Brazilian Steak House

[rabbithutch]

If this has been discussed before, just pass me the spittoon and I'll polish it.

Have any of you eaten at one of the Brazilian style steakhouses? We took my bride to a festive dinner to celebrate her birthday and retirement a couple months ago. We went to a place called Fogo de Chao (I think) which I was told means 'fire in the ground' after the traditional gaucho style of cooking. Without doubt or any reservation, it was the best feast I've ever had.

The chefs train on a particular meat and cut and become absolute experts. They bring a whole chunk out to the tables and can cut from well done to rare off the same piece. You tell them when to quit. They do beef, of course, lamb, pork, chicken . . . in different cuts and different styles. Every morsel I tasted was superb. It was a real overload on protein. Took me days to recover.

Yes, it was expensive; but for the occasional celebration I highly recommend it. I understand that there several different chains or brands but that they all pretty much follow the same food service model.

If you've eaten in one, tell us about your experience.

 

[calebj06]

Yes I have been once and it was AWESOME!! We didn't know what it was and were on vacation and just stopped in.

We were in St. Louis yesterday (1.5hrs away ) and saw that the same place we ate at on vacation just opened a place there. I think we might do it for my bday in a few weeks.


Hope you went there hungry!!

 

[b-one]

We have been to two different places in Chicago. They are pricey but well worth it when planned accordingly!

 

[erikz]

We used to have an independently owned high end one in downtown Milwaukee a few years ago that was incredible.  It has since closed and the chain Rodizio Grill took it over.  It's not as nice now, but still good.  As a plus, it's a lot cheaper now.  

 

[calebj06]

How expensive are you guys talking???

The one I've been to was $17 for lunch and $23 for dinner.

Honestly, for what it is I don't think that's all too bad. Esp considering a big Mac meal is $8!

 

[b-one]

IIRC around $50 per person. You have to remember almost everything is expensive there, the best value in town for restraunt food is Carson's great ribs,chicken and steaks!

 

[rabbithutch]

The bill with tips was over $300 for 4 of us. We had a couple of bottles of a good Malbec and very good desserts. The salad and sides bar at Fogo in Austin was incredibly well done including shrimp, oysters, Spanish ham and every hors d'ouvre I could imagine. It's not something we would do often, but for lifetime events it is great.

 

[mneeley490]

It's probably the wine that bumped up your bill. That'll do it every time.

My wife and I found one of these places about 25 years ago in Cancun. It was called Jaguari's. They had all the meats you mentioned and damn near every side dish known to man, thrown in to boot. It was at least 15 years later before I saw a similar place in the States.

I've since been to some in Puerto Vallarta, Las Vegas, and there are at least 2 now in Seattle. Always an overwhelming experience. It's a great deal for carnivores!

 

[erikz]

I think the fancy one that closed was $65 a head for dinner.  $30 for lunch... although they had a cheaper lunch option that gave you only 3 tokens for meat instead of unlimited for $18ish I think.

Now it's $23/$35 for lunch/dinner.  

 

[demosthenes9]

How expensive are you guys talking???

The one I've been to was $17 for lunch and $23 for dinner.

Honestly, for what it is I don't think that's all too bad. Esp considering a big Mac meal is $8!

Something to consider is that there are quite a few Brazilian steakhouse chains such as Fogo de Chao, Texas de Brazil, Rodizio, Brazeiros, just to name a few.  Then you have the "one off" restaurants that are often more upscale.  So, prices can vary widely just as they do with normal "Steakhouses".

 

[okiedave]

Rabbit, there's another one there in Dallas (and I think a second branch in Ft. Worth; I've not been to that one) called Rafain that's even better than FdC.  Amazing.

 

[shelton573]

I have ate at the Texas de Brazil in Memphis TN a few times and it is phenomenal.  Whenever I still lived in Missouri, my buddy would call me every now and then on the weekend and want to go get some lunch.  I knew once we passed Sikeston heading south we were making the 3 hr trip down to eat there.  If I remember right, it was like $35 for lunch and $50 for dinner and worth every penny of it.  The first trip there, I highly over did it.  The best estimate we could make, i consumed in the ballpark of 35 oz of steak as well as took part in the salad bar which instead of bacon bits for your salad, they have full strips of peppered bacon...it gets pretty out of hand.  We got up to leave after the 1.5 hr sh*t show we put on all that steak and I got out of breath walking to the door and still had a half mile walk to where we parked the truck haha.  Like rabbit said, it takes about 2-3 days to bounce back from it and stop feeling disgusted with yourself lol.  If you get a chance to go to one, especially the one in Memphis (even if it is a "chain restaurant"), you have to try it at least once even if it is pricy. 

Shelton