I love the concept of the Brazilian steak house. It makes me think of a party--who doesn't think of Carnivale when they think about the best of Brazil? I've lived here for several years and this restaurant concept has intrigued me since I got here. I had never heard of a Brazilian steak house before.
Gauchos has two locations (which also happen to be the cities I frequent most often); Portland and Manchester. My sisters, aunt, and I checked out the Manchester one recently.
We were seated and the hostess took our drink orders. We all had various caipirinhas and, frankly, they were a little small for $9 each. Mine was quite delicious though.
So there really is no "menu" at this restaurant apparently. The waitress told us that the servers would come around with skewers of meat and we could have as much of whatever that we wanted. She failed to mention to us that the green and red cards on our table that we thought were coasters were actually signals to the servers that indicated if we wanted service or not. For sides and veggies, there was a salad bar. It was exactly what you would expect at a place that was mostly salad bar--lots of mayonnaise-based concoctions, fresh veggies to make your own tossed salad, a bunch of "steakhouse" sides like mashed potatoes and creamed spinach. There were also some soups; however, nothing was labeled so you really didn't know what you were getting. I tried a bunch of stuff on this salad bar and by far, without question, the yummiest thing (in a giant plate of "blah") was the black beans with sausage. It was exactly that--black beans stewed with onion, sausage, bay leaves, and spices. It wasn't "hot" but it was spicy and comforting and the best thing in the entire restaurant (including the meat).
Now, on to the meat service. Indeed, lots of men who spoke barely enough English for you to know what you were eating paraded around the room with skewers of various meats:
This is my aunt, obstructed by a skewer of bacon wrapped filet.
The most fun part of the restaurant is using the tongs to pull the meat off as the server slices it.
There were 11 types of meat that night, and though I think I tried everything, this was pretty much left on my plate when I was done. Here, starting at the top left and going clockwise: bacon wrapped chicken, hanger steak, flank steak, house made sausage, fried yucca, prime rib.
If I'm being completely honest, only the bacon-wrapped meats were above average, and really, what wrapped in bacon is average or below? The meat was all seasoned the same, the sausage was very dry and bland (with no spice). It was probably meat overload for me--I always order smallest portion of beef I can when I go to get steak. I love it but a little goes a very, very long way.
We finished the meal with some very good deserts: an ice cream bomb, a frozen chocolate mousse, a tiramisu and a cheesecake. To be honest, I think the deserts were much more flavorful, fresh, and delicious than anything we ate during the main course.
We all really wanted to love this experience, but it was just a little "too" too many things....the atmosphere was too cold; the room was too formal for men running around with skewers of meat; the restaurant was far too quiet; the salad bar was too bland, generic; the meat was too similar (and about half was too salty); and, at about $60 each with tip, too too expensive for what it was.
I wanted to love Gauchos. I wanted to go and have fun, to be reminded of Carnivale. What I got instead was a rock in my stomach and a lighter wallet without the satisfied feeling that a good meal with my family should bring me.
I have a few friends who spent some time living in Europe; they are so worldy and I am so not! When I went to visit them upon their return I got to experience a little bit of European culture right in their Philly suburb.
Raclette is both a specific type of cheese and a meal. Wikipedia can explain it a lot better than I can. What I can do is tell you about our meal and how much fun we had that evening.
The table was set.
That odd-looking thing in the back of the table is the raclette grill. Apparently this is a common household appliance in parts of Switzerland and France. The bag in the middle of the table is full of a LOT of steamed potatoes.
So here's how it works. You put the grill where everyone can reach it. Then you put some slices of raclette on a paddle/spatula apparatus.
The spice on top is a spice made specifically for raclette. It is a combination of ground pepper, nutmeg, and some other things that I really couldn't figure out. Then, into the heat it goes!
This is community time. Time to sit around, drink wine, and chit-chat while dinner cooked away. It was a lot of fun. Cooking at the table makes dinner so much more social! In the meantime, prepare on your plate any potatoes, pickles, apples, onions, etc. that you wish to enjoy. Any charcuterie would be perfect with this.
Bubbly, hot, spicy...pull out your personal tray of heaven from the raclette grill and pour it over your dinner.
I will admit that the three of us spent well over an hour grilling cheese, chit chatting, drinking wine, and eating three pounds of boiled potatoes with creamy, spicy, nutty raclette all over them.
Sort of the same theory as fondue, without the whole community pot of cheese. It really was fun and delicious. Thanks to my friends who introduced this to me; I hope we can do it again during my next visit!
