Carlos and Victor Pedro grew up in Ipanema—not the famed Rio de Janeiro beach, but their father’s Brazilian-Portuguese restaurant, named after those sun-drenched shores, in the heart of New York’s Little Brazil.
The lively spot had been a neighborhood staple since 1979, when Alfredo Pedro, who immigrated from Portugal when he was 13, quit his job as an IBM engineer to buy the restaurant.
In running the place, “​​I always had a philosophy of being a family,” Alfredo said. That applied to his own, of course, but also his staff—he had the same chef and manager for 30 years—and customers—“we saw a lot of kids who would get married and bring their own kids,” he said….