A dozen meats, all-day happy hour, and Brazilian cheese balls… if your mouth is already watering,
then it's time to head over to Chama Gaúcha steakhouse.
The word "chama" means "flame" in Portuguese, a nod to how Brazilian barbecue is typically
cooked over an open fire. It also alludes to the spirit and cultural heart of the gauchos.
The word "gaucho" refers to the cowboys of South America. With a lasso and a knife, they roamed the
countryside and rounded up cattle to gather meat for communal barbecues. They became legendary for
their love of the high life, including culinary delights like drinks and delicious rustic meals.
The spirit of the gaucho has since been passed down for generations. Today, the word is often
used in concert with the specially-trained chefs in Brazilian steakhouses who cook and
serve all of those succulent fire-roasted meats that churrascarias are known for.
"You know what a churrascaria is?"
"Yeah, it's a Brazilian steakhouse."
Brazil's national cocktail is the caipirinha, a mix
of lime juice, sugar, and a spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice called cachaça. Cachaça
is somewhat similar to rum, as both come from sugar, but rum is made from sugarcane byproducts
like molasses while cachaça is made straight from sugarcane. This slight deviation tends to
make rum sweeter than cachaça, and gives cachaça an earthier and more herbaceous flavor profile.
As a testament to its Brazilian roots, Chama Gaúcha selected the caipirinha as its signature
drink. Their version is made with fresh lime juice, sugar, and two ounces of Velho Barreiro
cachaça. If you're looking for something special with a tropical, fruity twist, Chama Gaúcha also
offers some flavored caipirinhas, such as strawberry, pineapple, passionfruit, and tropical.
After working at the churrascaria Fogo de Chão for over two decades, native Brazilian João Carlos
Ongaratto opened the doors to the first Chama Gaúcha in 2008. What sets Chama Gaúcha apart from
Fogo de Chão? For one thing, it's the atmosphere. Chama Gaúcha puts a lot of emphasis on carefully
creating an exceptionally warm and inviting environment. As they put it on their website,
Since the first spot opened in San Antonio, Chama Gaúcha has gone on to establish two more locations
in Houston and Chicago. By honing his craft in the Brazilian steakhouse business for over 20 years,
Ongaratto was not only honoring the rich traditions of his homeland,
but also paving the way for a future business plan of his own.
Brazilian steakhouses are well-known not just for their flame-broiled meat,
but also for their frequently enormous and delicious salad bars. Chama Gaúcha boasts a
particularly high-quality one with a wide array of different items,
making it a highly desirable destination for carnivores and vegetarians alike.
"Two sal-ads. Never heard of it. I got to stay hip!"
Some of the diverse salad bar items at Chama Gaúcha include specialty cheeses,
cured meats, fresh vegetables, olives, asparagus, peppers,
and more. All told, Chama Gaúcha's salad bars are downright lush. That's pretty impressive,
especially considering how much steakhouses are known for, you know, the steaks.
Good news for everyone with a certain food intolerance:
all of Chama Gaúcha's marinades are now gluten-free! They used to add beer,
which typically contains gluten, to some of its marinades, but they've since removed
any gluten-containing ingredients to accommodate a wider range of diners.
Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye, some of the key ingredients in alcohol
production, especially beer. For diners who are sensitive to gluten, ingesting
these ingredients can trigger an autoimmune response that damages the small intestine,
leading to a wide range of health complications. So Chama Gaúcha's decision to forgo gluten in its
marinades is an important one for any customers with celiac disease or gluten sensitivities.
Brazilian steakhouses are rightfully famous for their glorious abundance
of flame-charred meats. Chama Gaúcha follows suit and honors
this custom by offering 12 unique cuts of meat at its restaurants. Naturally,
many of those options are focused on beef, the historic favorite of the gauchos.
Picanha, a prime cut of sirloin, is Chama Gaúcha's house specialty. Other
beef offerings include fraldinha, bottom sirloin, and filet mignon. Chama Gaúcha offers also porco,
which takes the form of a rack of pork ribs or loins lightly seasoned with parmesan.
If ribs are your jam, then check out the cordeiro, which comes from lamb. Bacon lovers
will be delighted by the filet mignon e frango, a filet of beef or chicken wrapped in cured
pork belly. And then there's the pairing called frango e linguica, which consists of marinated
drumsticks and pork sausage. By offering at least a dozen different barbecued meats,
Chama Gaúcha is ensuring that diners have plenty of distinctly delicious options.
"That's a lot of meat, son! What happened to being a vegetarian?"
Chama Gaúcha understands the importance of maximizing the
flavor of its barbecue. This dedication is especially apparent when you learn
that the restaurant uses only high-quality USDA Prime meats,
and that it ages its cuts for a minimum of 45 days before seasoning them to perfection.
Aging is a surefire way to enhance all of the meat's flavors, and the sweet spot seems to be
somewhere in the range of 30 to 45 days. This is because aging slowly draws some of the interior
moisture out of the meat, a process that ends up dramatically concentrating its natural flavor
profile. Furthermore, the aging process breaks down the meat's natural enzymes and tenderizes
it to create a juicier and more delicate bite when it finally arrives on your plate.
By aging all of its meats, there's no doubt that Chama Gaúcha is pleasing its
diners by improving the flavor of its Brazilian barbecue beyond an already impressive baseline.
