No Dishes to Wash

I just recently enjoyed a family dinner at Brazil Grill downtown.  Brazil Grill is Portland’s first churrascaria, a Portuguese word for “bbq”.  Basically, it’s all you can eat meat.  Definitely thought up by a man.  I suggest making a reservation, because this is not an especially large restaurant, and they are quite often full.  This type of restaurant is commonly referred to as “rodizio” which is a reference to how the meat is served, literally meaning “what comes around.”  You start by heading to the small salad bar in the back.  Remember at this point to take 2 plates (one for your meat when you get back to your table.)  There are some American dishes, but mostly Brazilian choices.  These are not meant to be the main thrust of your meal, hence the salad bar being on the smaller side.  Typical Brazilian choices to go with your meat would be fries, beans and rice.  There are also cucumbers marinated in vinegar, chayote squash, hardboiled eggs in rose sauce, caesar salad, mixed greens, a quinoa salad, and other things.  Load up sparingly, you’ll want to save your room for the meat!  When you get back to your table, you flip your disc to the green side, and the gauchos start bringing you meat!  Some of our choices included: mustard sirloin, marinated lamb, marinated prawns, filet mignon wrapped in bacon, cognac chicken drumsticks, chicken wrapped in bacon, sirloin steak, flank steak, ribs with parmesan cheese, empanadas with ground sirloin, garlic and butter tri-tip, and mild linguicia.  They normally have about 12 choices at dinner, and I’ve probably forgot a few.   They also send around pineapple sprinkled with cinnamon.  The purpose of the pineapple, besides cleansing your palate between meats, is to aid the digestion of the meats by the enzyme in the pineapple.   Because of the rotisserie style of BBQ, these meats are usually very juicy.  The first time I went, the meats were a little dry, and I was sad… it wasn’t the experience I had had at other churrascaria’s.  But this time the meats were great, even better than what I had in the “little Portugal” part of Newark.  The gaucho slices off pieces of whatever you want onto your plates (sometimes, you have to grab the meat with your tongs as they cut it.)  Don’t worry if you like a type of meat and want more… the gauchos will be back around with it before long.  Brazil Grill really has a great bartender right now, they have several drinks with the popular Brazilian liquor cachaca (think: Brazilian rum), which is the main ingredient in a capirhinia.  I think that a capirhinia tastes like a cross between a mojito and a margarita (more leaning to the mojito side.)  After dinner, there are desserts (but I’m always to full to even think of ordering one) and they have an extensive wine list, and several after-dinner ports and cognacs.  For this all-you-can-eat extravaganza, it’s $31.95 per person, and there are discounts for seniors and children.  You can also just get the salad bar, if you are not much of a meat eater.  Located at 1201 SW 12th Ave (they also have free parking behind the building, although the street parking is not usually too full around there). Open daily 5pm-10pm.  18% gratuity on parties of 6 or more automatically included.