The Dining and Travel Adventures of a wandering Buddhist

Living in the culinary "now" with no attachment.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Fogo de Chao...a Brazilian Restaurant

I'm not quite certain what makes this place a "Brazilian" restaurant but, what ever the lineage, it certainly was, in my experience, unique.  It is an art deco/modernistic place with lots of wood and glass.  It has the ambiance of a fast food restaurant, noisy, hectic and very crowded.  However, if you can get past those distractions you could have an excellent meal.

In the center of the eating area is a large island salad bar, sort of like in the '60's.  The serve yourself salad bar is not particularly distinctive except for the fact that it is an interesting place to watch the herd of overweight patrons push and shove for the only greens they've seen in probably a year.  However, it does have delicious artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, lovely sweet peppers, shittake mushrooms, smoked salmon, fresh mozzarella, and sun-dried tomatoes.  When patrons have finished grazing they may begin their main course, which consists of meat, meat and more meat.

The main course is served, one does not order but, rather selects from an unending parade of servers with enormous skewers of meats prepared in a wide range of ways, and the service is very good.  Occasionally the service seems a bit too attentive.  It's almost like they're pushing you to finish so that they can turn the table and there is a large waiting room full of wide bodies.  The core of the main course is comprised of excellent garlic mashed potatoes, sweet fried bananas with brown sugar, and thinly sliced fried polenta topped with grated Parmesan.  These are all excellent and they continually replenish the dishes.

The stars of the meals are the meats.  The skewers are very large.  A man with a skewers walks up to the table and asks if you'd like what he has on his skewer.  At this point many of the women diner faint.  If you'd like a cut then he'd ask if you'd like medium, rare or whatever.  You select medium rare, he cuts a slice and shows it to you.  If you like what you see he places it on your plate.  That process goes on continually for as long as you allow it.  The meats are fillets, rib eye, and sirloin for the beef, each prepared in a range of different way, as well as lamb and pork.  I guess this is the Brazilian part for each preparation has a different name, e.g., Picanha or Aleatra or Fraldinha or Cordeiro and so on.  No matter the name, each serving was perfectly spiced, done exactly as you would wish, and simply delicious.

The restaurant had a large wine list, too.  For me, I complimented my meal with an outstanding 2006 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon.  So, the entire evening my senses were overwhelmed by a delicious bit, a sip of wine and a look around at the carnival surrounding me.  If this food had been served in a lovely little bistro it would've been an outstanding culinary experience.  But, with all of the noise and commotion it was just an outstanding culinary experience.  I may never travel this way again but it was a lovely experience.

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