Fogo de Chao
Fogo de Chao is an all you can eat Brazillian churrascaria, or steakhouse, which offers a variety of slow-roasted meats served up tableside by gauchos for a fixed price. For those not wanting the meat, there is a salad bar only option available. There are locations throughout the eastern US and the DC restaurant is at 1101 Pennsylvania Ave NW.
Cost – $$$
Service – B+
It is rare that you can find a person that can keep pace with the gauchos. The skewered meats keep coming as long as your card is on green and come they do. If you want a specific offering, say the tenderloin wrapped in bacon, simply ask your waiter and viola, you should have someone tableside within a minute or two. Everyone working always seems friendly and attentive.
Food – B-
Do not come to here unless you have a big appetite. The lunch and dinner menu features 15 different cuts of meat ranging from rib eye to leg of lamb. Included with your meal is a gourmet salad bar, cheese bread and a few Brazillian sides. I am a quality over quantity person so after the first plate, I quickly start experiencing diminishing returns.
Decor – B
The restaurant has a large dining area which has a good balance of traditional and modern elements. My favorite part is the 20’+ back wall which is stocked top to bottom and wall to wall with wine bottles. The front bar with its dark wood and clean lines, although not always occupuied, is pretty cool as well.
Feel – B
Between the gauchos running around, salad bar line and somewhat tight seating, things can be a little chaotic at times. However, it works, especially if you have larger parties. Most patrons seem to enjoy the fast pace and overabundance of food.
What’s the Buzz:
October 31, 2007 – Fogo de Chao (DC Dining) -Well, I finally made it to Fogo de Chão. First of all, what an enormous restaurant, packed nearly full, with what must have been hundreds of people. This place is huge! The restaurant’s strategy is to have you frequent the salad bar first. Don’t. Go ahead and get a couple polite pieces of asparagus, peppers, or whatever, but no more than two or three. Full Article…
March 21, 2006 – Fogo de Chao (D.C. Foodies) – It’s not every day that I like to totally pig out, but I made an exception last weekend for Fogo de Chao. Fogo de Chao is a churrascaria, a Brazilian restaurant where you’ll find different kinds of savory meat served on spits — all you can eat for a fixed price. As you can read on Fogo de Chao’s web site, they cook their beef the “Gaucho” way. Ideally this would mean that they would grill their meat over open fires, but somehow I doubt that’s how the meat at Fogo de Chao is actually being cooked. Full Article…
You gotta prepare yourself for an old fashioned gorging at Fogo de Chao. By any means, don’t avoid eating the previous meal, something light like yogurt and a granola bar will get your stomach in the correct frame of mind.
The evening fee is about $52, $28 for lunch time. The salad bar is always fresh, but yea, don’t fill up on it. You also get a bunch of sides like mashed potatoes, fried bananas, polenta, and the ‘to die for’ cheese bread.
Vegetarians Beware: while salad-bar-only is an option, the atmosphere of Fogo is filled with the smell of meat….take it or leave it.
I’d actually grade to food higher than a B-, perhaps an A-. Rumor has it that the meat doesn’t come from South America, rather somewhere in Texas. I don’t care where it comes from, it hits the spot.