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A walk down Pleasanton’s Main Street offers South American flavors from two family owned restaurateurs, Luis Blanco of Bravazo and German Carlucci of Brava Garden Eatery and Planta Coffee House.
Both restaurateurs arrived in the Bay Area as young men and both live in Pleasanton with their wives who work in the business. Blanco’s home country of Peru borders the western part of Argentina, Carlucci’s heritage. Empanadas, savory pastries stuffed with meat, chicken, or cheese, are signature dishes at both restaurants. Both serve the well-known Peruvian specialty, lomo saltado, a stir fry with steak strips, tomatoes, onions, and potatoes.
A major difference between the two owners is that former independent car dealership owner Blanco is also an accomplished chef and his wife Mariela, is the Peru-trained, Bravazo bakery chef. Carlucci played regional soccer in Argentina before visiting San Francisco and deciding to emigrate. He and his wife Yanina lived in North Beach, the home of many Italian restaurants where they climbed the career ladder from server to general manager before opening Brava and Planta.
Carlucci’s Brava beverage menu features cocktails with South American flavors such as Pisco Sours and Spicy Mango Margaritas, plus a wide-ranging list of wines from Argentina, the U.S., and beyond. Blanco menus creative non-alcoholic drinks, some with Peruvian purple corn, while awaiting receipt of a beer and wine license.
All three restaurants serve desserts from the native regions. Brava’s chef, who is Peruvian yet worked in Argentina for 15 years, oversees production of the breads, pastries, and extensive desserts made inhouse for Brava and Planta.
At Bravazo, Mariela Blanco slowly cooks the dulce de leche sauce at for an hour every day that fills the alfajor cookies and smaller alfajorcitos. Trifles such as passion fruit and choco-lucuma, made with a native Peruvian fruit, are served in takeout cups because, Mariela said, guests fill up on pan con chicharrón (pork sandwiches), paella, and lomo saltado.
My first South America food adventure was dinner at Bravazo, the former home of Rising Loafer and Downtown Café, featuring a bar, a TV with a loop of Peruvian scenes, and flexible seating.
My husband and two friends who had visited Peru joined me. After tasting the lomo saltado, they agreed the quality compared to meals they sampled in Lima. My friend Joss quickly noted the Asian influence in the sauce. Lomo saltado exemplifies chifa, the Peruvian Chinese fusion cuisine that evolved from Chinese immigration to Peru in the 19th century. Blanco prepares his own sauce with soy, oyster sauce, vinegar, and other special ingredients.
“Though many chefs pour the sauce over the potatoes, I do not. I want guests to taste the potatoes,” said Blanco. Peruvians are often potato-proud because the tuber originated in Peru. Spaniard explorers first brought them to the world in the 1600s. Blanco’s “fries” are like steakhouse potatoes, hand sliced and thick.
I met Gloria Samaniego from Los Angeles who was dining at Bravazo with relatives. She said, “The meat for the lomo saltado tastes like it’s a better quality than most Peruvian restaurants in L.A.” Blanco sautés filet mignon for the dish.
Samaniego’s aunt chose ceviche served Peruvian style, which is marinated just before serving. Also offered is causa, a layered cold dish prepared in a mold with mashed potato, Peruvian hot pepper, with a filling of tuna, chicken, or veggies.
Tiradito played a starring role in our dinner. We devoured the colorful spread of sushi-grade yellowtail slices on aji Amarillo sauce from Peruvian yellow peppers, Peruvian corn, and tiny dice of sweet potatoes and avocado. My healthy-eater husband surprised us by wolfing down the caloric scalloped potatoes that accompanied his veggie anticuchos (skewers).
Since the beef empanadas were sold out at dinner, I returned for breakfast. Unlike common ground beef fillings, Blanco’s empanadas feature pieces of well-marinated meat with chopped hardboiled egg, mild Peruvian aji panca chiles, and one of his Bravazo brand of hot sauces which are sold at the restaurant and online.
