Churrascaria ‘Til You Drop
When in Brazil, unless you’re a vegetarian, you have to try the churrascaria: skewers of meat grilled over an open flame on long swords and served by the slice at your table. Tonight was our night.
Renato, the proctor for this week’s event, was our tour guide. He was also our translator and bodyguard. Since he’s a black belt in Brazilian Jujitsu, which for you Americans is essentially an extreme form of “ultimate fighting,” we felt pretty safe with him on our team. His command of Portugese, Spanish and English also came in quite handy this evening.
Without further adeiu, and because it’s getting late, here are the photos …
On the way to the restaurant, we passed a record store. For those under 40, this is a place where they sell platters of pressed vinyl with grooved spirals on the surface, which people spin on “turntables” to generate scratchy noisy reproductions of musical performances.
At the restaurant, Ted posed with the beef out front. Or vice versa.
At our table, Ted, Renato, and I enjoyed delicious Argentinian Cabernet and the healthy salad bar (yes, that huge bowl is a solid chunk of cheese) while devouring huge quantities of meat, sliced at our table in the traditional style.
We were so charming that the maitre de all but insisted on taking us into the kitchen (no restrictive Health Department regulations here!), where Ted and I showed the chefs a few tricks regarding presentation of their wares. We then proceeded to the wine cellar, where Doug enjoyed pretending he was the wine steward. Such fantasies they let us play out!
We ate like pigs and drank like fish, then it was time for Ted to pick up the check, followed by a courtesy van ride through the streets of Sao Paulo back to our hotel. Hey, somebody’s gotta do it. Good night.
This entry was posted on Monday, February 20th, 2006 at 6:19 pm. You can subscribe to comments on this post through its RSS feed.
on February 20, 2006 at 6:54 pm Megan wrote:
Nice teeth on that billboard in the “streets of Sao Paulo” picture.
Hey, don’t pig out too much. We have a wedding in a couple of months.
on February 22, 2006 at 8:26 pm Paul wrote:
I think it’s you. Personally, I would be led to believe the cops find you dangerous and attractive, being the mischeivious hotel policy-breaking scoundrel you are.
on February 22, 2006 at 8:27 pm Paul wrote:
Oh…Christ. I posted on the wrong blog.
on September 13, 2007 at 5:54 am Back in Taipei | Doug’s World wrote:
[…] of the party … it was at Bosso Nova, and they served churrascaria, the swashbuckling style of tableside sliced-meat dining that’s popular in Brazil. After […]
on June 11, 2008 at 6:01 am Partying with the bosses of MOSS | Doug’s World wrote:
[…] World readers may recall Ted as the guy I traveled with a bit in early 2006, such as our trip to Sao Paulo where we taught the locals a thing or two about preparing churrascaria. (By the way, if you know […]