Espetus Churrascaria Review
Espetus Churrascaria served us generally good meats and salads in a neat atmosphere where we were always on alert looking for men with swords of meat. The majority of the meats were at least decent and some were very good but some were dry or simply boring. Many were over-salted, though this bothered us to varying degrees depending on the preparation. The salad bar had a similarly wide variety as the meats with a similarly wide range of quality.
Waiters carried out swords of meat. We had a little dial on our table indicating whether we were ready for more. If so, they cut us some of the sword and put it on our plate (or we grabbed it with tongs). Occasionally we'd have our dial on red, see something we wanted, and quickly turn it to green, sometimes fast enough and sometimes not. As for the meats themselves, we tried them all. Here they are, in rough order of how much we liked them:
- Grilled shrimp.
- Chicken legs. Wonderfully tender and juicy.
- Pork covered with parmesan. Tasty.
- Filet mignon. With a good marinate. The edge pieces that we were served once were nicely crispy. This got a vote for best meat dish.
- Brazilian pork sausage. Nice and spicy.
- Lamb. Good, but definitely too salty. (Like most other dishes, but more noticeable in this case.)
- Steak with garlic. More garlic than steak.
- Beef tenderloin. Medium rare and still a bit bloody (not a bad thing).
- Ribs. Good. Nicely marbled.
- Parmesan beef. Didn't measure up to the parmesan pork. Although the parmesan pork was salty, it was tasty. This was just too overwhelmingly salty to be any good.
- Top sirloin. Just a piece of meal. Needs flavor.
- Pork loin. Similar to the top sirloin, there's nothing to it.
- Chicken bacon. Dry. Bad.
- Chicken hearts. Chewy. Lots of fat (like sausage). Reminded someone of liver.
In a category all of its own, as the only vegetarian item served on a sword:
- Pineapple. "Warm and yummy." The other attendees through this was the best item of the meal.
The salad bar was almost overwhelming large but me and my hollow leg got to sample mostly everything. In three groups according to my personal judgment of good-ish, okay-ish, and not-so-great-ish, my assessments:
- Coleslaw. Vinegar-type. Fresh and we all liked it.
- Mango salad. Definitely refreshing.
- Mozzarella cubes and sun-dried tomatoes. Good.
- Artichoke hearts. Nicely marinated in lemon. Tasty. (Someone online remarked no so called Brazilian steakhouse is authentic unless it has artichoke hearts. I don't know whether to believe it.)
- Garbanzo beans with salsa. Cool (in temperature) "but still good" (as written from my notes).
- Eggplant slices. Quite vinegary. Okay.
- Potato salad. Creamy-type. Fine.
- Mexican corn (with cilantro and onion). Okay.
- Paella. Okay. Mushier than I'd expect and the meat didn't measure up to the stuff on sticks.
- Tabouleh. Very parsley-y. (I can't judge tabouleh because I never like it.)
- Catfish (or some similar fish) stew in a steam tray. Eh.
- Tropical fruit salad (as labeled). More like a dish of cream with fruit, this was inappropriately balanced for my tastes.
- Black beans. Soupy and unremarkable. (Maybe some people pour them over meat? I, however, don't see the point.)
Greeting us at the table when we arrived was
- Fried bananas. Yes, bananas, not plantains. Respectable. Mushy in the center. Covered with lots of breading.
- Cheese bread. Yes, it's cheese beard. None of us were excited by it.Despite eating a lot, we ordered a dessert of papaya cream. Served with a scoop of raspberry sorbet floating in it, the other attendees thought it was decent, although none of us liked the soup/melted ice cream texture.
The restaurant had a long nice looking bar with many wine bottles on display. We ordered some drinks:
- Palma Louca. A light Brazilian lager (more like a Pilsner) served in a tall glass. Fizzy but not much to it.
- Xingu Black ( http://www.amazonbeer.com/profile.html ). Another Brazilian beer. Not dis-similar from the Palma Louca, the darkness made the flavor slightly more noticeable and interesting.
- A glass of red wine (forget the details). Very grape-y, both in odor and flavor. Decent.
- Caffe con condensed milk. "Pretty nasty." Bitter. Very bitter. Over extracted coffee. The condensed milk already makes it sweet so adding more sugar to alleviate the bitterness doesn't help.
- Latte. Fine.The atmosphere of the restaurant was sedate when we arrived, though became more happening by 9pm.
Original Announcement
It'd be good to get together again. I imagine we have much to talk about. Let's do it while stuffing ourselves silly at a Brazilian steakhouse. Let's meet at Espetus Churrascaria this Wednesday at 8:00pm, near the Civic Center BART. Following traditional Brazilian steakhouses, it's all you can eat for a fixed price ($35).
http://www.espetus.com/
Please tell me if you're coming! And, if so, you may want to eat light this week. :)
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