Ten years ago, Alex Atala's D.O.M. broke the tradition in Sao Paulo of culinary colonialism -- French, Italian and Japanese were good; Brazilian was bad. Now, after so many bowls of feijoada, a young class of chefs is mixing cuisines and techniques and taking Brazilian cooking to a higher level. Checho Gonzales, 44, the heavily tattooed chef at the year-old restaurant Aji (Rua Bela Cintra, 1709; 011-55-11-3083-4022; entrees $17 to $27), fuses the flavors of his native Bolivia with the classics of Brazilian cooking. (Each of his knuckles is inked with the image of a popular local bar snack.) The meat stew cozido, for example, is made with tender chunks of picanha braised in red wine, and the caipirinhas are flecked with bright red aji peppers from the mountains of his homeland. At Marakuthai, tucked away in a house in Jardins (above; Alameda Itu, 1618; 011-55-11-3062-7556; entrees $20 to $29), the 21-year-old Renata Vanzetto takes inspiration from Thai food for her cooking, which is based on fresh local fruit and produce, for dishes like shrimp in curry sauce with coconut-crusted banana. And at Kaa (Avenida Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek, 279; 011-55-11-3045-0043; entrees $22 to $37), a high-design Jardins hot spot, Paulo Barros uses Amazonian ingredients like star fruit and bacuri to localize his French-Italian menu. ''Brazil is now being looked to as a global economic player,'' says Barros, 37. ''So why not bring its power into the kitchen, too?'' JOSHUA DAVID STEIN [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]