Posts Tagged Plataforma

Churrascaria Riodizio – Tribeca

October 8, 2008 at 9:28 am · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Gut-busting Brazilian Barbecue

My only advice before getting into the food – arrive prepared to eat. And vegetarians… don’t even think about it. I feel almost gluttonous just writing about what I ate.

Churrascaria (Plataforma) Riodizio Tribeca

www.churrascariatribeca.com
221 West Broadway
(212) 925-6969

First Course:

  • Bread basket – Brazilian cheese bread is absolutely delicious. Little puffs of bread with cheese inside, what could be better?
  • Gourmet Buffet – a plethora of appetizing cold and hot dishes, such as sun-dried tomato risotto, asparagus, sushi (apparently Brazilian people love sushi – the largest group of Japanese people outside of Japan reside in Brazil), cocktail shrimp, beans and rice, cheese, and much much more. Just a tip – try a tiny bit of everything, don’t make my mistake up being 80% full after just the first course.

Main Course:

  • The side orders – these come with the main course and serve as a break from all the meat that you will be served. The side orders include fried potato sticks, grilled cheese (delicious – a must try), sweet plantains, rice, beans, salsa, ground yucca root (to mix with the rice and beans), broccoli and mashed potatoes.
  • The meat – there were probably around 15 different meats that came out. Just a sampling of what was brought out – sirloin steak, flank steak, turkey wrapped in bacon, pork tenderloin, chicken legs, duck, filet mignon wrapped in bacon, ostrich meat wrapped in bacon, roast lamb, pork sausage. At Churrascaria Riodizo, my favorite meat item that came out was by far the sirloin steak – not too well done, just the right amount of red, and a very nice barbecued flavor.

Dessert (yes, we could still eat dessert):

  • Desserts were served from a cart, and we picked a few to share with the table: Chocolate Mousse Cake, Flan, Napoleon, and Chocolate Mousse – all delicious, but if you could only go with one, I would choose the Flan. Flan is a very traditional Spanish dessert, and is light and custard-like, which is a great way to top off the meal.

Side notes:

  • If you’ve never been to a Brazilian Barbecue (this was my first time in the States), a server will come out with large pieces of meat on sword-like skewers and a knife to split the meat off the sword-skewer (I just made this term up). Using the tongs that you provide, you hold the sliced meat until the server cuts it off completely, and place it on your plate.
  • You will also be given a little coaster-like sign, placed next to your place setting. This coaster will have a red side and a green side – green means, “Give me the meat” and red means “I need to take a breather and digest.”
  • Beverages – a nice bottle of red wine is always great to go with all the meat, but if you’re in the mood for a cocktail, try the Passionfruit Caipirinha.

Overall on a scale of 1-10: 8.5 The meal was fantastic, some of the meat dishes were not as great as the others. But most points lost are based on the guilt I had afterwards of stuffing my face…

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