Elite Event: Fogo de Chão

I was completely shocked when I showed up to the event. I thought at most we’d get steak bites and some wine, which would already make for a pretty solid event. But a full on meal?! What?! Now no one can every complain that Manhattan Eliters aren’t well-​fed. Oh Ruggy, Unilocal,and team, you treat us oh so well.
The service was great. How can you complain about bottomless meat and wine? The NY Strip was my fave by far, but all the other meat was pretty solidly above average. And after a good 45 minutes, I was regretting my late lunch and preparing for the meat sweats. But oh was it worth it!
I definitely went through all five stages of grief. First, denial that this event ever happened. Like what? Was this even real? My oversized gullet proves it is so. Then anger that Ruggy didn’t tell us before hand because then I would’ve worn my Thanksgiving sweats… Followed by bargaining by dealing with the devil for my soul in exchange for a expanded stomach volume to accommodate a couple more slices of meat. Then depression and meat sweats that night and the following day. And finally acceptance that this was the best elite event EVER!
I only regret my rookie mistake of showing up late and leaving early. Work sucks.

Things I may have heard through-​out the night: «Food coma», «So much meat», «I would just like to keep consuming garlic fat all night», «There’s desert?! Really?!», «I can’t breathe», «Is this punishment for complaining about there being not enough food at prior events?», «Mmmm, wine», «Oh my God, there’s more meat coming out».
Fogo de Chao is up there for one of the best Unilocal Elite events I have ever been to in the past 2 years. Wasn’t fully expecting a sit down dinner. Wasn’t expecting an unlimited amount of salad and meat items either with accompaniment of flowing and delicious red wine. The staff was on top of things and incredibly well organized. To prevent any chaos from incurring they had us go two tables at a time up to the salad bar: delicious meats and cheese, a variety of lettuce, fresh tomato, peppers, mozzarella, aged parmesan, prosciutto, salmon, mushrooms, eggplant, pasta, potatoes, anything you really could imagine you would want on the side of your meat and go. Even Bacon.
The freshly baked cheesy mini popovers were constantly refilled and we were also presented with sides of mashed potatoes, sweet plantains, and crispy polenta fries. The meat was constantly flowing. I think I lost track of everything I sampled. It just kept coming and I kept saying YES. 16 Different cuts! My favorite was whatever steak tasted like garlic and was bleeding all over the place. The rarer the better. Some of the lamb and pork was a bit dry and over-​cooked but still decent. Pork ribs — decadent.
Just when I thought it was the end, more meat came out and then eventually desert. I sampled all the cakes. Frown face. I also stated that I was never eating again after the event. The key lime and caramel turtle cheesecake were my favorites and so rich! God help us all. I walked about 50 blocks of my way home after I was pretty set on attempting to walk from Midtown back to my apartment in mid Brooklyn and then my bag tore and I fell asleep into a meat baby food coma. Thank you so much to the restaurant and staff and of course Ruggy for the bestest Unilocal Event ever!

Thanks to Ruggy and the management of Fogo for SUCH a lavish, huge, warm, and extravagant experience! It was truly an event to go in the top ranks of Unilocal history.
3.5 stars, with a VERY well-​deserved round up for excellent service and overall presentation. I REALLY enjoy how this place actually has a new Manhattan Steakhouse feel, opposed to some of their competitors, who have a very cheesy, touristy, «why is this music so loud??» feel. The hostess was very welcoming and professional. And management is on POINT! Always watching without being the least bit intrusive, effecting changes to enhance the service without being seen, just brilliant!
Love the design of their open wine «cellar», which is elevated above the main dining area. The wine chosen for us was a California, which isn’t usually a region I’d list among my favorites, though I rather enjoyed the vintage [read: Fogo has a quality sommelier].
I also liked the layout of the main area, as well as the private room where they housed us. Quality silverware, glassware, and cloth products. Highly recommended for any event you may want to host.
Now, onto the grub!
Salad Bar: Nice. Smaller than others I’ve enjoyed, with less variety. Though quality products, and some lovely salads amongst the mix. Their chose of prosciutto was our favorite, as it was so beautifully smoky without being overly salty. Paired VERY well with the asparagus and cheeses. The scalloped potatoes were my only tested qualm, as they were lovely for the first few bites… then became cloyingly salty. My untested qualm were the rice and black beans. I opted to wait to get them until the meats were served… but the tray was empty when I went back. They looked good on the first pass, though.
Sides: A-​OK. Though we both had the same response, «Good…but I can do better.» And you really want to be outdone any time you dine out. Didn’t taste the garlic in the garlic mash… and they were tepid in temperature. Fried yucca was nice, if you received a piece with Parmesan on it. Otherwise, a bit too much grease within (the olé «Was the oil not hot enough?» pregunta). Fried bananas were a-​ok.
Picanha: You need to make sure each bite is a cross-​section of tender, juicy fat and meat. The meat alone, while cooked beautifully, had nothing but meat flavor going on [read: no marination]. But what lovely seasoning on the fat.
Fraldinha: Better than it’s top counterpart. Marinated, flavor in every bite, tender, yum!
Cordeiro: While the cook was lovely on this shank, we were saddened to not be fans of their preparation of our favorite bleating animal. So tender and gorgeously juicy… but the seasoning tasted like fennel seed and citrus. Maybe both of our palates are off… but it wasn’t working for us. Perhaps the chops are a better way to go here…
Frango: Lovely. Perfectly seasoned, moist, cut well, awesome.
Costela de Porco: Best way to describe it would be my dining companion’s response to my inquiry as to how he liked the preparation. «As you’ll see, only the bone is left.» Delicioso!
Lombo: We had flipped our cards over to red, but these came out, and we flipped back to green! Unfortunately, we were not fans. I’m not sure if the coating was put on after the roasting… but the coating wasn’t browned at all. Just straight up parm, salt, and oregano. No flavor added by flames. These would probably be phenomenal if roasted longer, and the cheese allowed to brown. But they were a bit disappointing as served.
Linguica: Both a flavor profile and cooking consistency issue. We were served borderline burnt pieces which were difficult for the serve to get off the spit, let alone for us to cut… while those served pieces further up the spit have perfectly browned sausage. However, we did take the time to saw these open and taste the inside. We were not fans of the flavor profile.
Side note: There was a similar overcooking issue with the garlic steak my friend received (though I did not… as these came around before they got into their rhythm… and the server was jumping from person-​to-​person at different tables). However, he said the flavor profile was lovely.
Bacon-​wrapped filet mignon: Quite nice. Petit size, which was perfect. Smoke, seasoning, and salt balanced quite well.
New York Strip: Hands down the star of the evening. I usually do not like new york strip. Just not a cut I will go for with other options around. But my piece was served medium (one temp over my usual liking) but was perfect! Seasoning and marination in every single last bite. A bit of crunch with the sear, lovely gristle, perfectly tender, made my eyes roll in the back of my head. I put half of it aside… but I kept looking at it… and had to go back for more! Divine!
Overall, a nice option with excellent service, and a variety of options which should give everyone in your party/​event something to rave about!

