Texas de Brazil

Texas de Brazil Restaurant Review:

About the restaurant & décor: Between two tourist destinations --- Chicago's Magnificent Mile and Navy Pier --- Texas de Brazil is a special occasion magnet for lunch and dinner despite its not-so-obvious location on Upper Illinois Street. Glass doors lead to the front dining room, which is deceivingly tiny considering it shares the area with the salad bar. Keep going down the right lane, and two more sections open up to more dining, essentially wrapping around the entirety of the space. Between the gauchos carrying skewers of lamb and sirloin and the overflow tables, the action is all around.

Likes: The meat is tender and comes out piping hot.
Dislikes: Odd layout. The restaurant is four times larger than it looks from the entrance.

Food & Drinks: Texas de Brazil's salad bar, stocked with cheeses, greens and cold dishes, isn't as bountiful as its competitors', but that saves more room for the prizes: the juicy meats. Diners flag green disks to alert gauchos to bring more, which covers pork tenderloin, chicken, rib-eye, sirloin and lamb. Desserts include chocolate mousse cake and Key lime pie. The price is for all you can eat. Order a caipirinha or a MontGras, a bold blend of Cabernet, Syrah and Carmenère made by Chilean winemaker Santiago Margozzini.