Churrascaria Plataforma
We originally thought that this was going to be the place we'd meet up with the New York guys, our friends and frequent authors who live in the area, on Saturday night. Communications broke down, though, leaving us uncertain of whether any of them could make it and we literally tried to get reservations at a dozen other places for Friday night unsuccessfully, so we decided to just make the jump to Churrascaria Plataforma on Friday and make plans for Saturday elsewhere if we could reach the guys. (Of course, after enacting this plan, we learned that they all had intended to join us at Churrascaria Plataforma, just none of them remembered to let us know that before the day.)
Anyway, after a very long day on the convention floor and nothing but a Clif bar and a latte for lunch, I rolled into Churrascaria Plataforma ready to devour the whole place. The restaurant is famous for its "salad" bar, and one should not be fooled by the name. It is not just "salad" but pasta, rice, potatoes, vegetables, cheeses, soup, casseroles, beans, and an impressive selection of sushi. A person could eat nothing but "salad" bar and come away feeling they'd had an excellent meal. I was impressed with the cleanliness and orderliness of the salad bar area, too. It was well stocked and well attended, and once I looked up to see a pair of girls checking the temperatures of the offerings with a digital thermometer and marking the results on a clipboard: no worries about food safety with an orderly operation like that!
Of course the best part of a Brazilian rodizio is the meat on swords. My previous experiences at other places has led me to believe that the poultry offerings are often just not as good as the other meats, so I confined myself to the beef, pork and lamb (though the bacon-wrapped turkey almost got me to cave in). The lamb was particularly wonderful, crusty and salty with a little rosemary. Ipanema Grill still has the best rodizio dish with their salt-crusted tri-tip but Churrascaria Plataforma certainly held their own and their salad bar is second to none. We didn't even attempt the dessert cart, which seems like complete folly to have at a place like that.
Having completely wiped out the virtuousness of our House of Vegetarian mock meat extravaganza, we walked the mile back to the hotel and collapsed into our uncomfortable beds for another chilly, restless night, bellies full of delicious meat.
Anyway, after a very long day on the convention floor and nothing but a Clif bar and a latte for lunch, I rolled into Churrascaria Plataforma ready to devour the whole place. The restaurant is famous for its "salad" bar, and one should not be fooled by the name. It is not just "salad" but pasta, rice, potatoes, vegetables, cheeses, soup, casseroles, beans, and an impressive selection of sushi. A person could eat nothing but "salad" bar and come away feeling they'd had an excellent meal. I was impressed with the cleanliness and orderliness of the salad bar area, too. It was well stocked and well attended, and once I looked up to see a pair of girls checking the temperatures of the offerings with a digital thermometer and marking the results on a clipboard: no worries about food safety with an orderly operation like that!
Of course the best part of a Brazilian rodizio is the meat on swords. My previous experiences at other places has led me to believe that the poultry offerings are often just not as good as the other meats, so I confined myself to the beef, pork and lamb (though the bacon-wrapped turkey almost got me to cave in). The lamb was particularly wonderful, crusty and salty with a little rosemary. Ipanema Grill still has the best rodizio dish with their salt-crusted tri-tip but Churrascaria Plataforma certainly held their own and their salad bar is second to none. We didn't even attempt the dessert cart, which seems like complete folly to have at a place like that.
Having completely wiped out the virtuousness of our House of Vegetarian mock meat extravaganza, we walked the mile back to the hotel and collapsed into our uncomfortable beds for another chilly, restless night, bellies full of delicious meat.
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