By Chris Schirm, Guest Blogger, Foodies Like Us

Foodies Like Us is proud to be the official blogger for Arizona Restaurant Week, taking place Saturday, September 18 through Sunday, September 26, 2010. This is the first in our series of reviews highlighting the participating restaurants. Stay tuned for more to come!

Fogo de Chao Restaurant Week Special: $10 off dinner and includes a choice from the dessert menu.  

Highlights of meal:
The whole experience of dining at Fogo de Chao can probably be best be described by the story of the 2009 Boise State Football team. The entire team came for the pre-game meal the night before the Fiesta Bowl. All told there were over 100 people and ended up putting down over 450lbs of meat in 90 minutes. However, unlike a Golden Corral or Old Country Buffet, Fogo de Chao gives its guests fine ambiance, fine dining cuts of meat, a phenomenal cold salad bar, and service that is exemplary.  The Scottsdale location seats up to 340 guests at spacious white linen table clothed tables, including two banquet rooms and a completely private wine table that has hosted celebrities the like of Charles Barkely and Rihanna.   

The salad bar is unlike any that I have seen or tasted. Its selection of beautiful cold dishes is a wonderful start to a great meal. If you do bring a date to Fogo de Chao, (rather than your best guy friend to have a man-date of epic gluttonous proportions that belongs in the sequel of “I Love You Man”), the salad bar is probably where she will spend most of her time.  If you want to make her happy, I would highly recommend tasting the hearts of palm, sun dried tomatoes, three-year aged parmesan reggiano, and the peppadews from South Africa. Word to the wise, I would limit the amount of salad bar that you actual try to eat, because the meat is definitely worth the wait.  

Salad bar samples

When you are ready for the meat to begin, you turn the circle on your table from red to green.  Here comes the meat!  The chefs or churrascos bring all of the 15 cuts of meat tableside and ask what temperature you would like to have and cut it directly on your plate.  One word of caution, I would think about what specific types of meat that you would really like to try before just saying yes to every meat that comes by the table.  Here are my top five cuts (cooked at medium rare): 1) Cordeiro (leg of lamb and lamb chops) — make sure to add the mint jelly; 2) Picanha (prime cut of top sirloin); 3) Filet mignon; 4) Ancho Beef (Prime Rib); and 5) Fraldinha (bottom cut Sirloin).

A vegetarian's worst nightmare

For all those that have actually dared to be able to limit themselves to just enough meat, the dessert menu in and of itself is enough to make anyone drool. I would highly recommend the Papaya Crème. Its creamy texture is just enough to take your swollen belly and transport you into a happy food coma.   

Save room for the Papaya Crème!

Any disappointments:
There were only three out of the 15 cuts of meat that I would pass on.  The lombo (a parmesan crusted pork loin), the Frango (bacon wrapped chicken breasts), and the linguica (cured pork sausage) are all pieces that I would give a pass.  The Lombo and Frango ended up really dry, while the Linguica is decent, but lacks a certain burst of flavor.  Although, to be fair when little ole Linguica is going up against the likes of lamb chops, filet mignon, prime rib and the house specialty picanha (a salt rubbed prime cut of top sirloin) it would need a miracle. The only other caution I would raise to Foodies Like Us followers is to watch out for the saltiness of the garlic roasted picanha and the Costela (beef ribs).  Finally, I would give everyone a heads-up that there is no such thing as a doggie bag at Fogo De Chao, so come starving and leave the skinny jeans at home.     

Being served some sausage and chicken

Best part of the value?
$39 for all you can eat salad bar, as much meat as you can possibly eat (or will eat until Thanksgiving) AND you get a desert afterwards. The value speaks for itself.  

As Homer Simpson put it, Ahhhwwwwwwh...Drool

Additional thoughts on service and ambiance:
What Fogo De Chao has done with their service is even more remarkable than the meal itself.  Everyone on the service staff (servers, bussers, and chefs) shares in the tips from the patrons.  So instead of having one waiter you have an entire staff responsible for your table.  Thus you have seamless teamwork that results in fantastic service throughout the entire meal.  No more, “Excuse me’s” or “Have you seen our server.” It works more like this: you think of what you want and then a server appears at your side asking, “What can we get for you?”. It’s as simple as that.

A meat paradise opened within the last 9 months in Scottsdale and I knew I was destined to enjoy.

