The Most Expensive Meal We Have Ever Had!

[Barbara L]

We had seen this Brazilian restaurant over at the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois (where we have been since last week--we're leaving tomorrow). We decided to try it. We walked in in our t-shirts and casual pants, and our jaws hit the floor. We knew it was going to be expensive, but we weren't sure of how expensive. A couple people there asked if we understood the pricing there. We decided to go for it and not worry, and I am so glad we did! It was fantastic!!! It was called Texas de Brazil. There are several in the US, so if you are looking for a really nice restaurant, give it a try!

Our server, Dale, explained how it was done. First he offered wine, but since we had planned on going to Happy Hour at our hotel later, we declined (never made it, as we spent a good long time there). First we went to the salad and soup bar. There were so many wonderful things there (including sushi and lobster bisque), and it was all arranged beautifully. We each had a paper disk with red on one side and green on the other. Whenever we were ready for meat, we were to flip it over to green. Men with huge skewers of various meats (beef, pork, lamb, bacon wrapped chicken) came to the table in rapid succession. If we wanted what they had, we had tongs to take it as they cut it. It was all done to medium-rare unless you requested something more well-done. If we wanted them to stop for awhile, we just flipped our disks over to red again, until we wanted more meat. It was all so wonderful! We were treated just as well as the couples who were dressed up in their finest clothes. When we were finishing our meal, Dale asked if we wanted to see the desserts, and we said yes. He brought a dessert tray with about eight things on it, and he named a few things that were not on it. I had the pecan pie (it was a special recipe with cream cheese in it) with vanilla ice cream on it, and I ordered carrot cake to take with us for later. James ordered flan and a strawberry cream (kind of like a fruit smoothy), and a chocolate mousse cake to take for later. The grand total (not including the $30 tip) for this meal was $149.50 (with no alcoholic drinks). I have to tell you though, it was so worth it, and I wouldn't have missed that for the world. I asked the manager (he comes to everyone's table to make sure everything is okay) if it was alright to take pictures of the salad bar, etc., and he said it was okay if I didn't take close-up pictures of the food. I will post them in a few posts, since I have around 17 or 18 pictures. If you have a Texas de Brazil near you, treat yourself some night!

Barbara

 

[Barbara L]

Here are the first 5 pictures.

Barbara

 

[Barbara L]

The next five:

 

[Barbara L]

Five more:

 

[deelady]

Sounds wonderful, glad you enjoyed yourselves! I had wanted to go to a Brazillian steak house so bad and when I finally got to go to one I was so disapointed....I loved the idea of it but sadly the particular one that we went to in down town San Diego just did not put pride in their dishes! The meat was dry and seemed to have been sitting in the kitchen a couple of hours, there was no variety...beef, 2 kinds of chicken and maybe a pork but no lamb....their buffet for side dishes was so unappealing looking...looked as if they set up the buffet for lunch and it had been sitting left over for dinner as well. I think for two of us it was only about 60 something dollars but such a waste of money! Hopefully I can try a better one someday!

 

[Barbara L]

The last batch:

 

[Barbara L]

Sounds wonderful, glad you enjoyed yourselves! I had wanted to go to a Brazillian steak house so bad and when I finally got to go to one I was so disapointed....I loved the idea of it but sadly the particular one that we went to in down town San Diego just did not put pride in their dishes! The meat was dry and seemed to have been sitting in the kitchen a couple of hours, there was no variety...beef, 2 kinds of chicken and maybe a pork but no lamb....their buffet for side dishes was so unappealing looking...looked as if they set up the buffet for lunch and it had been sitting left over for dinner as well. I think for two of us it was only about 60 something dollars but such a waste of money! Hopefully I can try a better one someday!

What a shame! There is a Brazilian restaurant in Charlotte, which I have been wanting to try. I don't know how they could top this one though!

Barbara

 

[Barbara L]

BTW, I took the pictures on the Candle Light setting so as not to bother the other diners, so some of the colors (like the dessert tray photo) are kind of muted. The horse sculptures outside are actually part of the mall decoration, but one is right outside of the restaurant so I included pictures of it too.

Barbara

 

[Chico Buller]

What, only 149.50 and a mere 30 dollar tip?

