Restaurant Fogo de Chão    March 2003 Restaurant Fogo de Chão - Churrascaria Av. Santo Amaro 6824, São Paulo Brasil Tel.  +55 11 5524 0500 Fogo de Chão Site São Paulo was founded by the traditional Catholic method of the saying of mass by Bishop José de Anchieta in January 1554. For about 300 years the settlement continued as a small farming community. For some reason - I didn't find out why - the city suddenly started to prosper in the 1800's and the population started to grow: And what a growth! São Paulo, the business centre of Brasil is currently the 4th largest city in the world (by population); 17 million people in the metropolitan area, quickly doubling to around 35 million if you extend the boundaries to the São Paulo State. A vibrant city with a diverse range of people - all shapes, sizes and colours. Whilst unfortunately miss-timing my visit between the carnival and the formula 1 grand prix, I did, however, coincide with the final of 'the Paulista' - the regional football tournament, this year, contested by São Paulo's top two teams. I tried, but just like cup-finals everywhere, a ticket couldn't be found; so I watched in a very loud local bar instead. Honours went to the Corinthians with a 3-2 win over São Paulo, their 3rd and winning goal coming in the 89th minute! Every time someone scored, there were fireworks across the city. All that football watching was hard work, so food was required. Fogo de Chão was our venue. The restaurant is a Churrascaria, or Brasilian barbeque. For the princely sum of 38 Rials (around €12) you can do an impression of the gourmand in Monty Python's film; The Meaning of Life i.e. eat enough to explode - but what food ! The system is deceptively simple; you graze through the massive 'buffet-bar' filling your plate, then, back at the table you have a small disc at the side of your plate. Turning the disc green side up means that you're ready for deliveries, red side up means 'no thank-you'. This place would be a vegetarian's nightmare; you even have a card on the table to explain exactly which cuts of meat you're having delivered. One by one the waiters pay you a visit with large chunks of meat on skewers amd a sharp knife. You can ask for rare or medium, helping the waiter with your tongs as he cuts you a piece. As the slices are taken and only the rare meat is left exposed, the skewers go back to the kitchen to turn over a fire of charcoal and be occasionally doused with a splash of red wine. Speaking of wine, that reminds me about the wine-list. Topped by the 700 Rial bottle of 1995 Opus One (~€215), this is quite a good list. Wines from California, Burgundy, Bordeaux and of course, South America. Avoiding the 500 Rial bottle Drouhin's 1994 Romanée-Saint-Vivant (the company was paying!) I plumped for what turned out to be an inspiring choice at 60 Rials : 2000 Boscato, Cabernet Sauvignon Gran Reserva The best Brasilian wine of the visit (in fact the only one worth talking about) comes from the Rio Grande do Sul. This is about as far south as you can get in Brasil, close to Uruguay and the northern border of Argentina. The climate here is obviously a bit more forgiving than the hot and steamy Brasil of the north. The colour is deep if not quite saturated with a purple rim. The cabernet nose is a nice mix of black fruits tending towards blackberry. The (12.7%) smooth palate shows good acidity, fine concentration and medium smooth tannins. A wine that is lovely to enjoy already, I'm not sure if there would be any benefit to wait. Very good. As a complete glutton, I made sure that I tried each offering at least twice. This is meat from your dreams, you cannot get better and you can really taste the difference between the different cuts. By European standars this is very cheap though happens to be the most expensive restaurant of its type in São Paulo - you can eat in this style for as little as 15 Rials - but don't expect such a level of service and superb tasting food elsewhere. Everyone should try this at least once - now where is my disc before I burst ! © nanson.ch 2000-2003