The name bravazo means awesome or exceptionally good in Peruvian slang. Blanco’s crispy burritos brought him unexpected fame before opening Bravazo in Sept. 2025. While renting space to sell empanadas and his hot sauce, Blanco began wrapping chubby burritos in a melted, three-cheese wrapper. The coating firmed as it cooled, adding a delicious cheesy crunch that attracted Bay Area food influencers.
The story behind the name Brava Garden Eatery derives from Yanina who also hails from Argentina. Her grandmother Otilia opened a mobile gelateria to sell gelato in Buenos Aries and named it Brava (brave). Yanini honored Otilia’s courage when they opened Brava in Dec. 2019. But Covid restrictions forced closure on March 10th, three days before their first child was born.
Yanina credits community support for their continued success after the rough start. With two indoor rooms, the garden part of the name refers to the outdoor setting of two dining spaces, one covered and enclosed with a glass rolling panel that opens to the back patio decorated with greenery.
Lunch at Brava is challenging—too many good options. As my friend and I perused the menu, we noticed about 80 percent of the servers carried steak sandwiches to guests. I saw one of the steak sandwiches delivered at the table of Tri-Valley restaurateur Rodney Worth of Bourbon Pear in Livermore, The Peasant & The Pear in Danville, and The Peasant’s Courtyard in Alamo.
“The steak sandwich had good quality meat, lots of blue cheese, and arugula balanced with chimichurri sauce, which was not oily. Plus, the good pricing includes a salad and fries,” said Worth. The Peruvian chef presents a large portion of fries in baskets.
I was tempted by the sandwich, but I spied the homemade pastas and ordered the spaghetti carbonara alla Argentina. Later I met Carlucci and asked about the Italian influences at Brava.
“Though my parents were Argentinian, I was born in Milan. My family soon returned to their homeland where I grew up. In the early 20th century, many Italians settled in Argentina. The carbonara we serve shows how the Italians adapted recipes to local ingredients. With cattle grazing on the Pampas grasslands, cream was abundant, and Italians dropped the egg in the carbonara. Ours is creamy, and though meat is often added, we use bacon,” said Carlucci.
My friend liked the cheese empanadas which reminded her of a mini calzone. Milanese, an Argentinian classic with breaded and thin-sliced chicken or beef, is another Italian-influenced, popular dish at Brava. Carlucci is proud of the Parrillada Argentina BBQ serving three guests. “At home, ‘asado parrilla’ is part of Argentinian culture where we gather, put meat on the grill, and enjoy some wine.”
At lunch, Brava also serves healthy protein bowls with quinoa, lentils, beets and vegetables. Other sandwiches such as short rib or Argentinian sausage, burgers and dinner mains such as mushroom risotto are served.
In late 2025, Carlucci opened Planta Coffee House, one building down from Brava, to serve breakfast and lunch.
Whereas upbeat music on outside speakers welcomes guests to Brava, the bright orange scheme at Planta brings a sunny, welcoming touch for people to gather and enjoy specialty coffees, ice foam drinks, and collagen smoothies to accompany empanadas, pastries, sandwiches, salads, and tostada toasts. A small “quiet room” in the back is set aside for those reading or working.
My mother told me to dine at restaurants that policemen frequent. “These pros know good coffee and food.” At Planta for brunch, I asked Pleasanton Police Officer Nick Schwartz why he came to Planta. “My Sergeant said we should try it. I ordered a cortado, and it’s good.”
Cortados, half espresso and half milk, were the most popular drinks that day. My friends and I shared a quiche, spinach and cheese empanada, and a mortadella sandwich on focaccia with stracciatella cheese. The imported Italian mortadella was a major upgrade from bologna-like supermarket brands. Stracciatella, creamy, silky strands of mozzarella, served as a spread. On another visit, the hearty Schnitzel Caesar sandwich was also sharable. The menu touts that the sandwich ham, roast beef and turkey are cooked in house.
The dessert we sampled at Planta summed up our South American culinary pilgrimage. We discovered culinary traditions and discovered new flavors and techniques for familiar foods like steak and potatoes and filled pastries. Planta’s classic Argentinian medialuna (half-moon) with dulce de leche looked like a croissant, but it is a delicious pastry with a slightly firmer, caramelized topping.
