Austin, TX

Good morning, Austin. I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! My niece and her boyfriend were in town visiting and we took the opportunity to take them to dinner at the new Brazilian restaurant out in South Austin. Estancia Churrascaria is located on Highway 290 in Sunset Valley (next to the Holiday Inn Express). I’d made reservations for 7 o’clock, which did not appear in their book. That was not the first time I’d had problems with reservations at this restaurant. Fortunately, they managed to accommodate us and found us a table right away. I think I was giving off that “you’d better sort this out quickly or things will get ugly” vibe.
My first experience at a churrascaria was at Porcão Churrascaria in Miami, a restaurant that seared itself into my memory not only for it’s delectable meats but also for its beefy price tag!

A Churrascaria, for those who’ve never experienced one, is a Brazilian or Portuguese steakhouse, and a carnivore’s delight. Churrascaro is a style of cooking that is a form of slow roasting over open flames. Each diner is given a two-sided disk, one side red, the other green. Placing the green side up indicates you’re ready for meat, red side down signals the waiters to stop piling it on your plate. Waiters, dressed smartly as gauchos, parade through the restaurant with long skewers of meat cooked from rare to well done. Meats range from linguica (sausage) to picanha (house specialty sirloin) to bacon wrapped chicken to filet mignon to lamb and much, much more. Did I mention that it’s a meat lovers paradise?

Each table is generously set with side dishes of seasoned mashed potatoes, fried bananas and delectable little cheese rolls.

Estancia Churrascaria is relatively new to Austin, having just opened in March of this year (2007). They have already outgrown their location. Tables are so close together that it’s hard to get around and waiters and guests are constantly bumping into you, your table and each other. While the table behind us was up at the salad bar one of the waiters bumped it and sent a glass of wine flying across the table.

On the plus side, they have an excellent salad bar with such offerings as caprese salad, hearts of palm and artichokes all spectacularly and temptingly laid out.

Don’t let that fool you.

Same thing with those delectable little side dishes!

Rule Number 1:

Go with an appetite! Eat a light breakfast and a light lunch. Be aware that salad is cheaper and they’d rather you filled up on the green stuff.

Me? I’m not fooled. I skip the salad, although I am sorely tempted by the caprese salad. Mmmm…buffalo mozzarella.

Rule Number 2:

Never, ever, go without a reservation. I know people who’ve waited for well over an hour.

Rule Number 3:

Don’t fill up on beverages, salad or side dishes. My nieces boyfriend sucked down two colas with his salad and then complained as we were leaving that he was hungry and ready for more meat. Silly boy. If you leave this place hungry you should be shot.

Last but not least is dessert. I try to save a little room for dessert. Not a lot, mind you, but enough to share a dessert. On this particular excursion, my dinner partner and I shared the crème brulée. The crust was perfect and I must admit that they have some of the smoothest custard I’ve ever had and I’m no crème brulée dilettante.

While I am hearing some rumblings that Estancia Churrascaria is not as good as Fogo De Chao, I’d like to point out that Fogo De Chao is an established restaurant. It’s also a good $10 a head more expensive. Estancia Churrascaria is experiencing the birthing pains of any new venture and their doing it with mounting numbers of guests. Let’s give them a chance to establish themselves.

Fogo De Chao fans need not worry, however, as their website clearly indicates that they’ll be coming to Austin soon! I, for one, welcome the competition!

For those of you wishing to experience Estancia Churrascaria, you may want to go soon. Rumor is that their prices will increase soon.

One last thing, for the restaurant owners, please fix the toilet seats in the women’s bathroom before someone (probably me) slides off the broken seats, bonks their head on the wall and is found in a meaty coma on your pretty floor tiles!

[tags]Churrascaria, estancia, restaurant, review, austin, brazil, brazillian, meat, sausage, picahna[tags]