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Glenn Lindgren: Texas de Brazil is a family owned restaurant "collection" with multiple locations, including three in their home state of Texas. To make it work at every location, quality control is essential, and at Texas de Brazil they do it right.

Jorge Castillo: Yes, the packaging is beautiful, but the food is truly the star of the show here.

Glenn Lindgren: Texas de Brazil is another entry in a growing list of Brazilian churrascarias serving traditional rodizio -- specially grilled meats that are delivered to you right at the table.

Jorge Castillo: The tradition is almost as old as Brazilian ranching. The gauchos or cowboys would hold periodic feasts for their families and friends.

Raúl Musibay: Just like we do with our annual pigroasts.

Glenn Lindgren: The meat would be slow cooked on a spit over an open fire. As the meat cooked, the gauchos would slice thin pieces from the skewers and serve them to the party goers.

Raúl Musibay: Texas de Brazil is all about meat. They have their own team, of "gauchos" who bring roasted meats fresh off the grill to your table.

Glenn Lindgren: They make it easy with a little card you keep by your plate. The green side means "keep it coming," the red side means "OK, enough already!"

Raúl Musibay: We've heard of people bringing vegetarian friends to this restaurant, and they do have a great salad bar.

Glenn Lindgren: However, with so much meat constantly parading by, your vegetarian friend is either going to run from the restaurant screaming, or better yet, soon convert to meat loving normality.

Raúl Musibay: Let's talk about the meat.

Friendly "gauchos" serve you a selection of meats at your table. We catch them here in the kitchen.

Glenn Lindgren: One of my favorites is the house specialty, Brazilian Picanha, a delicious top sirloin cap steak served either salted and grilled or soaked in a great garlic marinade.

Jorge Castillo: One surprise was a nice version of pork ribs, with a traditional smoky tomato-based barbecue sauce, a selection that is definitely more Texas than Brazil.

Glenn Lindgren: A little note on the protocol here -- don't worry, your waiter will explain everything -- the meats are brought to the table on skewers. With some of the items, such as the Brazilian sausage, your server will simply slide the meat off the skewer and onto your plate. For meats that need to be sliced, each diner is provided with small tongs. As the server begins the slice, you use the tongs to hold onto the slice. It's really a lot of fun.

Raúl Musibay: It's very easy to fill yourself up at the salad bar, it's very good.

Glenn Lindgren: Calling it a salad bar doesn't do justice to the quality of the offerings. This "salad bar" offers a couple dozen nice prepared dishes – everything from Brazilian black beans and rice, to French soft cheeses, to artichoke salad and hearts of palm.

Jorge Castillo: The night we went they also had smoked salmon and delicious Brazilian style pepper salami.

Glenn Lindgren: They really take the salad bar to new heights with portobello mushrooms, an excellent tabbouleh salad, pasta salad with zucchini, hearts of palm, and lightly grilled peppers – just to name a few.

Jorge Castillo: So enjoy the salad bar, but be sure to pace yourself!

Raúl Musibay: The filet mignon is very tender and like all of the meats is very juicy and flavorful.

Glenn Lindgren: All of the meat is prepared with a liberal coating of salt or a highly salted marinade. If you have an aversion to salt, they will prepare any of the meats the way you like them.

Jorge Castillo: That's one area where Texas de Brazil really stands out. Your waiter or waitress gives you a lot of personal attention and service.

Raúl Musibay: They really go all out to make sure the food is exactly the way you like it.

Jorge Castillo: Everything comes with sides of sweet plantain, garlic mashed potatoes, and some really appetizing cheese-filled bread rolls.

Glenn Lindgren: We'd like to see more seafood on the menu, and not just as an a la carte item.

Jorge Castillo: A grilled salmon would be great.

Glenn Lindgren: They do serve a shrimp cocktail and an Australian cold water lobster tail for an additional price, but we doubt many people take the seafood plunge with so many great meats here in abundance.

Raúl Musibay: If at the end of the evening you still have room for dessert, go for it.

Jorge Castillo: They serve several nicely presented desserts guaranteed to send you from the restaurant with a nice sugar high.

Glenn Lindgren: The Brazilian papaya crème served with a layer of liqueur floating on top is a great way to balance out your evening of eating salted Brazilian meats.

The Details

ATMOSPHERE: On the dressy side.

PRICES: Fixed price: Recently $50 at dinner, cheaper at lunch.

HOURS: Lunch: Daily 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. | Dinner: 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Sunday - Thursday | 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Friday & Saturday

CARDS: American Express, Diners Club, Discover, Mastercard, Visa

BAR: Full

WEBSITE: www.texasdebrazil.com

Three Guys From Miami:

Cuban, Spanish, and Latin American food recipes, Miami/Little Havana Travel Guide, Miami Restaurant Guide, Hispanic Culture & Food

The Three Guys From Miami are: Raúl Musibay, Glenn Lindgren, and Jorge Castillo

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