The concept of a Brazilian steakhouse isn’t new to Calgarians. Many of use have eaten at Gaucho or Bolero and experienced the excitement of giant skewers of meat being served tableside along with various salad bar and side dish selections. Still every one of these Brazilian churrasco (barbecue) places is slightly different and Pampa is a welcome addition to the scene — and not only because of its handy downtown location (just west of the string of restaurants and beer halls on 10th Avenue S.W. that includes Briggs National Craft and Rodney’s Oyster House).
For the uninitiated here’s how you eat at a rodizo-style restaurant like Pampa: stock up at the salad bar then sit back down and flip over a little card to alert the staff that you’re ready for meat. Servers will come around with skewers that have just been taken off of a barbecue and will slice small portions directly onto your plate. The skewers are then returned to the heat before the next go-round so that diners are never left eating cold meat. The meat keeps coming (Pampa serves 11 different kinds including chicken legs lamb chops sausage pork loin and several preparations of beef) until you turn over your card to signal that you need to take a break or want to stop for the evening. And you will want to take a break — meat overload is serious business.
The churrasco tradition goes back hundreds of years and the restaurant’s name refers to a region in southern Brazil. Executive chef Joao Dachery moved to Canada from Brazil and opened the first Pampa location in Edmonton with co-proprietor Oscar Lopez (not the musician!) four years ago.
The other aspect of Pampa that will interest fans of South American food is the restaurant’s extensive list of Brazilian and other South American wines as well as their dedication to the rum-like Brazilian spirit cachaça which can be sipped straight or mixed into a delicious caipirinha. It’s dangerous stuff but eating your weight in barbecued meat tempers the blow considerably.
Pampa Brazilian Steakhouse is located at 521 10 Ave. S.W. pampasteakhouse.com/calgary.
