Texas de Brazil

As I mentioned earlier, my husband and I celebrated our anniversary this month. It was our first and no we didn’t eat any of our wedding cake fresh from a year in the freezer. There are multiple reasons for that. The first is because the top tier was a little bit, well, lost. I know. I know. Cake doesn’t just walk away, but my wedding cake did. That brings me to the second reason we didn’t re-enjoy our cake. Even though the top layer grew its own legs, the rest didn’t. There was a ton of cake left! When I say a ton, I mean the whole kitchen table was covered. Way too much for our families to eat. So we have a freezer full of cake. It’s just 1200 miles away. I decided it was not worth the drive to Kentucky to retrieve the leftover cake and so now you know why we didn’t eat freezer burned wedding cake on our first anniversary. We did however celebrate with a much more delicious dinner!

This post is named after the restaurant itself because it was just that amazing! Seriously! Let me just tell you about the world’s best dining experience that can only be beat by Momma or Grandma’s home cooking! Texas de Brazil is “an authentic Brazilian-American ‘Churrascaria’, or steakhouse, that combines the cuisines of Southern Brazil with the generous spirit of Texas.” What that means is they have a salad bar with over  fifty seasonal items that contains meats, cheeses, olives, vegetables and so much more. If you only want the salad bar you can dine that way, but the real experience is in the main course. When you sit down to your table there is a card that is green on one side and red on the other. This is how you let the servers know you would like to enjoy more of their delicious cuts of meat. The red side stops the servers and green means, “More meats please!” In the salad bar area, there are also side items to accompany your dinner such as rice, mushrooms, au gratin potatoes, and soup. As though you don’t already have enough options, your server provides you with garlic mashed potatoes, fried bananas, and traditional Brazilian cheese bread on the table. Yes, this is for real! 

At the San Antonio location, there is also a huge wine cellar where you can watch a server on a harness find your wine selection. If you haven’t had enough to eat by the time you’re done with dinner, they also have very attractive dessert options.

After giving you an idea of how a Brazilian steakhouse works, I’ll tell you about our experience. It all started with making a reservation with Open Table. It was a super easy process. I had never used Open Table before, but being a Saturday in downtown, I wanted to make sure we wouldn’t be late for Joey’s curfew. I knew from my research that they had valet parking and since we are unfamiliar with the area, and would most likely have to pay close to the same amount for parking anyway, we went for it. I’m so glad we did! You literally drive up to the front door on a main road downtown and there is not even a pullover area. You jump out, the valets jump in. The atmosphere in the restaurant was cozy, warm and inviting. We were seated right away, and our server explained the whole process to us. He was really thorough and very friendly.

Joey and I both took trips to the salad bar where we tried all sorts of appetizers. My favorite was the thinly sliced pineapple with basil. It seemed like a strange combination but worked really well! When we had finished starters, Chris (our server) offered us clean plates and brought the mashed potatoes and bananas to us. Now I’m not sure why they serve mashed potatoes, other than that they’re delish and probably keep guests from eating all meat, but the bananas have an interesting job. Apparently, fried bananas are a palate cleanser that allows you to taste the difference in the cuts of meat. Then the real fun began.  Joey switched his card to green and immediately we were approached by several different servers offering us bacon wrapped chicken, filet mignon, strip steak, lamb chops, pork ribs, and the house special, Brazilian picanha. These meat servers are apparently called Gauchos and they carry the more than 15 meat selections around on sword-like spears. But warn the others at the table when you flip your card because you are about to get bombarded! Everything was amazing! My favorite cut was the picanha. It was a top cut of sirloin. Joey’s favorite was the filet mignon. The service was so impressive. Every last detail was attended to. The manager introduced himself to us. My water glass never reached half full. Whenever we got up from the table, someone came by and re-folded our napkins. They remembered how we both preferred our meats cooked. We were never rushed. Chris even took our picture for us! We were too full to try dessert, but I’m sure it would have been just as amazing as everything else!

My advice? Try it!! It is the perfect dining experience for a very special occasion. I don’t think you’ll regret it. If you do decide to go…you have to try the cheesy bread, pineapple with basil, and picanha. You will not be disappointed! Joey kept on saying how much he loved the restaurant. I’m pretty sure he would have lived there if he could! The atmosphere was perfect for an anniversary or even just for a night out with friends. I’m glad we went early (around 6) because when we left there were tons of people waiting for tables. Who knows, maybe we’ll go for our anniversary again next year too!

Even Ellie enjoyed dinner!