Chama Gaucha Treats Diners Like Royalty

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Chama Gaucho

Chama Gaucha recently opened a luxurious new Southern Brazilian Steakhouse and bar in Grapevine, and my husband and I enjoyed a delightful evening there last week. Diners are treated like royalty at Chama Gaucha, with an army of well-trained servers eager to fulfill your every wish.

Would the lady like a cocktail before dinner? Manager Oscar Lopez recommended Caipirinha, the national drink of Brazil, and hurried off to make mine himself.

Chama cocktail
Caipirinha photo by Holt

Lopez said, “The traditional flavor is lime, there are lots of flavors available, and they are all delicious. We offer strawberry, passion fruit, mango, coconut, and much more. But the original is made with fresh lime, sugar, and cachaca, a liquor made in Brazil from sugar cane. That is the one I recommend for you to try since it was your first time having a Caipirinha.”

The Caipirinha is a perfect summer cocktail, especially in hot weather. It’s very light and refreshing but with a definite kick to it. Chama Gaucha also boasts a fine selection of wines.

Chama Gaucha Nico
Holt photo

Chama Gaucha Features Lavish Salad Bar

The lavish salad bar was our next stop. It features an overwhelming variety of delectable-looking cheeses, salads, seafood, and other delicacies. I couldn’t resist the cocktail shrimp, sliced salmon, and seafood salad, but there were over 30 items.

Chama Gaucha salad bar
Holt photo

Vegetarians are welcome at Chama Gaucha, and the salad bar offers plenty of options for a fine meal. I had to restrain myself from returning to the salad bar again, knowing there was so much more to come. The salad bar is priced at $37, while the experience with 12 kinds of meat offerings costs $60 a person.

After finishing our salad courses, it was time to bring on the meat. Our server explained that once we turned our red place cards green-side up, gauchos (trained Brazilian chefs) would start bringing succulent meat selections.

Chama Gaucha manager
Manager Oscar Lopez Holt photo

At Chama Gaucha, steak isn’t served lying flat on the plate; it’s served hot and adeptly seasoned. The gaucho slices the meat from a large skewer, and the diner removes their selection using individual tongs. Want your meat cooked slightly less done, or maybe more done? The gaucho will say yes, of course, and then return with your steak cooked to your specifications. At Chama Gaucha, the customer is always, always right.

Chama Gaucha Features 12 Meat Varieties

Meat varieties include the house specialty, Picanha, which is the prime cut of sirloin. Other meats featured are Ribeye steak; Filet Mignon; Fraldinha (bottom sirloin); Cordeiro (leg or rack of lamb); Filet Mignon e Frango (chicken breast or filet wrapped in bacon); Porco (pork ribs or loins); and Frango e Linguiça (marinated drumsticks or pork sausage).

My favorite items were the bacon-wrapped Filet Mignon and, surprisingly (since I usually wouldn’t say I like sausage), the marinated pork sausage. My husband loved the pork ribs and the sirloin. We were also served flavorful side dishes with the meat course, including garlic mashed potatoes, mushrooms marinated in red wine, and fried bananas.

Chama Gaucha skewer
Courtesy Chama Gaucha

Watching the gauchos and other servers weave their way through the dining room, where every table was now packed, was like watching a ballet without the music. Servers appeared like magic when your tea or water glass needed refilling, even before you noticed it.

House-made Dessert Offerings

Although we were both too full to order dessert, Manager Lopez insisted we try some house specialties. My husband chose a Crème Brulee while I ordered the chocolate mousse cake. Thankfully, they kindly boxed them for us to take home and enjoy later that evening.

We will definitely make reservations at Chama Gaucha the next time we need to feel pampered. That’s hard to find in this post-pandemic era, where many restaurants still struggle to find enough trained employees. I guess that Chama Gaucha’s owners and managers realize it’s essential to treat their employees the way they do their customers—like royalty!

Chama Gaucha server
Photo by Jo Ann Holt

Chama Gaucha in Grapevine is in a beautiful new building at 4025 William D. Tate Blvd. They open at 5 p.m. daily; for more information, please visit chamagaucha.com.

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Jo Ann Holt
Jo Ann Holt is an award-winning journalist with 40+ years of experience as a writer and editor. She loves live performances, from country music concerts to Broadway musicals to community theatre productions. Holt also enjoys art and cultural festivals, and good food and wine. She’s toured Amsterdam, London, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and various cities in Mexico but looks forward to visiting even more countries. She has traveled by boat, plane, and train, but especially likes taking long road trips across the U.S. with her husband, retired history professor Durhl Caussey. They enjoy meeting friendly people, learning about different cultures, and visiting historic sites wherever they go.