It turns out that Fogo de Chão and I have had more than our share of significant encounters over the years. I first visited this restaurant in about 1998 while on a business trip to North Dallas. Addison and the surrounding towns were getting established as the technology growth area of Dallas at the time (the Dallas sprawl has continued northwards at an extraordinary pace since then). Around the turn of the millennium, North Dallas’ “Restaurant Row” was in Addison, and it was the place to go for good food. Fogo had opened their first restaurant outside of Brazil there in 1997.
So, what is it ? First off, if you speak Portuguese, then the clue is in the name. Fogo de Chão (pronounced “foe-go duh shown”) means “fire of the ground”. People will refer to this being a “churrascaria” served “rodizio style”. OK, say what ? “Churrascaria” = “barbecue place” in Portuguese (roughly) so cooking meat over fire (i.e. the fire of the ground). Second, “rodizio” is the serving style. Essentially all you can eat with the server bringing the food to the table on huge spits. Both terms make for a great description of what’s going on : different meats get barbecued, and brought directly to the table where customers take what they want. Around this basic concept, they add the frills of unlimited salad (for amateurs only – save space for the meat !), Brazilian cocktails (caipirinha – a must !), fried bananas and the essential pão de queijo (tapioca-based cheese bread). There’s also probably the most under-utilised dessert menu in the world, if you failed the mission to eat all you could !
The “fire of the ground” Last gaucho to work gets the sausage spit… Picanha ! Medium-rare, miss ?
For a while this meat-fest concept in Addison was unique to me. I remember that each of my trips to Dallas needed to include a business dinner in Fogo de Chão, and colleagues did not mind indulging me. Soon, I realised that the concept was a success, and as with such things in the USA, the company was expanding – Fogo’s were opening everywhere. Washington DC, Orlando, Chicago, New York City. And competition was also starting up – it’s fair to mention “Texas de Brazil”, the slightly less-classy copycat to Fogo.
I mentioned significant encounters earlier, and I’ve discovered I’ve intersected with at least two more of their historical milestones over the years. I’d say this was by coincidence unless you believe in those strange, destiny-type forces that may be at play. Their flagship restaurant in the USA now is in Manhattan, NYC, and every January for the last quarter-century or so (give or take), I’ve visited that cold, wintry city for a tradeshow. In recent years, Fogo de Chão NYC has been another business dinner destination and new tradition for me. It’s a very impressive restaurant – huge, opulent, as you’d expect of an upscale Manhattan venue.
And maybe most bizarrely, and purely by chance, I discovered that in a particular suburb of São Paulo, Brazil where my employer’s local Brazil HQ is located, literally a couple of blocks from the office, is the restaurant where the Fogo expansion started… their first serious venture into commercializing the Fogo brand. It’s still a churrascaria (Brazilian Barbecue) but apparently intellectual property agreements signed when the founders sold out mean it is no longer branded a Fogo de Chão. Fun to visit for the history – food was, naturally, excellent !
We moved to Naperville, Illinois, in 2018. At the time of writing, the chain has only 57 restaurants around the World. So it’s quality, not quantity, I suppose. Now, lovely as Naperville is, I wouldn’t have thought it special enough to warrant it’s own Fogo, but it does ! In fact, Chicagoland has three of these 57 restaurants, and crucially, we have a “local” 🙂. So, after my first visit over twenty years ago, we finally moved into a city with its own Fogo de Chão. It’s not Manhattan. It’s not Addison, or São Paulo. But it’s a Fogo de Chão and it’s a 5 minute drive away !
Fogo de Chão = Fogo de Siôn ?
The connection is simple, and even more strange. The Portuguese “chão” is pronounced “shown”… so it’s, “Siôn” (ish). Fate deals another card. Ground Fire and Siôn’s Fire are one and the same in Portuguese !
And so, to cooking. Given all these connections, of course I needed to bring Fogo de Siôn to life in a small way.
Fogo’s signature dish is picanha. It’s beef steak – and little known to most butchers. It’s usually a special order. I’ve seen videos and articles on what part of the animal it comes from. Another name for it is the “top sirloin cap”, “culotte steak” or even “top rump cap”. It’s certainly part of the sirloin area, but usually butchers will cut those in different ways, based on the expectations/tastes of their customers. So the picanha cut is usually lost in the UK and USA to make more profitable sirloin steaks and the like.
It’s fairly straightforward to make, to be honest. The trick is in three things, I reckon. The quality of the meat (of course). Seasoning with SALT ONLY ! And preparing the meat for the spit in the right way.
Others may simply roast the cut whole on the barbecue – for me the only option is to recreate that ground fire idea and cook it on a spit on the rotisserie. So, there’s no recipe here. Meat. Cut. Salt. Rotisserie until done. In actual fact, there’s no “done” as such – you spin the meat, slice off what you want, and return the spit to the fire. Repeat, being careful not to overcook it.
Serve with garlic mash and pão de queijo.
A shout out to pão de queijo (cheese bread), here. If you’ve never had Brazilian cheese bread, you have to give it a go. They’re a bit like Brazilian Yorkshire Puddings (Brit reference) and they’re not difficult at all. The strangest part is that they’re made with tapioca flour but other than that, it’s just bread with cheese in it. It is, however, so addictive. As an aside, it’s always a delight to fly through São Paulo airport, for the bread, if nothing else. While British Airways puts out egg and cress sandwiches in their lounges, and American Airlines puts out brownies and M&M’s, the Brazilians put out bowls of plain pão de queijo….lovely !
Again, easy to make at home if you have tapioca flour (there’s NO substitute for this !). On the plus side, tapioca flour is gluten-free, so those allergic or intolerant to gluten…fill your boots ! Those familiar with the method for Yorkshire puds – it’s similar.
Pão de Queijo
Equipment
- mini-muffin tray
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- ⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1⅓ cup milk
- 3 cups tapioca flour
- 1 cup grated cheese
- 2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F
- Spray some oil into or grease your mini-muffin tin
- Thoroughly mix all of the ingredients in a bowl – use an electric whisk
- Pour the mix into the mini-muffin tin, leaving about 2-3mm space for expansion
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until just golden brown. Don't overdo it – less (pale) is better than them being too crispy – they're supposed to be soft.
- Cool on a rack or throw them into a serving basket. Best eaten straight away (just try not to !)
Endnote
At the time of writing, Fogo de Chão has not made it to the UK. Nor indeed has the slightly cheaper Texas de Brazil. There are rodizios in the UK, but they’re smaller, independent restaurants. I remember a really nice one Ginny and I went to in Leeds, and there’s one in the O2 Arena in London. Aside from these, the other one or two times have been a disappointment and even the good ones have not been a patch on the original. I suspect it’s to do with meat sourcing, throughput, price and a combination of these things to be profitable – you certainly need a good variety of high quality meat….at a reasonable price….and need to be moving it at a pretty high rate through the meal times. More to do in that area, I feel, and I look forward to the day when Fogo opens its doors in London.
Until then…Fogo de Siôn !
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