Fogo de Chão Churrascaria, Washington, D.C.

It was time to flesh out details of a business project yesterday, so we chose to have those meaty conversations at the new Fogo de Chão Churrascaria just down the street at 11th and Pennsylvania. Fogo de Chão (say, "FO-go day SHOW" with a dipthong and a bit of a French nasal N on the end) is one of a half dozen high-end franchise restaurants all around major U.S. cities (plus another four stores in São Paulo) in the recent national fad for churrascarias, or Brazilean steakhouses. As with all of these expensive and elegant restaurants, the concept is simple: a lavish salad bar starts the meal, then wandering waiters carry barbecued and roasted meats impaled on swords from table to table where they are carved to order.

The Washington Fogo de Chão is suitably luxe. Dark woods dominate the dining room and small bar area. Open storage of rack after rack of wines lines many of the walls. The salad bar is a focal point of the room and is spectacular art in and of itself. Waiters are dressed in long-sleeved, light blue shirts with red neck scarves, black boots, heavy black leather belts over a woven red sash, and black, full cut, multi-pleated, ballooning gaucho trousers.

The massive salad bar was laden with vegetables, meats, and cheeses much more reminscent of a tapas bar than a typical American salad bar; in fact, I don't really recall there being much lettuce on the salad bar at all. There were lovely artichoke hearts and hearts of palm, asparagus spears, mushrooms, roasted peppers, dried tomatoes, pimientos, all kinds of fine cheeses, sliced sausages and meats, smoked salmon, seafood salads, and many, many other things.

As we ate our salads and vegetables, the gaucho waiters began walking up to the table with their impaled, roasted meats, where we would take a pair of tongs to hold on to slices as they cut them, hot, juicy, and dripping from the roast. We had all kinds of beef, tenderloin, sirloin roasts, rib eye steaks, and bacon wrapped filet mignon; both leg of lamb and lamb chops; pork ribs, pork sausages, roasts, and a delicious pork chop encrusted in parmesan cheese; and bacon-wrapped, juicy chicken breasts. While we were eating the meats, a waiter brought us bowls of garlicky, cheesy mashed potatoes, fried slices of polenta, whole fried bananas, and these popover-like cheese rolls.

Needless to say, one has no excuse for leaving Fogo de Chão hungry. As if we needed it, they did offer desserts for those who wanted them, but we were stuffed and our fried bananas had served our dessert purpose.

So, if you haven't been to Fogo de Chão, go. It's a wonderful place, very elegant, and with ample, delicious food. The menu is prix fixe, and, since there's very little difference between the $25 lunch and $45 dinner spreads, you eat for basically half price at lunch, so do consider taking your main meal at noon. And, remember, this is not a place for vegetarians!