The original taste of Southern Brazil makes its home in the US in the form of Churrascarias (Brazilian Steakhouses). There are various independently owned restaurants of this type around the country. Typically, I am “anti-chain” but I made an exception for Fogo De Chao. I am very, very glad.

Where the magic happens.

A little history for you (according the menu that Fogo let me hijack on my way out) “In Rio Grande do Sul, herds of cattle graze the state’s vast pastures providing Brazil with meats for the famous “Churrasco” barbecues-a centuries old “Gaucho” tradition. In the olden days, Gauchos pierced large pieces of meat and slowly grilled them over flamed pits.” Mmmm… I can see myself hanging out with the Gauchos and eating meat off the sword. What a life.

Eric and I invited two couples to join us and we embarked upon our meat goodness tour 2009.

We (Eric and I) had experienced the joy of Fogo a few months prior and were very enthusiastic about sharing this with Matt, Kristi, Erin and Jeremy.

The ladies.

The men.

We were seated in a small section of the dining room off of the main room. The server was very pleasant and festooned in his Gaucho gear. There’s just something about a man wearing short pants… He explained the concept of Fogo. Get up; eat off of the fabulous salad bar. When you’ve had enough roughage, flip the small coaster next to your water glass from “red” to “green” and behold the meat. 

Fifteen different courses. Yes. I said fifteen. Here’s a quick list to get your taste buds moving:

Prime Sirloin, Garlic Prime Sirloin, Filet Mignon, Bacon Wrapped Filet, Top Sirloin, Bottom Sirloin, Prime Rib-Eye, Leg of lamb, Lamb Chops, Parm Crusted Pork, Pork Ribs, Bacon Wrapped Chicken, Chicken Legs, 2 types of Pork Sausage.

Hungry yet?

We all trooped up to the salad bar and loaded up our plates with antipasto, cheese and salad. I am a fan of anything that’s marinated, aged or cured. Therefore an entire salad bar filled with cured and smoked meats, cheeses, hearts of palm, artichokes etc. makes me instantly happier.

Cheese and cured meats. Mmmm...

My plate of antipasto. Note--don't eat too much of this or you will not be able to enjoy all the meat!

We noshed on our cold plates, discussed exactly how much meat we planned on consuming and then decided to all ceremonially turn our cards from red to green in unison. We were ready.

In a perfectly coordinated symphony of meat men, three guys in short pants holding swords showed at once. Sirloin and Filet and Chicken Oh MY! Of Course I will have some!

Jeremy admires the Top Sirloin.

They cut. We chewed. Delicious. The filet mignon at this joint is (dare I say it??) unparalleled. I love Mastros for a great filet. However, not much beats meat on a sword cooked over an open flame.

Behold! The joy!

We all finished round 1 fairly close together. We were feeling brave. We only waited a few minutes before flipping our cards to green again.

This time, 4 men arrived with lamb, chicken wings, sausage and the house special cut. Yum!

We all agreed the chicken was a bit funky tasting (too much vinegar) but the sausage was delicious and moist. The house special cut and the flank steak were delightful. I especially like it when I get an “end” so one side has the salt crust that has been caramelized from the flame. The smoky taste combines with the juiciness of the meat and explodes in your mouth.

ROAR! I would like one of these dudes at my house daily.

In a meat whirlwind, our plates were whisked away and replaced with fresh ones. At this point, even the guys started slowing down. We started making meat jokes.

            “Better be careful on the way home; you will end up with a meat DUI.”

            “How much more of this meat-o-rama are we going to endure?”

You get the drift. Still, we trooped on. Some pork ribs and lamb chops showed up. Erin requested more flank steak. Kristi was combining Parmesan cheese and meat on her plate. The men started gripping their stomachs and groaning with primal intensity.

At this point, our eyes started to glaze over and we were sated. I never thought I could reach meat-coma status. But it is indeed possible.

We were offered dessert and coffee but politely declined. I wasn’t certain I could stand one more drop of food or drink.

They bring you some fried bananas, polenta and potatoes. Who cares? Bring more meat!

We said our goodbyes, decided we could do this meat indulgence about once/quarter and decided our next dinner together would be salad only.

Overall, this was a fabulous dinner. The quality and freshness of the meats is second to none. The service was impeccable. They are attentive, polite and truly interested in pleasing their customers. The all-you-can-eat meat fest costs $46.50/person plus tax and tip. I would argue it is worth every penny.

I may not be back soon, but I will be back for certain.  Thanks friends for a memorable dinner. Till we meat again.