For those not familiar with Brazilian
steakhouses or churrascarias, they are just one of the all-time great concepts
for meat-eaters. Most of them start with
great cuts of meat, chicken, lamb and pork, salt the meats and then cook it
rotisserie-style over charcoal. At your
table you let the servers or gauchos know you are ready to eat when you flip
over a little green disk beside you. Wave
after delicious wave of tender meat come until you need a break or you are
finished in which case you flip the disk over to red, letting the gaucho know to
leave you alone. It's unreal.
There
really have been up until now 2 classes of Brazilian steakhouses-the super-upscale
and rather pricey variety of which there are a couple of good ones in Buckhead,
and a handful of the less upscale and more economical ones scattered around
East Cobb and on Buford Highway.
The
new Galeto Brazilian Steakhouse on
Mansell in Alpharetta seems to have found the sweet spot in the middle. The restaurant
is beautiful and feels upscale. The "salad"
bar (and let's be honest, "salad" bar really does not do it justice; this is
more an unlimited smorgasbord of offerings from fresh mussels, to seared tuna,
to shrimp to fancy cheeses and several dozen other offerings of which you could
easily make a meal)-is simply a magnificent bounty.Also the little dishes they bring to your
table as if you didn't have enough food-the puffy cheese bread, the fried
plantains, and yucca fries-those are all on point.
And it's
only after you have gorged yourself on all the incredible food that do you even
think about getting into the 16 different cuts of meat cooked up by the skilled hand of chef Ernani Santos Junior. Flip
over your disk and let the games begin. Galeto gauchos come out with premium top sirloin, lamb chops, beef ribs,
filet mignon wrapped in bacon, Brazilian sausage, ribeye, chicken, pork loin and
pork ribs. The hard part is pacing yourself.
I
went with a Brazilian friend who declared Galeto his favorite in the city. I have to concur. And what is really is of note is the
value: the price for adults is $44 for
all you can eat steak and the salad bar. If you are not a predatory meat-eater,
the salad bar alone is $36, also a tremendous value for the quality of food. This
is significantly less than the Buckhead churrascarias and, often, cheaper than
just an a la carte steak by itself in many places.
If
you are a fan of the Brazilian Steak concept, want the upscale experience but
not the Buckhead prices, Galeto has the sizzle you are looking for.
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