On Saturday night, we went out to dinner with our dear friends, Kyrsten and John to celebrate Garrin’s upcoming birthday. We adventured to a new restaurant Texas de Brazil located in Detroit. We scheduled reservations in advance which I highly recommend. We witnessed a guest without reservations be informed the wait time of three hours that evening. We planned dinner for 6:00 pm and waited approximately 15 minutes for our table. The restaurant was packed and a bit noisy so that conversation was challenging at first. By 8:00 pm, it was less crowded and the atmosphere nicer. So if you are looking for an intimate dinner on a weekend night, I would suggest a later time to offset the crowds.
The restaurant is a Brazilian steakhouse (“Churrascaria”) and offers the cuisines of Southern Brazil. If you have never dined at a Brazilian steakhouse, it is quite an experience. We have had the opportunity to enjoy Samba in Vegas several times and this experience was similar in concept. There are multiple servers that come to the table with a different selection of meat on a skewer which is often carved and then given to you. Each guest at the table has a two sided place card and when turned to green, the carvers will swarm your table and serve you. You will want to turn the place card over to red when needing a break between servings. Our previous experience with this type of dining, we had one “timer” with red and green colored ends that the entire table used. Though both ways have their advantages, I think the single timer works better as the servers easily see if the table is in need of service. With individual place cards when one person is set to green and another red, the servers still seemed to ask the person with the red card if they could serve a piece of the item being presented.
There are various cuts of lamb, beef, pork, chicken and sausage to partake in–approximately 15 different options to enjoy. The lamb chops, short ribs and flank steak were favorites at our table and some of us even went back for additional portions. Prior to starting the meat rotation, we enjoyed the fantastic salad bar that features 50 to 60 selections including appetizers, seafood, gourmet vegetables, potatoes, breads, salads, cheese and soups. There was also a vast selection of salad dressings and I tried the Brazilian vinaigrette which was quite tasty. I honestly would have just enjoyed the salad bar for my meal as it was quite filling with so many options to try, however a lot of the fun is the overall dining experience. Our table was also served sides to share such as delicious mashed potatoes, cinnamon sugar covered roasted bananas and house-baked Brazilian cheese bread. The waiter even offered and served second helpings of these sides.
The wine list is extensive as well along with offering numerous cocktail selections (though most feature rum). Garrin and Kyrsten both tried the freshly-made signature cocktail, Caipirinha, in different fruity flavors. We also enjoyed coffee and each selected a decadent dessert from the plentiful options presented, chocolate mouse cake with three types of chocolate, carrot cake, traimisu, coconut cream cheese pie, cheesecake and key lime pie. I am still not sure how we made room for dessert after all that food!
The bill was expensive at approximately $175 a couple, however the meal was fantastic, the service both pleasant and efficient coupled with an enjoyable atmosphere. I highly recommend the Texas de Brazil restaurant and I am sure we will be back!
