[Sca-cooks] Brazillian pig-out- OOP

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Aug 26, 2007, at 10:09 AM, Saint Phlip wrote:

> It was WONDERFUL ;-) The deal is, they have an excellent salad bar,
> with all sorts of goodies to start you off- standard stuff like tossed
> salad makings, devilled eggs, and recognizable American-style cold
> salads (onion, cuke, and tomato in a vinegar and oil dressing, for
> example) to specialties including couscous, black beans and orzo.
> Worth a meal there, itself.

Not worth, is, in some cases. Some of these places have hot foods,  
and virtually anything else you might want in the meal apart from the  
freshly grilled/roast meats, up to and including pastas, soups, and  
feiojada, the black-bean-and-mixed-meat stew that is the national  
dish of Brazil (think of olla podrida with black beans instead of  
chick peas and you'll get the general idea).

My lady wife's only complaint was, as she says, more about her needs  
and expectations than about the place's failure to meet them: as,  
since everyone knows, any proper dinner includes rice, soup, and a  
cooked green vegetable, she found them a little negligent in the  
cooked green vegetable department. However, as most cooked green  
vegetables don't hold up too well to being kept warm in a bain-marie  
tray, this is not surprising and probably eminently excusable for  
most people.

> But, the main idea of the restaurant is to serve you meat, and such
> meat it is ;-) Basicly, at intervals, they come out with meat on a
> skewer, and the server describes it, and if you want some, they give
> you a piece or three, however much you want. If you want more, they'll
> bring out a skewer if you ask.

At the place we've been known to frequent (Green Field in Corona, NY,  
now apparently expanded into a small national chain), they have a  
small wooden cylinder on each table, looking somewhat like the head  
of a croquet mallet, and painted brightly red on one end and green on  
the other. Obviously, the (then) small child had to play with this  
object, and we found ourselves mysteriously and inexplicably  
inundated with both attention and meat. Would you like some of these  
sweetbreads? We're like, Sure. How about some of this skirt steak?  
Sure, why not? Short ribs? H**l, yeah! Chorizo? Yes, please. Turkey  
and bacon kebabs? Why not? Lamb? Duck? Rabbit? Yeah, well, we  
wouldn't want to hurt their feelings. Okay!

Well, it turned out the waiter who had seated us failed to explain  
the part about the little wooden block being used as a flag for more  
meat, or that everything was fine and we should be left alone,  
depending on which way it was turned up.

<snip>

> And, while it certainly wasn't cheap, at $38 per person for the meal
> (drinks and dessert excepted) it certainly wasn't a budget breaker.

For both what you get and the overall experience, I agree. I see that  
our local version charges $26.95 for dinner, which is up somewhat  
from what I remember them charging the last time I was there, which  
might be a couple-three years ago, something like $19.95.

Adamantius (busy with Ian Kelly's life of Careme, reading the recipes  
and fighting back tears)