There’s top sirloin, garlic beef, beef kabob, tri-tip, New York steak, pork loin, pork ribs, pork sausage, chicken, bacon-wrapped turkey, and leg of lamb.Īnd, as the pitchman says late at night, there’s more! Once the skewers start arriving, they never seem to stop: There’s picanha, an irresistible order of top sirloin, the signature dish in most Brazilian steakhouses, which is sometimes marinated in garlic, sometimes flavored with peppers, and sometimes both. Samba is the only churrascaria in town that offers a view – though the view may fade from sight as you dig into the meat, which arrives (like the sea) in waves large and larger. (Though if you want to try, on Friday and Saturday nights the Samba Lounge turns into a disco thanks to DJ Matteo, who does his spinning from 8 p.m. Show up on a Friday or a Saturday night, and at 7:30, 8:30 and 9:30 p.m., you’ll find your meal being enhanced by a crew of Brazilian samba dancers who do the sort of energetic dance you and I couldn’t possibly do – especially after a few rounds of meat.
Still, it’s hard to resist dishes such as marinated eggplant with capers a salad of potatoes and hearts of palm the soft, slightly sweet Brazilian bread filled with cheese called pao de quel jo and the traditional Brazilian stew called feijoada.
In other words, you can stuff yourself pretty well at the buffet, though of course that would be a mistake, for it would leave that much less room for the beef. The buffet consists of an assortment of salad items, which under more modest circumstances would make for a perfectly pleasurable evening’s repast. Veritable cows, sheep and pigs carried about restaurants on a pike, roasted to a turn, expertly carved at your table by gents with machetes, who feed you until you beg for mercy or the check, whichever you may prefer.Īs is usual at our several Brazilian barbecue shops, the drill at Samba consists of some fiddling about at the buffet before throwing yourself into carnivorous indulgence. But really, why go to a Brazilian churrascaria, if you’re not going for the meat?īeef is so highly revered in Brazil and Argentina that sometimes I get the feeling that South America is just one big Lawry’s – a land where meat is king, and vegetarianism is an aberration punishable by the forced consumption of massive amounts of beef.įriends returning from Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and the like tell tales of awesome meals of gargantuan proportions, at the center of which is lots and lots of meat.
There’s a sumptuous buffet of salads and vegetables (and also meat). So these days, if you want to eat at Samba you have to do it for the sheer love of meat. You might lose the weight at first, but then, you put it back on, and wound up weighing more than ever. I really was in hog heaven.Īnd like most things that are too good to be true, well, after awhile it became obvious that it didn’t quite work. What a wonderful diet – gluttony rewarded with a svelte, Paris Hilton-thin body. The more meat we ate (if I remember correctly) the thinner we became. I mean, that was the way we were supposed to eat, right? The diet suggested – no, demanded! – that we consume all the meat we could. The espetada de picanha com linguica ($24.50) is a must-try as well! It is a skewer with the same sausage, rump steak, peppers, and onion, all grilled together.Back in the great days of the Atkins Diet, it was easy to justify a massive feed at a Brazilian steakhouse like Samba in the Redondo Beach Marina.
This dish is all-pork Linguica Toscana sausage cooked down with fragrant tendrils of onion, presented in a cast iron plate so everything bathes in its own warm, porky gravy. They’re only $6.50 for an order of three, making it a great dish to share among friends or family.Īnother very Brazilian tapas-like sharing starter is the pan-fried sausage and onions with garlic bread ($10). One of their most popular dishes is their teardrop-shaped croquettes, filled with pureed chicken combined with creamy, salty catupiry cheese and a thick breadcrumb shell deep-fried to a crispy golden brown. On their menu are traditional Brazilian dishes including grilled meats and caipirinhas. They’ve been operational for 13 years, named after one of Brazil’s major cities that frequently sees temperature climbs. For anyone who loves grilled food, Rio 40 Degrees is a must-visit restaurant.
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