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By Manos Angelakis
Overindulging at Porcão
Churrascaria Porcão
360 Park Ave. South (corner 26th Street)
New York, NY 10010
(212) 252-7080
Porcão, the famous churrascaria from Rio de Janeiro’s Ipanema Beach, opened an 11,000 square foot restaurant in Manhattan’s Flatiron district. Porcão has built a carnivorous empire of 14  eateries that stretches from Rio, to New York City, to Milan. In Rio there are six locations with the most picturesque being in Aterro do Flamengo, facing Sugar Loaf. The Manhattan restaurant is decorated in Brazilian modern with high ceilings, open spaces, and features an enormous and very well stocked bar. It has 240 seats, with tables well spaced so that you do not become privy to your neighbor’s conversation, and a 60-70 person private room for functions.
A churrascaria is a classic South American steak house that offers flame-grilled meats, in this case Rodízio-style, i.e. an all-you-can-eat "parade of meats" at lunch and dinner, plus an appetizer/salad buffet, here about 40-items that include salads, vegetables, soups, sushi and four hot dishes, as well as a dessert cart with over a dozen selections.
For a carnivore like me, this place was HEAVEN!!!
Servers continually come to the table offering you cuts of the flame-grilled meats; sirloin steak, a variety of sausages, fillet mignon wrapped in bacon, prime rib, boneless pork loin, lamb chops, chicken breast and many other choices, 18 in all. The waiters carrying the meat on long skewers come around to your table again and again until you signal "no mas" by flipping the coaster-sized indicator placed next to every plate from green – which means bring in the meat – to red. There was only one fish dish, a poached salmon that looked very nicely cooked, moist, and succulent, but I have to admit I passed on it; my main target was MEAT!
Go to the salad bar, but DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, overindulge. However, DO try the grilled shrimp, mashed potatoes with gravy, fried yucca, small empanadas, fried banana, and puffed cheese-balls brought to the table at the beginning and during your meal to get your carb fix.
 Through the years, we have eaten in numerous churrascarias, both in the States, Portugal, and South America. The meat quality in this restaurant is superior to most others in the New York area. Especially the Picanha - Top sirloin coulotte; the Chuleta - Ribeye steak; and the Lombo de porco - Boneless pork loin, were perfectly grilled, succulent and available from very rare to well done, as your taste might dictate. Only the Churrasco - Skirt steak, was overdone when the waiter brought it over, and was immediately replaced with a rarer portion.
Service was extremely attentive... every time you looked like you were finished they came over and asked if you would like a clean plate and a clean knife and fork.
The drinks cart that circulated amongst the tables made a very credible Caipirinha. The charming waitress cut a lime into chunks, and placed them in a heavy tumbler with a couple of spoonfuls of sugar. She muddled them together to release the juice and oils from the lime and its skin, then added ice, and poured on a couple of fingers of Cachaca, Brazil’s national white lightning made from fermented and distilled sugarcane juice. Perfect!
There was a very comprehensive wine list with over 250 selections from all over the world. We had more Caipirinhas, but if I were ordering wine, I would go with  the South American selections. There were nice bottles from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay and, considering the amount of meat consumed, I would go with either a Chilean Carmenère or a Tannat.
By the time the dessert cart rolled over to our table, we were really full. But, how can you resist the beautifully made, most authentic Brazilian pastries, especially the chocolate? We each had a different dessert so that we could share. What Decadence with a capital D.
Oh, my God! I won’t have another meal for a few days!
© October 2007 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
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