Fogo De Chao Brazilian Steakhouse Restaurant in Chicago
Fogo De Chow Restaurant (661 N. LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois 60610) is a truly unique all you can eat continuous service dining experience. They specialize in Brazilian raised Beef and offer 22 different meat specialties. I was lucky to get to go to Fogo De Chow recently and I would vote it as a four star restaurant.
My boyfriend’s parents were coming to town and we wanted to go somewhere special to celebrate his birthday. Fogo De Chao (chow) was a great place for this because my boyfriend and his parents are big meat lovers and Fogo De Chao offers the best Brazillian Beef that you can buy. They also specialize in the Gaucho way of roasting and cooking the meat on large spit fire rotating skewers and they serve directly from those skewers at the table, as you can see in the photo.
They serve the meat in a continuous service type situation, determined by the paper token on your table. (shown in 2nd picture) If you are ready to receive more meat, you flip the coin to green and almost immediatley there is a crowd of Gauchos (yes they are really wearing traditional Gaucho pants) around your table asking if you would like any of the succulent selections they have on the skewers. They ask that you use the silver tongs to recieve your meat and guide it to the plate. Then you just keep receiving more meat until your plate is full. Then when you have more Brazilian Beef than you know what to do with, you flip the card back to red, and you can begin to eat again. We enjoyed many cuts of filet mignon, sirloin, roast, chicken, rib eye, ribs, lamb, pork, bacon wrapped beef and others I can’t remember.
They do have more than just Brazilian beef. They have an amazing large salad bar that is for starters, but they openly warn you not to fill up on salad because the beef is the main course. They also have these little cheese infused rolls at the table that are amazingly soft and they melt in your mouth. Then as a side dish you get 3 sides brought to your table and refilled as many times as you want. They are mashed potatoes, crispy fried polenta and fried banana plantanes, all traditional side dishes in Brazil.
This is the 4th Fogo De Chao restaurant of 10 in the United States and the trend of Brazillian Beef is sweeping the nation. I think people are excited about this new type of restaurant because it allows you to enjoy so many different selections of meat, and it is a really unique experience. Every cut of meat I had there was exceptional, and one selection would have been great. To be able to try all of them was unbelievable. And just to make things even better, it was my boyfriend’s birthday and his Dad tipped off the waiter to let him know and they brought a huge slice of cake to the table with a candle in it too. (no singing was required thankfully) the drinks were also amazing, but I was not drinking mixed drinks from the bar that evening so I am not sure what to recoomend other than a Martini or a Mojito.
So if you are looking for a restaurant that has a great dinner selection and a unique dining experience Fogo De Chao would be the place to go. The dinner there was $48.50 per person plus tax, tip and drinks. For downtown Chicago premium restaurants that is a good price and lower than many others.
Their hours are:
Lunch:
Monday-Friday 11am-2pm
Dinner:
Monday-Thursday 5pm-10pm
Friday 5pm- 10:30pm
Saturday 4:30pm-10:30pm
Sunday 4pm- 9:30pm.
Wow, I did know there’s a restaurant like Fogo de Chão in Chicago. How great is that?! I live in South of Brazil too (next to the gauchos… lol), in Santa Catarina state. There’re a lot of “rodízio” restaurants (serving the meat continuosly) and brazilians love that kind of service. Good to know you enjoy it up there too! =)
By the way, do you know what “Fogo de Chão” means? I’d say it’s something like a bonfire, y’know? Gauchos use to make big ones to roast the meat on it. =D
Well, love your post!
Take good care! ; )
Kisses,
Andréa.
That ALL sounds incredibly good, but I’m particularly taken with the cheese-infused rolls, which sound amazing!
Thanks for the comments!
I did not know what Fogo De Chao meant, but that makes sense. There is a huge fire pit roasting meat in the front window of the restaurant. I am sure there are more in the back in the kitchens as well. Brazilian beef is really catching on here in Chicago. There are 2 restaurants (Brazazz and Tango Sur is similar) that offer the same type of meat and service, but I haven’t been to them yet to know if they are as good as Fogo De Chao.
I made my way to Chicago to try this place,I will say my two kids loved it just as much if not more than me. There was 7 of us total and not one bad word about this place from any of us.Thank you people at FOGO DE CHAO for a great dinning experience.