Rodizio at Rodeo Brazilian Steakhouse: our Winterlicious dinner

Sirloin

This Winterlicious, hubby and I decded to try out this Brazilian steakhouse over at the Danforth. This would be our second experience with rodizio, a Brazilian-style service wherein food is brought to your table until you’ve had your fill. In churrascarias (traditional Brazilian-style steakhouses), servers come to the table with knives and skewers of various kinds of meat.

At Rodeo, we started off with some self-serve appetizers where all kinds of salads were prepared. I had some slices of smoked salmon and prosciutto as well as Caesar salad. The smoked salmon was buttery and fresh and the prosciutto was delightful. 

 

appetizers of smoked salmon, proscuitto, stuffed grape leaves

But what hubby and I really enjoyed were the garlic shrimps and steamed mussels. These were juicy and sweet, and the garlic sauce was just plain yummy! However, we needed to save space for the meats to come, so we settled for a few pieces and refrained from having second and third helpings.

Yummy shrimp and mussels!

For the main course, we were first served side dishes consisting of a rice dish called farofa (with beans and topped with cassava), fried plantains, mushrooms and mashed potatoes. The server also gave us the red/green cards.  Green indicated that we wanted to be served.  And for as long as you had your green card out, the meats would continue to come.  Once you have had enough, you flip the card to red.  

side dishes including farofa

 With our glass of Tempranillo, the meat started to arrive. We had sausages, boneless chicken, sirloin, filet mignon, rump roast steaks, roasted pork and many more. We skipped on chicken legs, chicken hearts and bacon-wrapped turkey. I really enjoyed the picanha (rump roast) with its slivers of fat making the meat tender and juicy. Hubby liked the porchetta (roasted pork butt). The garlic beef and parmesan-crusted pork loin were tasty as well. I did find the top sirloin on the salty side and hubby said the chicken was bland. I smothered it with chimichurri sauce, so I didn’t notice. I would say, though, that the chimichurri sauce we had at Parilla Patagonia in Bogota was spicier and tastier! Could this have been mellowed down for North American tastes?

Anyway, after 9 servings of meat, hubby and I flipped the card to the red. We were stuffed. Time for some palate cleansers! Our plates were changed and readied for our dessert—roasted pineapple with brown sugar and cinnamon. Whole pieces of pineapple were skewered, roasted and covered with brown sugar and cinnamon. These were sliced at our table, too.  This was so deliciously refreshing, I had two slices! I wonder how I can make this at home…I am seriously craving it!

Roasted pineapple

such a refreshing dessert!

  It was a good Winterlicious dinner with good value for money. One can’t go too wrong with grilled/roasted meat, after all. Add to that a great selection of appetizers which included some seafood and a fantastic, mouth-watering roasted pineapple dessert, you can count on me to return! For now, I’m all done, thank you!