MEAT!

Once upon a time, five years ago, I worked as a jetsetting consultant. For a few years I served many many weeks as a road warrior. As much as I'd like to wax poetic about enviable locales, most of my work was in Dallas or Houston. Barf. Deep Ellum and Lower Westminister are the only redeeming places in those godforsaken Texican pits.

One of the perks, however, was access to a fabulous restaurant called Fogo de Chão. Oh, man that was a great place to eat. It was a churrascaria, basically a continuous service Brazilian "steak house." In reality it was a meat feast, with skewer after skewer of freshly fire-grilled delicacies. In some respects it might be considered pricey ($35 for dinner) but it included everything but drinks and dessert. I never ever had dessert, unless you count my third serving of garlic filet mignon. A few caparinhas and a platter full of roast beast makes for a very happy Penguin.

Churrascarias are one of the few items I miss from my travel days. That and an expense account.

I had written off visiting another one, as I don't get to Atlanta, Houston or Dallas any more, but lo and behold, I'm chatting with jodijodijodi last night and what do I discover? A churrascaria located in, of all the places, Baton Rouge!?! What? It's not Fogo, but it's the same kind of place. Here's a review.

I've never been a big fan of Baton Rouge fare, at least not since Jack Sabin's and The Village closed their doors (there was Chalet Brandt before that, but that's ancient.) I will however, suppress my usual doubts about Red Stick cuisine for one precious bite of picanha.

So, I put it to you! Who's up for a road trip to Baton Rouge?