Meaty Heaven

I know that sounds pretty gross, but on Saturday night we (as in B, Kev&Suz) were not only in meaty heaven, but more like a meat coma. Saturday night we all dined together at Fogo de Chao at the corner of Pennsylvania Ave. and 11th Street. I see the advertisements for Fogo De Chao every time I pick up US Airways magazine and have wanted to try it for a long time now, but always assumed that it was a gimmicky chain restaurant that couldn't possibly be that good and definitely not worth the money. But oh was I wrong!!!

First, the bartender kicked ass. He was really knowledgeable about the wines and cocktails and definitely made a mean dirty vodka martini. Plus he actually muddled the lime in K's drink; a sign of a good bartender. And second, the place was packed! We had an 8:30 reservation and the place was hopping with guests as well as tons of wait staff. I was really surprised to see it that busy. It's not a cheap dinner what-so-ever ($50 per person for dinner), so I figured it must be good, right?

Dinner started off with a little lesson on how everything works. You start off with the salad bar. And then when you're ready for meat, you flip your "coin" to green (go), and the Brazilian cowboys just start coming with one of 15 meats! The meats are all sizzling hot on skewers, and as they cut the meat off the skewer, you pick it up with your tongs. And you can request the doneness of your meat. I'm a medium-rare person, but others are more medium to medium-well.

We took our time finishing our cocktails and then headed to the salad bar. Now, I know what you're thinking. Salad bar? Really? No, this isn't a Harris Teeter salad bar, this is an amazing, knock your socks off, I can hit just this, kind of salad bar. I can't remember everything on it, but I'll tell you I made a bibb lettuce salad with sun-dried tomatoes, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, marinated olives, and buffalo mozzarella with olive oil and balsamic dressing and had some other kind of fresh cheese with prosciutto and salami. And a taste of chicken salad. It was delicious! I could have gone back 10 times! Oh, and let's not forget the warm cheese bread! HEAVEN!! I had them during the salad course, meat course, and for dessert! :)

Then once you begin the meat course, they bring out side dishes of friend polenta (yum), mashed potatoes (yum), and fried plantains (yum)!

But the meat could not be beat. We tried bottom sirloin, top sirloin, sausage, pork ribs, beef ribs, chicken, bacon wrapped filet, filet mignon, picanha (the house specialty), ribeye, and lamp chops to name a few. My favorites were the bottom sirloin (so juicy and flavorful), pork ribs (they had some kind of amazing dry rub), and the lamb chops. But everything was so tasty.

And to top of the evening, they bring around a cart full of exotic and some not-so-exotic after dinner drinks. And the man behind the cart knew anything and everything there was about each and every one of them. Trust me, we grilled him for a good 15 minutes!!

Not only were the drinks and food amazing, but the service was fantastic! As soon as we flipped our coins from red to green, multiple waiters were at our table offering up different cuts of meat. And they were constantly offering fresh, clean plates and clearing away unused dishes.

I would definitely give Fogo De Chao 5 stars!! If you don't want to take my word for it, just read the 99 reviews on Google resulting in a 4.5 star rating.