Meat Overload

This past Friday, I did the very vacationy activity of going to Fogo de Chao for lunch. Fogo is a Brazilian steakhouse that is a meat lover's paradise. One of those places that you really can't discuss with your vegetarian friends.

Fogo is an all you can eat grilled meat steakhouse, where men in gaucho pants come to your table and offer you servings of 15 different grilled and seasoned meats from the skewers that they carry with them. But then, this is the ironic thing. It is not the meat that I am now obsessing over, it is the salad bar and the polenta. The salad bar is huge and has what seem to be the freshest veggies ever. Really good tomatoes for January. Also, they have all sorts of cheeses. Fresh Mozzarella, some very good aged cheeses that I tried. Very good. And the polenta! was great! It reminded me of what my Mom used to make. She hasn't made it in years, but I'm almost inspired to get her to coach me on how to make it so that I can do it at home. The mashed potatoes were also very good and the rolls were fabulous.

And the meat was good. I tried some different things that I had not tried before (lamb), but my favorite was the pork rib. I also ate several different cuts of beef, and I don't ordinarily eat beef. One time when I was having a "vacation" meal in Vegas I decided to have the steak and ended up being sick for the next couple of days because my body couldn't really digest it. I have not had the same experience this time. It is definitely better prepared. It seems to be a lot better quality.

And so it goes. I noticed there were others in the restaurant who were there when we arrived and still grazing as we left. We decided they were probably experienced and knew how to pace themselves in an all you can eat meat place. While it was good, I don't think I will ever become that experienced.