OPENINGS

EAT+DRINK

BOLD FLAVORS, COOL COCKTAILS, AND LOCAL FAVORITES

Southern Brazilian hospitality is on full display at Fort Lauderdale’s carnivore-centric Fogo de Chão. Newly opened inside The Main Las Olas, the steak house debuted 43 years ago in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and has since expanded across the U.S., including its first South Florida locale in Miami. Now, Fort Lauderdale locals can get a taste of an authentic churrasco dining experience inside the massive 226-seat resto.

At the center of it all is an open-air charcoal grill, where diners can watch as gaucho chefs butcher, prepare, and grill cuts of various proteins over an open flame, including premium filet mignon, bonein cowboy ribeye, specialty picanha (thinly sliced top sirloin), and more. A color-coded card on your table signals gauchos carrying

OPENINGS freshly cooked meats to stop by your table so you can select your FEAST FOR protein and enjoy it sliced right off the skewer. For those wanting something a bit more extravagant, check out the Indulgent Cuts menu, which boasts such gems as a 32-ounce tomahawk ribeye, THE SENSES a 24-ounce Wagyu ribeye, and a 20-ounce Wagyu New York strip (carved table-side on a Himalayan salt block). As if the meats aren’t enough, a dizzying array of Brazilian side dishes, seasonal salads and soups, fresh vegetables, and imported charcuterie is also available thanks to the never-ending market table and feijoada bar. One item not to miss? Brazil’s national drink, the caipirinha. The cocktail features three simple ingredients: lime, white sugar, and the country’s famed cachaça, a distilled spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice. A few of these and a whole lot of churrasco will have you feeling as if you’ve been transported south of the equator without ever leaving Laudy. (fogodechao.com) —Melissa Puppo