Copacabana!

D called up the other day and asked me if I wanted to try out this Brazillian BBQ restaurant in Toronto with some of the guys. Now I have some pretty good memories of the time I went to the Pampas in Las Vegas, so I said I'd go.

At a Brazillian BBQ, they bring skewers of all sorts of BBQ out to your table, and you tell the server if you want something or not. Then they carve pieces off the skewer for you right to your plate. Usually they have some sort of signalling system in place if you want a break from being offered all sorts of BBQed goodness. Eat till you are full, cause it is all you can eat.

I got there there a bit early for the reservation so I sat down at the bar and started on a Stella. It was a cool looking place, sort of the happening-spot type of place you'd find in a restaurant geared for people in their early 30s. The music was loud but not so loud that you can't talk to other people, cause K and T found me at the bar and we talked and joked about this and that until Don and a few others showed up.

Once everyone was there, we ordered some drinks and started on their salad & buffet. It wasn't really a huge selection but what they had was fresh. It wasn't really the main attraction after all. The rosemary bread was nice. The smoked salmon seemed like it was out for a while. There was a good creamy turkey stroganoff dish meant to go with rice. I enjoyed that, though I'm not sure how, er, Brazillian it is.

There was a bad spot where the willowy waiter taking care of our table's drinks spilled half a tray of drinks on a couple of people at our table. They were the easygoing sort though, and they just laughed it off. The manager came out and apologized for the incident. In the end we were given complimentary desserts, but we were way too full of bbq by then. So we passed on it.

Speaking of the barbecue, it came nice and full of flavour. Bacon wrapped filet mignon or turkey, rib eye steak, sirloin, prime rib. I think they need to have more pineapple coming around, that always was in demand and we didn't actually get any for the first 3/4ths of our meal. I had to ask for some lamb too cause all we saw was beef, but they were prompt in getting some lamb chops out right away so I have no complaints. I think they could have done with some sausages or something but I was quite satisfied with the food.

The bbq servers were a bit on the rough side, all spartan macho guys with tattoos and muscles. They didn't have a deferential, polite waiter approach to serving food - no "would you care for some prime rib" or "here you go sirs" here, they were all a laconic "This is Sirloin." (imagine Rambo saying it while spearing a skewer into your table top) or "Is there anything else you're looking for." It was kind of weird, but they were efficient.

I imagine that this would be a hard restaurant to rob, with all these tough guy servers stalking around the restaurant with skewers and carving knives.

Oh they had live music too. I'd read that they have dancing and capoiera performances sometimes, but on Sunday we were treated to jazzifed 80s pop. Not my thing, but people were enjoying it.

All in all it was enjoyable, but I'm not sure I'd go back. My share cost $55 for the food and drink, which is actually more than I paid in Vegas.

Allen.