Brazzaz

Brazzaz... Is this place open yet? If so, has anyone been?

Where is it, what is it?

It's yet another churrascaria opening up in the same neighborhood as fogo and sal e carvao.

Brazzaz
539 N. Dearborn St.
312-595-9000

It's not scheduled to open until early june.

Ahhh if I just looked a bit further.... here's what I found on Metromix:

New on the scene
The buzz on new and upcoming openings


By Chris LaMorte

Brazzaz

You've feasted at Fogo de Chao. You've gorged at Sal & Carvao. Still feeling a little protein deficient? Good news: Starting June 6, you'll get yet another Brazilian steakhouse to choose from in River North. For 49 bucks, sample from among 16 or so varieties of roasted meats, plus a seasonally influenced salad bar featuring choices like shellfish, and even two or three hot entrees. How's this place going to set itself apart from its competitors, you ask? Good service, says manager Marcello Cancelli. And plenty of wine. With a background that includes stints as a sommelier at 4-star Carlos' in Highland Park as well as managing the Dining Room at Ravinia Park, we believe him. Brazzaz wants to steer away from the procession of gauchos, waiters and busboys constantly walking up to the table in favor of a more relaxed approach. Cancelli will also offer an international wine list, with a section devoted to small American artisan producers.

This whole churrasqueria thing is perverse, it is so opposite of the way people eat in Brasil, and that it is what people here are being trained to think of as Brasilian food is just disturbing.

Brasilians eat perhaps 3 oz. of meat per day, and that's in a middle class family.

Do they have protein blow-outs? Yes. I have eaten some of the best game ever in my life in Brasil. But that's rare.

Even at a family churrasco, which is a meat-eating occasion, people probably eat 8-12 oz. That's the blow-out level.

Annie, I don't disagree in general. The churrascaria craze is skewing US perceptions of what Brazilian food is in a weird way. However, there are lots of these places, packed with Brazilians, in Brazil (and South FL where they opened to serve Brazilians) now. Porcao and Fogo are two examples.

Also, I have not visited the state whence this concept supposedly originates. However, to the extent that the Gauchos of rural far Southern Brazil eat like Argentines, well, they probably eat quite a lot of meat on a daily basis, rather in contrast to most other Brazilians. Like the US, it's a big, big country.

None of that diminishes your main point, with which I wholeheartedly agree.

Jeff,

It was a bit of a rant, but this is a sore point with me. It's a huge country with tons of culinary variety, both in ingredients and kinds of cooking (as opposed to say, Chile, which frustrated me when I was there because it was all these impeccable ingredients in search of a cuisine, or something more than a few typical dishes:-)

FWIW, the Wal-Marts in Brasil are probably packed too. When I lived there, I lived in Southern Brasil (not Rio Grande do Sul, however) where the predominant ethnicities were Italian and German. I have not found (though it may have changed). Notwithstanding the similarity of those influences to the Argentine experience, I found that people ate a Brasilian-style diet, i.e. a plate of rice and beans garnished with small helpings of other foods. Italian came in with the addition of risotto or macarao (macaroni) to the rice and beans, not in the addition of more meat (as in Argentina).

Again, it's a sore point with me, and to see the level of enthusiasm for them here, when it is impossible to find a moqueca, a vatapa, a caruru, quiabada, any of the small street foods, the simple fish and seafood preparations, etc......the mind boggles.

And we rankle when people in other parts of the world think of us as a McDonald's (or perhaps Ponderosa would be a more apt comparison in this case) nation:-)

Hopefully this will be my last rant on the topic, but I can't promise:-)

annieb wrote:This whole churrasqueria thing is perverse, it is so opposite of the way people eat in Brasil, and that it is what people here are being trained to think of as Brasilian food is just disturbing.

Brasilians eat perhaps 3 oz. of meat per day, and that's in a middle class family.

Do they have protein blow-outs? Yes. I have eaten some of the best game ever in my life in Brasil. But that's rare.

Even at a family churrasco, which is a meat-eating occasion, people probably eat 8-12 oz. That's the blow-out level.

I kinda never noticed this before. Anyways, I once spent a week in Novo Hamburgo and other parts of S. Brazil. In my limited experience, well it was a lot of food. Surely, eating at a churascaria is not like eating at home, and I cannot say what home cooking was like, but the restarurants, it was a hell of a lot more than 3 oz of meat per day. A lot of meat we ate (as Yodi would say).

Now, Brazzaz: They are running a $19.99 lunch special through the end of the month, and if so inclined for this kinda thing, it was very good. I actually thought the meats a bit better than Fogo, the fogo, the charcoal grill stood out as did the salt seasoning. The salad bar is supposed to be best here, so Phil V sez, but it was no better I thought than Fogo (my only other point of reference in Chicago). Service was outstanding, but not quite as outstanding as Fogo, where the service is beyond outstanding and borders on the eerie it is so good. Like I say, a very good lunch special.

One more thing. Do learn from my error and make a reservation before visiting Brazzaz.