Chris Gonzalez, Donatti’s Tudo just needed one more thing…a little R&D trip to Brazil so Gonzalez could experience the food for himself.

Get it pressed and get it covered in melted cheese!

Sides? Tudo has ‘em. Choose between these smashed potatoes, sweet potato fries with lime crema, or brussels sprouts with honey honey and crunchy onions.

Desserts are two deep. Get passion fruit mousse or these brigadeiro that are the size of brownies.

“I need his culinary creativity,” Donatti says. “I can cook, and I can do some mean pastries, but nothing like Chris. He can cook. He’s a touch above with everything he does. He needed to see how they eat, how they order, and when they eat this food.”

So, what is this burger anyway? Simply put, it’s a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, peas, corn, and skinny fries (aka potato sticks), special sauce, and sometimes unique toppings like sizzling chicken hearts, all on a bun, of course, that’s put in a press. In Brazil, they’re quite large, and they’re typically a shared food.

What Donatti and Gonzalez immediately knew, however, is that they couldn’t serve a burger the way Brazilians do at the Winfield Street locations in Stamford, Westport, and in Naples, Florida because it would be the size of the plate it’s served on and thus, really expensive to prospective customers.

“We went to two big cities down south, Florianópolis and Porto Alegre with Porto being the mecca of this type of food,” Donatti says. “The first night we hit three different spots. The next, we hit a more Americanized spot, and we were like, OK, this is it. The burgers weren’t as big there. If we were to do the bigger pressed sandwiches, we’d have to charge like 30 bucks for that. And two, the main thing is the bread. We can’t make the bread right now, but if we get a bigger space in the future, we can. We’re making a version that’s like half of that. It’s like a South American version of a Shackburger.”

The burger and the hot dog that you’ll experience at Tudo does have some peas, corn, lettuce, and diced ripe tomatoes on it, but Gonzalez’s vision was to make it less of a mess (although they’re still a form of guilty pleasure deliciousness with plenty of drip) by blending peas, corn, and tomatoes into the special sandwich sauce. And the brioche – potato buns they come on are still pressed to toasty perfection. There’s also an option to add bacon and the other one is to get your pressed burger, dog, or hot honey fried chicken sandwich’s bun covered in a layer of cheese. 

Now that you’re drooling and your stomach’s growling, how to get your Tudo fix is simple.

In its infancy stages, Tudo will take online orders at Winfield Street’s Stamford location on Friday and Saturday nights beginning at 6:30 p.m. until late or when orders stop coming in. You can go to the coffee shop to pick up your order and take it home or wherever, or you can eat it inside of the coffee shop, but it will still be wrapped up like a takeout order. Beer, canned cocktails, and some spirits are available, too, as are soft drinks, water, and some juices. Tudo is on UberEats or you can select “delivery” on the website and one of the third party delivery services will bring it to you.

Soon enough, Tudo will expand to more nights (likely Thursday through Sunday), and to the Winfield Street Coffee locations in Westport and Naples in addition to Stamford.

eattudo.com
For updates, follow Tudo on Instagram: @eat.tudo