but unless you’ve been to Fogo de Chao, you haven’t had the best steak meal ever. I have had the pleasure of eating at this restaurant a couple of times, and it is always an amazing experience.
The service at the restaurant has two phases. The first phase is the amazing salad bar, where you have a choice from a variety of greens, cheeses, meats, and vegetables, along with a wide selection of dressing. Everything is fresh and delicious, and it is an integral part of the meal that cannot be missed, but rookies to this restaurant can make the terrible mistake of filling up on the salad bar, marring the delicious steak feast to come.
The second phase of the meal is the meat portion. You have a disk on your table that is red on one side, and green on the other. As with a traffic light, red means stop, and green means GO. And fair warning, as soon as you turn your disk over from red to green for the first time, gauchos (the men carrying around the sizzling skewers of meat) swarm your table, vying for your affections like love-sick suitors. This is when the steak feast truly begins.
And not just steak…oh no. Chicken. Pork. Sausage. Ribs. I honestly don’t know how they do it. And at the lunch service, I don’t know how they make money. I paid $35 for the entire meal, tip included. I may as well have walked in with a ski mask and held the place up.
What makes it so great? Many things. First, I could point out the ridiculously attentive service. The busy wait staff roam the tables like members of the secret service assigned to protect not the President, not even your table, but you personally. At one point I dropped my knife on the ground (in a steak-induced frenzy, I guess), and before I could lean over and pick it up, a member of the wait staff snatched it and handed me a clean knife. It was as if he popped up out of the ground. You never want for a refill. Your side dishes are replenished immediately.
And it isn’t just the wait staff that are attentive. The gauchos wandering the room with tempting meat delights are also attentive to the point of obsequiousness. They cheerily offer you their wares, and if you refuse, it is almost as if they take it personally. They ask if they can bring you something else, and if you request something, they race back to the kitchen like their butt is on fire in order to get your requested meat back to your table. The service is indeed a great part of the place. But that isn’t the best thing about Fogo de Chao.
The best part about Fogo de Chao is the variety of meats, and the way it is prepared. I am a particular fan of the house special, the top and bottom sirloin, the bacon wrapped chicken, and the filet mignon. These meats are roasted over a fire, and develop a well-cooked yet juicy consistency, bursting with natural flavor. We all know that the best bite of steak is the first bite. Well, because of the way the meat is served to you (small portions of meat that are replenished as you clean your plate) it is as if each bite is the first bite. A meal of first bites. Is this Heaven? No, but I think it has to be close. As the meat roasts, it develops a delicious crust on the outside, while remaining moist and delicious inside. That mix of crust and tender meat is a combination that makes Fogo de Chao the best steak meal ever, and is why I should think they should make their slogan Fogo de Chao: You Must get Crust.
Don’t miss out on the best steak meal you will ever have. Make your reservation today!
