Drinks and Dinner at Brazil Grill

Tonight we went out late with some friends, and found ourselves at the Brazil Grill on 8th Avenue in the theater district. We arrived there around 12:30AM, and I was the only one in the group who had not eaten dinner, so I was looking for food while the others were interested in dessert and/or cocktails.

We were seated in the bar area, and I was relieved to find that even at that late hour I could still get a dinner menu, rather than being restricted to the much more limited bar menu.

I was a bit overwhelmed by the array of choices, particularly since I don't have a lot of experience with Brazilian specialties, so I just asked the waiter to recommend something. He immediately suggested the Churrasco a Moda, a sizzling shell steak with garlic sauce, to which I readily agreed. The other members of our party selected a variety of drinks, including the recommended Brazilian beer and wine selections (Brahma and Brazilian Rio Soul, respectively), as well as a couple of cocktails and dessert.

When the drinks arrived, I was amused to see that the beer bottles were presented with napkins wrapped neckerchief-style around the top. I was curious to know if there was any rationale for this other than el gaucho aesthetics, but nothing came to mind.

After the drinks, my food arrived quickly, served as advertised on a sizzling hot cast-iron skillet. Basically it was four thin shell steaks topped with coarsely chopped garlic cloves along with meat juices. It was accompanied by a large platter of white rice, a bowl of black beans, and several condiments including a yucca flour mixture, a sweetish salsa with peppers and onions, and a hot chili oil with chunks of dried chili pepper. It was quite a spread, and I felt a bit self conscious with all of those items arrayed around me while everyone else had only drinks. Nevertheless, I was very hungry by that time and didn't waste any time digging in.

The shell steaks were very good; the waiter had made an excellent choice, and the attendant variety of condiments made for interesting experimentation and mix-and-match. The chili oil was surprisingly (pleasantly) hot; usually I find that when the servers give spice level warnings they tend to go a bit overboard on the cautionary side, but indeed in this case it was very hot.

The quantity was quite overwhelming, and clearly enough for at least two hungry people. Therefore I ate half, and I was quite full by the time I finished that portion.