As much a nightclub as a restaurant, 00 (Zero Zero) becomes more of a beautiful-person scene the later it gets. Inside, conversation at the tables will get drowned out by the DJ around midnight (particularly on Sundays, which attracts a stylish gay crowd). But before then, the food is quite good Brazilian-Caribbean-contemporary—think jerk chicken and salmon burgers. After eating, chill on the huge candlelit patio with its Indonesian benches. If a cabdriver doesn't know the place, tell him to take you to the planetarium, to which it's attached.

Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

You can't beat the location: Set on a quiet corner opposite Rio's Jardim Botânico, Bar da Graça—grace, in its theological connotation—spills out onto a street shaded by tropical almond trees. The decor inside is faux-religious kitsch, ranging from airbrushed saints' portraits to Afro-Brazilian statues of the Virgin, all muddled together with an Aladdin's Cave of primary-colored knickknacks and oddball lighting effects. The menu, too, displays a similar fun-loving irreverence, creatively updating classic Bahian recipes, but unashamedly interweaving them with an eclectic mix of Italian, Arab, and Japanese dishes. The best plates are Brazilian, such as the tasty moquecas of lobster, the curried beef, and the lamb with plantain purée.

Open daily from 10 am.

Chef Natacha Fink has made this Santa Teresa's most popular restaurant with her creative take on cozinha amazônica, offering a seven-page menu as exotic to most Brazilians as it is to foreigners. Try the piranha soup; the tambaqui—a giant river fish that grows to an astonishing 66 pounds—in coconut milk and spices; or the equally zesty but lesser-known namorado or matrinchã fish. There's a scattering of meat-based Brazilian staples for the seafood-averse: Highly recommended is the feijoada de rolo (rice rolls filled with black beans and pork), spiced with a superhot chili sauce. Fink returns to the Amazon for desserts based on bacuri, a yellow fruit favored for its sweet, gummy pulp, and cupuaçu, which so resembles cacao that mothers feed it to their children as a chocolate substitute.

Open Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays noon to 6 pm, Fridays and Saturdays noon to midnight, Sundays noon to 10 pm.

Evidence of Rio's general gastronomic upgrade can be found at the city's latest Italian favorite. Part of the Fasano empire—which made a big mark in São Paulo with restaurants and a hotel before opening a hotel right here in Ipanema—it brings its sister city's more sophisticated air (soft lighting, exposed brick, and wood floors) and features traditional Italian dishes such as fresh pasta and seafood.

Open daily, noon to 4:30 pm and 7 pm to 1:30 am.

Tourists tend to skip the Botafogo district, a heavily residential area edging the Guanabara Bay shore, north of Copacabana, but Miam Miam makes it worth at least one visit. Aimed unashamedly at the young and hip, it is modeled on '50s and '60s designs, from vinyl-and-chrome chairs and acrylic place mats to the tortoiseshell-and-orange Formica-topped tables. Indeed, it's as much bar as restaurant, attracting more than its fair share of Rio's slinky and svelte, who linger over inventive, fruit-based cocktails as an eclectic soundtrack—ranging from bossa nova to wildly hippy flute tunes—provides a punchy background. Nevertheless, the shaven-headed waiters manage to combine cool attitude with warm service, and chef Roberta Ciasca, who learned her trade at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, cooks an inventive menu with panache, pairing duck trouxinha dumplings with caramelized orange, pepper-crusted tuna with lentil ragout, or stewing up spicy prawn moquecas with curry.

Open Wednesdays through Fridays, 7:30 pm to 12:30 am, Saturdays 8 pm to 1:30 am.

One of the few places to eat well in Lapa, this century-old Portuguese restaurant has become an institution, much loved for its award-winning baixa gastronomia (rough translation: honest fare). This is the cooking that lets Brazilians feel at home, even when they're out, particularly on Friday nights, when the botequin bars and samba clubs lining Lapa's Avenida Mem de Sá are bursting at the seams with suited workers bellowing out salty stories. Burly old-world waiters in cheap black tie ladle out steaming bowls of chicken soup, pickled tongue, and roast kid, all served with endless rounds of almost obligatory ice-cold chope draft beer. Don't expect ambience: Nova Capela's interior has remained unchanged since an early-1970s refurb, with its florid brown wall tiles and Formica-topped tables brutally exposed by fluorescent strip lighting. But there's a reason this place has survived so long: Despite its lack of sophistication, the food is consistently tasty.

Open daily 11 am to 5 am.

There are hundreds of juice bars in Rio, but Polis Sucos, just two blocks from Ipanema beach, regularly wins prizes for its fresh Amazonian fruit juices and laid-back vibe. It's been around for some four decades and still draws the crowds, who spill from the simple counter onto a sidewalk corner shaded by almond trees. For a mere four reis (about $1.75), you get a bewildering choice that runs from the popular—guava, passionfruit, kiwi, papaya, or watermelon—to lesser known concoctions based on cashew, fruta do conde (sweetsop) or acerola (Barbados cherry). You can opt for an extra shot of vitamins and even add chlorophyll, or order a high-energy açaí shake, topping it with granola.

Open 8 am to midnight.

Nestled in a private jungle of jackfruit, mango, and star fruit trees, this artfully designed eatery became Santa Teresa's first gourmet restaurant when it opened in 1996. Its terraces, patios, and Amazonian-style thatched huts all afford commanding views of Guanabara Bay. The menu creatively interprets traditional dishes from northeastern Brazil: prawns grilled with saffron rice, fresh crab salads, and tropical fish sautéed in orange sauce, served with cashew-and-coconut rice and a roasted banana. It's a perfect lazy lunching spot. Get in the mood with a custom-designed, devilishly potent cocktail—we recommend the Carambela, which combines sparkling wine, rum, star fruit, and mint—and save room for one of the exotic ice creams whipped up from the cacaolike cupuaçu, the energy-giving açaí palm fruit, or Brazil nuts.

Open Mondays through Saturdays noon to midnight, Sundays noon to 6 pm.

The contemporary menu at this hot spot for post-beach lounging shamelessly mixes its metaphors—ceviche to dim sum to ravioli. The terrace is sweet, but everyone goes upstairs to kick off their shoes (it's compulsory) and recline, pashalike, on pillows in the candlelight to drink caipirinhas de saquê—made with Japanese sake and cachaça.

Open for dinner Mondays through Thursdays 7:30 pm to 12:30 am, Fridays and Saturdays 7:30 pm to 1:30 am.