By Brazil

A group of women that I used to work with have been going out to lunch roughly once a month for quite a while now. Many of us are no longer are working together but this fun time is a way for us to keep in touch and I love it. Every time we go, one person picks the restaurant. Since we all live in different areas, this also gives us a chance to visit other places in the LA area. This time we went to Torrance to the By Brazil BBQ. Originally we were going to a vegan restaurant but that was closed on Sundays so we went to a steakhouse instead. As can be seen, we have eclectic tastes.

Brazilian steakhouses are very interesting. The first one I went to was in Niagara Falls. If you like meat, you need to try any Brazilian steakhouse and I don’t think you will be disappointed. First there is a “salad” bar which does have some fixings for salad and also has various salads like macaroni, potato and tuna salad. However, it is more than that. There was beef stroganoff which appeared to have a consistency more like a soup. I didn’t have any but others in the group declared it was very tasty. I did have the white rice which I covered with very good black beans. They had a black bean and sausage dish, garlic bread and delicious little cheesy rolls. They also had lasagna. There were plantains and yucca and more that I can’t remember. The only small complaint that I could make about the salad bar is that the plantains were mushier than I like. I would have liked them to be more solid and crispy.

Although you could just order the salad bar and hot buffet ($14.99), that isn’t why anyone would come to this restaurant. It’s the meat, it’s all about the meat. The man comes around throughout the meal with skewers of meat, all kinds of meat. You can have as much as you want, whatever you want. When you are finished, you turn this large spool over so the red side is up and then they don’t come to your table anymore. We started off with chicken thighs which were so tender, tasty and delicious. Then he came around with various steaks and would cut off what you wanted – tri-tip, top sirloin, skirt steak and I don’t remember the others. If you wanted it rare, as I did, he brought rare. If you wanted it more well-done, he gave you that. He sliced off as much meat as we wanted and he kept coming around at intervals that were just right. He also had sausage, which I didn’t have but BK loved. And there was marinated pork. I loved all the steaks except the skirt steak which I thought was rather tough. All the others, and I ate them all, were as tender and flavorful as could be.

There is a Brazilian steakhouse closer to my house which I have wanted to try. After this experience, I absolutely will go there. The cost for the entire meal including the hot buffet and salad bar is $19.95 which is very reasonable. This was a very nice experience, not only because the food was very good but also because the company was great.