Texas de Brazil: The best meal I’ve ever eaten
April 15, 2008 8:31 am News, Reviews
Now, in my life, I’ve only been to two churrascarias - one in Manaus, Brazil, and the other being Texas de Brazil. I was about 8 years old when I went to the one in Brazil, and I remember it being one of the best eating experiences of my life. Each cut that was brought to the table was perfectly cooked, expertly flavored, and absolutely delicious. I remembered the experience so fondly that I dragged my fiancee to Texas de Brazil, even though it was about 20 minutes from our hotel and past at least 150 other restaurants (including another churrascaria). I was hoping that an American churrascaria wouldn’t be too tame and therefore a pale approximation of the Brazilian one that I’d remembered, but I was not prepared for just how amazing Texas de Brazil was. First, as we were led to our table, we passed the salad bar, which is really a misnomer. It features your usual greens, but also appetizers ranging from sushi to fried provolone. As far as I could tell, this salad bar is a trap designed to keep you from eating an entire cow, but in the restaurant’s defense, you can also just order the salad bar as a meal, which it would certainly be. Once we reached our table, or waiter, Joseph, explained how everything worked, including how to flip over a token indicating either that you wanted more gauchos to offer you meat, or that you were all set for the time being. We ordered a bottle of wine off the list of 500+ wines (literally about 20 pages of a wine list), which was exactly what I was expecting and absolutely delicious. There were a couple of things about the service which really stood out: first of all, Joseph was super-attentive at every turn, from pouring wine whenever a glass was empty to recommending the best cuts of meat and ensuring that the gauchos brought it quickly to our table. Second of all, there were several managers circling the room, interacting with the customers and ensuring that everyone was satisfied. The sheer number of staff at Texas de Brazil is surely one of the reasons that the service is so great. After all, not even the most service-oriented waiter could possibly be so attentive with 20 tables to wait on. But the staff at Texas de Brazil was obviously also very experienced and very good at what they do. Apparently, all the Texas de Brazil restaurants (there are several) are owned by the same person, and he oversees their operation directly (i.e. they are not franchises). Clearly, this system is working, as the dining experience was absolutely pleasurable.
On a recent vacation to Florida, I had a chance to eat at Texas de Brazil in Orlando. Texas de Brazil is a churrascaria, a restaurant serving a traditional Brazilian form of cuisine wherein various cuts of meats are brought to your table fresh from the grill by expert meat carvers known as gauchos, who cut you a piece of the steak, or serve up a pork chop or chicken breast. In the course of your meal, you could easily try 10 or 15 different kinds of meat. It’s not the kind of restaurant where you want to fill up on the bread.