BROWARD REVIEW
Strategize, then bring on gauchos at Fuegovivo
Posted on Thu, Jul. 24, 2008
BY ROCHELLE KOFF
MARSHA HALPER / MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Silvio Schvan carves the house special, picanha, for Luis Figueroa,
center, and Brad Voss, left, at Fuegovivo Churrascaria.
IF YOU GO
Place: Fuegovivo Churrascaria.
Address: 14301 W. Sunrise Blvd., Sunrise; 7711 SW 40th St., Miami. Opening late summer at 16375 Biscayne Blvd., North Miami Beach.
Rating:
** ½ (Good)
Contact: 954-514-5851; 305-261-7249; fuegovivo.com
Hours: 11:30 a.m.- 3 p.m. and 5-10 p.m Monday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday, noon-11 p.m. Saturday, noon-10 p.m. Sunday.
Prices: $24.99 lunch Monday-Friday, $42.99 dinner. Kids ages 6-12, $12.95 weekday lunch, $21.95 dinner; free for ages 5 and under. Salad bar only $19.95 weekday lunch, $29.95 dinner. Dinner prices apply all day Saturday and Sunday. Desserts $6.95-$12.
• FYI: Full bar, corkage fee $20; 15 percent gratuity added (18 percent for large groups). Reservations suggested. AX, DS, MC, PC, VS.
Go ahead, pile on those sweet sausages. Tired of chicken? Savor a slice, or two, of picanha. And grab a rib while you're at it. And so it goes at the new Fuegovivo Churrascaria, a Brazilian steakhouse in Sunrise. Rodizio-style steakhouses have become so popular, even non-Brazilians know the drill by now. Servers dressed gaucho-style, with pantaloons tucked into sturdy black boots, circulate through the room toting swords piercing juicy slabs of meat cooked over an open fire.
Fuegovivo is a fitting steakhouse setting, a stand-alone building with stone and stucco arches, dark wood beams and white tablecloths. It's classy but casual, with a separate bar area and room for private parties. A sibling of the popular Miami steakhouse, Fuegovivo (formerly Fogovivo) has expanded to Houston, is adding an outlet in North Miami Beach in late summer and has plans for more.
The traditional churrascaria rodizio -- an all-you-can-eat steak house -- also offers a 60-plus-item salad bar and a few hot dishes aside from the carnivore parade. The international wine list, with more than 300 choices, offers about 10 choices by the glass. Or go for Brazil's famed caipirinha, made with cachac¸a, a spirit derived from sugar cane.
It doesn't hurt to have a strategy if you're going to hit an all-you-can-eat restaurant. You're paying $42.99 per person, so unless you have a Flintstone-size appetite, don't fill up on salad items before you get a slab of meat. Have a little salad, get some sides to pair with the main event and let the feast begin.
You'll get a two-sided card so the gauchos know whether to approach your table. Green means ''I want some meat!'' Flip to red and it means ''Whoa, hold off -- for now.'' The gauchos politely ask whether you want their selection and you can accept or decline. Servers are attentive and gracious.
Scope out what the gauchos are offering because you may want to skip the pork loin, for instance, and load up on the lamb. Try small portions till you hit on what you really like.
Ignoring our own plan, we initially pig out on the light, addictive cheese puffs that arrive at the table, followed by some fried bananas dusted with cinnamon. On the salad bar, you'll find a delicious cole slaw, marinated mushrooms, hearts of palm, seven types of cheese (including manchego, pecorino, blue cheese), sliced salmon, seafood salad and much more. On the back table are several hot dishes, with a soup of the day; black beans and rice; farofa (toasted yuca meal with chopped sausage); chicken stroganoff; and moqueca, a flavorful Brazilian seafood stew with tilapia (or another mild fish) bathed in coconut milk with tomatoes, onions and green and red bell peppers. You could easily make a meal of the salad bar items alone.
But meat rules here, and Fuegovivo offers 15 cuts of beef, pork, lamb, poultry and sausage, though you're unlikely to see every offering on your visit. Our favorite is the salt-kissed picanha, from the choicest part of the top sirloin, seasoned with garlic, followed by the tender lamb chops. We could have skipped the bacon-wrapped chicken. And a few slices of meat were overdone for our taste. Generally, each skewer will have choices so you can point to a piece that's rare or well-done or wait for the next go-around.
If you can manage any more food, Fuegovivo offers several cakes, pies and other sweets (not included in your flat fee). We thought the mango cake too sweet, but we loved the restaurant's signature papaya cream, with the added benefit of aiding digestion, as our server pointed out. It's served with a splash of crème de cassis in a martini glass on a plate of colorful swirled syrups. The fruit-ice cream blend is cool, refreshing and the perfect way to end a heavy meal on a light note.
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