Heck, I'll make you a peanut butter sandwich and sharpen your gyuto and charge you more than that.

 

[roadfix]

Those photos are very nice!

I've been to Gaucho's Village here in nearby Glendale a couple of times. I try not to load up at the salad bar so you have plenty of room to sample all of their meat offerings. The two times we've been there were on Sat nights so they had live Bosa Nova music and later on in the evening, Samba dancers. Pricey, but reasonable for what you get.

 

[Barbara L]

What, only 149.50 and a mere 30 dollar tip?

Heck, I'll make you a peanut butter sandwich and sharpen your gyuto and charge you more than that.

I think 20% is a pretty decent tip.

I sense you are joking, as I have read your other posts, but without any indication, I'm not sure.

Barbara

 

[Barbara L]

Those photos are very nice!

I've been to Gaucho's Village here in nearby Glendale a couple of times. I try not to load up at the salad bar so you have plenty of room to sample all of their meat offerings. The two times we've been there were on Sat nights so they had live Bosa Nova music and later on in the evening, Samba dancers. Pricey, but reasonable for what you get.

The entertainment sounds great!

Barbara

 

[jkath]

Hey, I recognize those horse statues - they're in front of all the PF Changs

There's a Brazilian place we've gone to at the Mirage in Vegas. Theirs is really tasty too, and rather than a paper disc, you get a thing that looks similar to a big wooden pepper mill with the red and green sides.
I love the idea of it, especially since we could take tastes of different meats and then go back for the ones we liked the best.
Glad you had such a great time!

 

[Chico Buller]

Barbara, as Buzz can verify (he saw the actual knife), I once had a chef that either threw a temper tantrum or was just incredibly careless and slammed a fairly decent nine-inch Damask gyuto into a concrete floor.

(He claimed he liked the knife, used it for two weeks, but then returned it damaged.)

This was a very nice folded-and-welded Japanese piece, easily of 33 layers or more.

As I told Buzz, it took me three days to repair the knife. Yes, I did work very slowly, but sometimes I had to stop out of frustration. The worst part was the damage to the tip on the heel. This was done in a combination Edge-Pro/freehand repair that would test anyone's patience.

Oh, and I have a mercurial temper for guys like this.

In the end, the repair went quite well, the edge of the knife was toasty sharp, and a good personal friend of mine bought the knife--and I recovered +75% of my money. Lesson learned.

However, to seriously answer your question, yes, that was easily a +200 dollar repair, plus portal-to-portal, plus 5.5% Wisconsin tax, and a really nice tip.

Total bill, 325.00 dollars.

Edit. BTW, Barbara, due to this incident and others, I no longer sharpen for that chef or his restaurant.

 

[Barbara L]

Hey, I recognize those horse statues - they're in front of all the PF Changs ...

Ah! There was a PF Changs next door, but the way the horses are, one is in front of PF Changs and one is in front of Texas de Brazil (there is a mall entrance between the horses), so I thought they were just part of the mall. Thanks for that interesting information!

Barbara

 

[Mama]

Wow Barbara that looks like a beautiful place. I'm sure the food was amazing. You did some great PR for them! They should pay you!

 

[Barbara L]

Wow Barbara that looks like a beautiful place. I'm sure the food was amazing. You did some great PR for them! They should pay you!

Yes they should!!!

Barbara

 

[Dove]

I would have had major indigestion after I received the bill...lol
Beautiful pictures. I am glad you enjoyed.

 

[babetoo]

you will remember this trip the rest of your lives. thanks for the pictures, at least i can dream. lol it looks like a blast.babe

 

[Barbara L]

Babetoo, if you want a meal that is really comparable, but much less costly, go up to the Valley View Casino (in or around Valley Center). Their buffet is really beautiful and delicious. If you sign up for their player's card (even if you don't want to play any of the games) you get it free the first time, and if you don't want to get the player's card, the buffet is $20. It has so many wonderful foods (I thought of it when I saw all the foods on this salad bar--the casino buffet actually has more). They have steaks, crab, salad fixings galore, sushi, stuffed avocadoes, all kinds of breads, luscious desserts, you name it! The only thing you won't have is guys walking around with skewers of meat, but you will get a fantastic meal!

Barbara