Having a solid happy hour is obviously a great way to entice customers in, and Chama
Gaúcha offers some pretty incredible happy hour specials. This includes a well-stocked selection
of beverages and special small plates. If you're looking to beat back those early workweek blues,
happy hour lasts all day on Mondays and Tuesdays. Then on Wednesdays,
Thursdays, and Fridays, it starts up after lunch and ends before dinner.
Chama Gaúcha's happy hour menu consists of the signature drink,
an authentic caipirinha, for only seven bucks — and most of their beers will only
set you back a few dollars. Mixed drinks are anywhere from six to eight bucks,
and there are even a couple of different glasses of wine for variety's sake.
Besides the booze, Chama Gaúcha offers a few light plates to nibble on during
happy hour. These include otherwise pricey filet mignon, grilled shrimp,
garlic beef, and house signature picanha. You could easily pull off a drink and a bite
that'll end up costing you only around $20, a great deal for such a high-quality meal.
It's no stretch to say that every restaurant wants to earn the respect
of the culinary community as one of the best in the business. For a relatively small operation
with just three locations, Chama Gaúcha has pulled off just such an accomplishment.
In a 2022 article, Urban Matter selected Chama Gaúcha as one of the best Brazilian
restaurants in the Chicago area. That's an extraordinary feat in a
city that's renowned for its vibrant food culture with no shortage of churrascarias.
Chama Gaúcha gained attention because of its stellar ingredients and excellent service,
two key features that should be a part of any top-notch eatery.
More accolades have come from the San Antonio Current,
where Chama Gaúcha came in first place amongst steakhouses and was listed as
the best restaurant of its kind in San Antonio in 2021. And this was the third year running,
no less. With distinctions like these, it's clear that Chama Gaúcha is here to stay.
"That's high praise."
A meal at Chama Gaúcha kicks off with delicious Brazilian cheese balls called
pão de queijo [POWN-deh KAY-zho]. If you've never tried them before, you're in for a treat. Most
pão de queijo is made with simple ingredients like eggs, oil, milk, cheese, and tapioca flour.
Their flavor is similar to cheese straws, and the texture inside is similar to mochi.
The interesting texture of pão de queijo comes from its tapioca flour, which in turn comes
from the cassava [kuh-SAH-vuh] tuber root. If you have wheat or gluten sensitivities,
you'll be happy to learn that even though tapioca has lots of carbs,
it's gluten-free. So as long as you're not allergic to any of the other ingredients,
you should find pão de queijo safe, and delicious, to eat.
When you visit Chama Gaúcha, you can expect an all-you-can-eat dining experience. Every time
you want a server to return to your table with more meat, all you have to do is flip your card
over from the red to the green side to indicate that you're still hungry. Customers have reported
on Reddit that you can even ask for new meat if you already have some on your plate that wasn't
to your liking — but you'll probably get a cut of meat you like the first time around,
since the servers will always ask how well you want your meat done.
With 12 different types of meat available, it may be tempting to try them all. As noted
by Psychology Today, we're more likely to overeat when we're offered delicious food
in an all-you-can-eat format, especially when there's a high price tag. After all,
we want to get our money's worth. It's easiest to avoid overeating when you're no longer hungry if
you separate the price of the meal from the food in your mind. It might help if you think about the
fact that you're paying for a Brazilian steakhouse experience as much as you're paying for the food.
"Give 'em an authentic Brazilian experience without having to take ten-hour flight."
Chama Gaúcha currently has three locations, with a fourth in the works. While one is in the
Chicago suburbs, all the others are in Texas, where the chain's headquarters are located.
When you think of Texas, chances are that your mind conjures cowboys and
cattle wrangling. It was in southern Brazil among the gaucho culture where
the concept of the Brazilian steakhouse was born, after all. So it's no surprise
that Brazilian steakhouses now thrive in a similar environment in the United States.
Everything is bigger in Texas, and this is especially true when it comes to the newest
Chama Gaúcha restaurant that's opening in Dallas. The building is a whopping
1.1 million square feet. According to city documents, the renovated dining space is
big enough to accommodate 389 customers, and the parking lot has space for 160 vehicles.
Chama Gaúcha's servers have a tendency to be obsessively attentive to their customers. When
they're not overly busy, it's not uncommon to have more than one server descend upon you the
moment you switch your table's card from red to green. A 2014 review of the restaurant in
Houston Press found this attention to keeping water glasses full almost became annoying,
especially if intimate conversations were interrupted. However, during peak hours,
the number of customers in the restaurant can cause the service
and atmosphere to suffer. And with more customers to attend to, it's impossible
for them to serve every customer as quickly as they're able to during the slower times.
So with that in mind, the best times to visit the Houston Chama Gaúcha are at lunch and before 7 PM
Monday through Friday, before 5 PM on Saturdays, and before 6 PM on Sundays. For the best service
at the San Antonio Chama Gaúcha, visit at lunchtime, Monday through Tuesday before 7 PM,
or Wednesday through Friday before 6 PM. Saturday diners will get the best service
before 4 PM. And Sunday has two peaks: between 2 PM and 3 PM, and again from 6 PM to 8 PM.
The Chicago restaurant in the Downers Grove suburb isn't open for lunch. However,
they aren't very busy at all from Monday through Thursday,
so those are the best days to visit. Business picks up on the weekends,
though, so it's best to visit on Fridays and Saturdays before 7 PM and Sundays before 4 PM.