I went home with the meat sweats. I sat on my couch in the sweet pain of a food coma after this meal of gastronomic proportions. I woke up with the meat sweats. My bed smells like a pastrami sandwich. My belly looks like I have a food baby. I can barely drink a glass of water right now. Can’t breathe.
I never knew I could fit that much meat in my mouth! Wait, what?
Honestly, I think Ruggy should have handed everyone a pair of Unilocal sweat pants at the door when entering. This was one of the most epic Unilocal Elite meal events EVERRRR!!! Seriously, if you nitpicked on anything here and gave less than 5 stars something is really wrong. In a private party room packed full with about 100 Unilocalers in it receiving what was like a whole zoo full of animals to eat the servers did an outstanding job trying to take care of us all. At our table we had great service with water glasses constantly refilled, wine flowing freely, and meat being carved onto our plates non-​stop.
After the first hour of being stuffed with gluttonous abandon the meats kept on coming and coming and coming. I felt like were were trapped in a devious experiment to see who would explode first. Like Mr Creosote in a Monty Python flick. It was like we were trapped in a Saw movie and had to eat all the meat with a key hidden inside to unlock your death contraption that could only be obtained when your stomach exploded through your skin.
Do you want to play a game?
What can I say about the food? It was delicious! From the salad bar to start that had more than enough choices, including a big ass bowl o’ bacon, various charcuterie style meats such as salami along with multiple cheeses, to the warm mini popovers placed on our tables, to the sides such as fried plantains and potatoes, the wonderful wines being served, and the abundance of rodizio style meats. This was EPIC! As a Brazilian Steakhouse they offer 17 different kinds of meats and I think I devoured all of them. Over and over. Bacon wrapped, garlic enhanced, New York strip, marinated, etc, you name it and it ended up in my mouth! Were some better than others? Sure, but this was a great way to try many different types of meats. Dat one with the fat on top off it tho. Yum.
Love the look and feel of this spot. It’s like a super large underground wine cellar décor. The private room we had was classy along with the quality silverware, glassware, and cloth napkins. Very clean and even the bathrooms were well maintained.
Have to give a big thumbs up to the management and staff at Fogo de Chao as they did an exemplary job hosting this event. The servers worked their butts off to make sure we had an enjoyable dining experience. Again, Unilocal CM Ruggy made sure we had another unforgettable event. I feel sad for those that missed out on this one. They will never realize the gluttony we experienced. Thanks Ruggy! Even though I can’t fit into my pants now.
Also, to those who left early and whined about missing dessert let that be a lesson learned. Never, EVER, leave a Unilocal dining event early such as this. Relax, take your time, digest a bit, chat with others, and see what other goodies might show up. The desserts were terrific. Could not stop eating them. Mmmm… key lime pie. We were one of the last tables to leave around 9pm. Sucks that you missed out! Would you leave a concert before the encore? Rookie mistake!

It felt like Thanksgiving dinner! This was different from other YE events where it was a sit down dinner.
We started with a buffet style salad bar with plenty of meat to go around. Great to see familiar faces Ann, Lori, and Richard and see some new ones Ben, etc. We had a great table and the service didn’t disappoint. Loved the cake tasting at the end. We were treated like VIPs throughout the entire meal.
Thank you Ruggy and everyone at Fogo de Chao for a great event!