A look inside Texas de Brazil, the Galleria's Brazilian churrascaria

The shopping mall's newest restaurant carves and serves meat tableside.

by

For such a big, muscly restaurant, Texas de Brazil’s opening—quietly this past Monday—seemed muted, lacking in fanfare.

This family-owned Brazilian-American steakhouse, which has specialized in traditional rodizio-style dining and authentic churrasco (meat that is spin-roasted and grilled over an open flame) since 1998, now has 57 restaurants in 20 states and seven countries worldwide, among them Seoul, South Korea and Dubai, UAE. This newest location, next to the Weber Grill at St. Louis Galleria, is the first in Missouri.

Rodizio, explains corporate training manager Carlos Restrepo, means "to pass in a circle" and in Brazil, it’s very common for restaurants to work this way. “We call it ‘continuous dining,’” he says, describing how the costumed gauchos (literally "Brazilian cowboys," but here, also known as carvers) circulate freshly-grilled meats on long skewers around the dining room, stopping at tables when signaled to do so.

“On a busy night, you could have 15 different cuts of meat walking around,” says Restrepo. He means everything from Brazilian picanha (sirloin) and flank steak to lamb chops and pork ribs. Add to those the 50 items in the salad area and this is all-you-can-eat on Trenbolone.

“Yes, it feels very authentic here,” says general manager Raphael Rybero, who indirectly hails from San Paulo having worked most recently at a Texas de Brazil in Tampa, Florida. He nods around the 6,500-square-foot restaurant that has crimson ceilings, illuminated "marble" columns, and grand wrought-iron chandeliers.

Its centerpiece, however, is the monster arrangement of silk flowers that dominates the salad area, itself a vast array of what Restrepo calls international cuisine.

Help yourself here to traditional Brazilian feijoada (black bean soup), Middle Eastern tabbouleh or French lobster bisque. Take a scoop of goat cheese terrine to put on your flank steak when it walks by, and certainly some chimichurri and mint sauce for your lamb. There’s sushi to be had, and beautiful steamed asparagus; there are pretty platters of rosy salmon and shrimp and tempting assemblies of charcuterie and pineapple carpaccio. The salads are bright and fresh, and the dressings are made in-house. The fine, artisanal cheeses are imported. What can we say but this: There’s food here to sink a ship.

And there’s also drink. There are 200 or more wines on Texas de Brazil’s list, many of which are housed in the huge wine wall. And, of course, there are cocktails, chief among them the divine caipirinha that’s made with lime and cachaca, Brazil’s sugarcane spirit.

Another note about the gauchos: You’ll know them by their skewers, which they support with metal paddles designed also to catch the drippings, and by their pilcha or uniforms. These, says Restrepo, are just what Brazilian cowboys would wear to herd cattle: scarves and embroidered faixa (sashes), and floppy bombacha (trousers) tucked into boots. Like everything here, they are professional-looking, fun and a little bit kitsch.

20180315_TexasDeBrazil_0084.jpg

Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

Texas de Brazil

1137 Saint Louis Galleria, St Louis, Missouri 63117

314-352-8800

Visit Website

Monday to Thursday, 5–9:30 p.m.; Friday, 5–10 p.m.; Saturday, 4–10 p.m.; Sunday, 4–9 p.m.

Sign up for St. Louis Magazine's weekly dining newsletter to keep up with the latest in the local restaurant scene.
Or, check out all of our newsletters.