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Fogo de Chao

An all-you-can-eat Brazilian restaurant? With a salad bar? We wondered – is this Brazil’s answer to Outback Steakhouse?

But then we tried it. Fogo de Chao is a terrific, well executed concept, offering a large choice of high quality Churrasco meats and numerous fresh side dishes, served in a party like atmosphere. Although part of a dining empire stretching from Sao Paolo to Beverly Hills, the D.C. outpost looks and feels like anything but a chain.

Opened only a few months ago in the former Planet Hollywood space five blocks from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, Fogo de Chao is a huge restaurant with seating for more than 300 on two levels. The large size adds to the party atmosphere, hence, the noise level as well. The back wall mural marks the place as Brazilian, but the dark woods and understated, graceful décor could be found in New York.

The term “interactive dining” came to us as we made our way to the amazing salad bar (there must be a better name for this), dodging the gaucho waiters carrying grilled meats on long skewers. Salted ham, assorted cheeses, fresh red and yellow peppers, artichoke hearts, asparagus spears – all were appealingly presented and enough to make a hearty, healthful meal (which diners can choose for $19.50 at lunch or dinner).

Back at our table we flipped our placard to the green side up as the waiters descended upon our table to offer more than a dozen meaty choices: leg of lamb or chops, sirloin flavored with sea salt and garlic, filet mignon wrapped in bacon, pork sausages, juicy beef ribs. We get into the game by helpfully using tongs to catch the thin pieces of meat sliced from the skewers. While all were good, the lamb really stood out. The meal is served with toasty polenta and bananas, and seasoned mashed potatoes, all exceeding expectations. Finally we flip the placard over to the red side to stop the onslaught. After a brief respite it’s back to green. This is fun ...

Fogo de Chao offers Brazil’s well known Caipirinha cocktail made with Cochaca rum, lemon juice and sugar, along with an extremely wide global variety of wines. After a couple trips to the salad bar and sampling nearly every meat, we really didn’t expect to have room for dessert. But we did. Don’t miss the flan with its lightly charred exterior and decadently rich and satisfying interior.

Fogo De Chao
1101 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC
(202) 347-4668
www.fogodechao.com

Finemondo and Primi Piatti
Finemondo and Primi Piatti owner and executive chef Savino Recine is a magician. Really.

Many know Recine for the magic he has spun for nearly twenty years at his Italian stalwart Primi Piatti (still in its original location overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue) and for four years at Finemondo, his gorgeous Italian country kitchen in his and Yannick Cam’s former Catalan East (two blocks on the other side of the White house on F Street). Recine started his career as a restaurant grunt worker and has since become an institution in D.C.

Lately he has been holding court in chef whites on Saturday evenings, entertaining guests with card tricks and other sleights of hand, and has institutionalized this sideline into “Magical Saturdays at Primi Piatti”. For no additional charge, Recine may accurately guess what you want for dinner, phone a psychic who can divine the card your holding, and sometimes bring the guests into the act as seen with a wedding proposal from a real “king of hearts” last December.

At Finemondo, Recine brings in professional magicians, and guests choose whether to participate by placing a crystal ball on their table (clever touch). While Recine is an accomplished magician, the work of the professionals is downright freaky: playing cards from across the table appear in your dining partner’s pocket, water disappears from a cup held over your head, and cell phone numbers are deduced from a deck of cards. Coupled with the magic from Recine’s kitchen, Saturday nights at his restaurants are a real hoot.

“Magic has been a passion of mine since I was ten years old,” Recine says. He uses it in his restaurants to help “my customers get to know me throughout my fantasy, my love and my dreams, hoping to create unforgettable moments where people feel good,” the goal of any fine restaurateur.

Finemondo
1319 F Street, NW
Washington, DC
(202) 737-3100
www.finemondo.com

Primi Piatti
2013 I Street, NW
Washington, DC
(202) 223-3600
www.primipiatti.com

Charlie Palmer Steak
From a script set for disaster, Chef Charlie Palmer (of Aureole fame) opened a power lunch steak joint in a capital city chock full of power lunch scenes and steak houses. And yet he immediately set himself and his restaurant, Charlie Palmer Steak, apart.

Backed by Washington insiders, Palmer’s restaurant found an underserved location (the Senate side of Capitol Hill) and eschewed the typical dark wood and clubby feel of traditional meat houses for a more subdued and urbane look. Architectural designer Martin Vahtra created the restaurant around the view of Capitol Hill, with a wall of windows in both bar and dining areas. It retains the see-and-be-seen prospect of DC power spots without the raw meat hanging on a hook in a locker – an often apt scene in the political capital of the world.

The menu is unique to Charlie Palmer Steak. Gone are the tired clichés of steak and chop houses: dreary baked potatoes, boring broccoli and uninspired chunks of meat. In their place are interesting and modern appetizers employing crab, oysters, beets and sashimi grade tuna. The side dishes nod to the traditional while being progressive enough to make even the macaroni and cheese concept interesting. The entrees run from well known cuts of beef to duck, tuna, bass, halibut and lobster, but the accompanying sauces are the stars of the show, utilizing kaffir limes, assorted mushrooms, truffles, fennel, citrus, root vegetables, dates and more. Diners can order a series of sauces on the side – béarnaise, horseradish, peppercorn and cabernet.

Sommelier Keith Goldston spent two years gathering a list of American wines, including at least one from each state. The restaurant holds more 10,000 bottles and displays 3,500 in its attractive wine cube that seems to float across the restaurant. Goldston deploys apparently the only “eWinebook” in town that allows diners to more easily get their arms around such a massive list.

Charlie Palmer Steak is not the familiar, venerable old place that will never change. Palmer says that his “menu will constantly change and progress to reflect the seasons and people’s tastes.” Good. Then we’ll keep coming back.

Charlie Palmer Steak
101 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC
(202) 547-8100
www.charliepalmer.com/steak_dc

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