Fogo de Chao

OMG! Who’d ever thought you could have herds of meat coming at you on sticks all at once?! I just love this place!

I mean, I already love buffets as it is for the obvious reason that I can eat as much as I want—so, naturally, I was in heaven.

The salad bar is a help-yourself kind of thing, but the side dishes are brought to your table on an ongoing basis by the gaucho chefs. It’s great. As soon as you’ve eaten one side item, they automatically bring out another replacement—you don’t have to say anything. And this goes on the entire time you’re there. They might as well bring me 3 baskets of warm cheese bread off top because the first basket is devoured within 15 seconds of me sitting down. For reals!

So if you decide you don’t want anymore side items brought to your table, just make sure you don’t eat the next side plate they bring out. Because if they see you’ve eaten all your bananas—you’re definitely getting another plate of them!

As for the meats on a stick! There are at least 15 different types of meat to choose from. YES! And all guests have their own personal disc at their table that has a red side and a green side. Just flip it to the green side when you’re ready for the gaucho chefs to head your way with meat on a stick.

And they won’t stop coming at you until you flip the disc back to the red side. So be warned. It’s just constant as long as your disc is on the green side. I made the mistake of forgetting to flip it back over to the red side and had a plateful of meat. Woah!

So, if you have nothing else to do today, take a trip to your local Fogo de Chao and have some fun eating yourself into oblivion.

Take-Away Life Lesson: The only difference between lunch and dinner is the price. Lunch is always less expensive. So go during lunch, if you can, for the exact same experience and exact same food. That’s right.

The gourmet salad bar consists of fresh-cut vegetables, assorted cheeses, cured meats, and Brazilian sides.
The side dishes that are brought to your table consist of warm cheese bread (my favorite), garlic mashed potatoes, crispy hot polenta, and carmelized bananas.
The meats include–filet mignon, rib eye, top sirloin, bottom sirloin, beef ribs, lamb, chicken, pork ribs, pork loin, and sausage.
Desserts include my favorites of South American Flan and Signature Papaya Cream among other delicious goodness.