Rodizio Grill steaks its claim in downtown Stamford

I guess someone up above heard my meat complaint, as I was invited to a pre-grand opening dinner at Rodizio Grill last Friday night -- and it was awesome.  If you've never been to a Brazilian steakhouse, or churrascaria, you're missing out.  Rodizio Grill brings something new, different, and exciting to Stamford's dining scene, but it's not just a mouth-watering meal - it's an experience!

The awesomeness starts with the appetizers: fried polenta sticks and cheese bread.  (I'm not even going to attempt to spell the Portuguese names for all of these foods.  If you really must know them,  here's a link to Google Translate.)

Then you hit the salad bar, which is a completely misleading name, as there's far, far more than just salad at this bar.  I didn't get a good picture of them, but there are more trays of hot food and appetizers at either end of the salad bar.  You could fill up on this part of the meal by itself...which is why they offer you that option!  You can go for the whole package, which includes unlimited salad bar, appetizers, and meats (and really, why wouldn't you?), or you can opt for just unlimited salad bar and appetizers.  But then why did you come to a steakhouse in the first place if not for steak?

Speaking of steak, the instrument that summons your meat-slinging gaucho friends is the innocuous-looking little guy next to the caipirinha that I swear was my wife's:

Green means "Bring me food!" and red means "I need a break" or "I'm enjoying this cut very much" or "Sweet Christmas, somebody please roll me home."  Laying it on its side means you'd like dessert and/or the check.  But really, try the desserts (more on that later).

Get on with the meat!!  OK, OK.  Here's a list of all the meats I had:

• Garlic beef (soooo good)
• beef sirloin with Parmesan cheese
• beef tri-tip
• turkey wrapped in bacon (just gimme anything wrapped in bacon, amIright?)
• pot roast
• pork sausage
• spicy chicken
• whole sirloin
• glazed ham
• beef tender (amazing - melts like buttah)
• marinated chicken (delicious and tender)
• top sirloin

And here's a list of the meats I didn't have:

• chicken hearts - I'm adventurous, but only to a point.
• lamb - it was apparently so popular that they ran out before I could try it!  Next time...

They also serve glazed pineapple.  Yes, glazed, grilled pineapple.  Now that you're good and hungry, on to the pictures!

 

His name is Jason...

 

...so of course he knows his way around a big, shiny knife.

Jimmy hits us with some beef with Parmesan.

Asher and some beef tender - my favorite selection by far.

And can you blame me?  Just look at that.

Joe and some glazed pineapple.

And finally, some lime pie.

The food at Rodizio Grill is amazing, and so are the servers and gauchos.  The gauchos were friendly and knowledgeable; one even told us that working there was his "fun job" to forget about his real job!

Great, now I'm hungry!  Who's in for some chicken hearts??