Taste Brazilian Style at Downers Grove’s Chama Gaucha
ByThis comfortable restaurant is a relatively new addition to the western suburban landscape. Chama Gaucha opened last fall in Downers Grove, and I was a bit skeptical at first because my husband is a vegetarian and frankly, I have never been to a Brazilian steakhouse before. Good thing I tried it.
In case you’ve never done the Brazilian steakhouse experience before, this is how it goes: You get to indulge in a giant salad bar, then the meat service comes to your table along with unlimited sides. Here, the salad bar features fresh gourmet delicatessen items, fine cheeses, fresh veggies and a mix of salad. You also get a Brazilian cheese bread appetizer. The meat service here features 14 different selections of lamb, pork, chicken and beef carved right at your table. These include filet mignon, Picanha (prime cut of sirloin), Costela (beef rib), Frango a Luguica (pork sausage with marinated chicken drumstick and Cordeiro (rack of lamb). You can try all of them, or pick a few.
The sides that come with the meat service are mashed potatoes with cheese and green onions, polenta and fried bananas. Everything is tasty and elegant, and the service borders on too aggressive–the servers replaced our mashed potatoes four times just to make sure the dish was warm enough! And they not only took an interest in my child, they ran after us to return my son’s stuffed animal after the meal. This is an act for which I am, as a mom, forever grateful.
The drinks, too, are decent and reasonably priced. My five-year-old son, a lemonade connoisseur of sorts, drank two glasses of Brazilian lemonade and called it “the goodest lemonade of all.” My husband had Caipirinhas for the first time and found them to be quite tasty.
This having been the first Brazilian steakhouse I’ve ever visited, I honestly have no idea how it compares to others of the type. But I’m sold. Even my vegetarian husband and my picky son loved it here, so I’m currently trying to figure out when we can come back.
Your meal costs $32.50 here, not counting drinks and dessert. Chama Gaucha features valet parking, too.
Chama Gaucha
3008 Finley Rd.
Downers Grove, IL
(630) 324-6002
