Grill From Ipanema

Okay, to say that my son doesn't like fruits and vegetables would be an understatement.  Compared to him, I could be classified as a vegetarian.  So taking him to a salad bar would be considered cruel and unusual punishment.  Hence, on our recent trip down to Seattle, I thought that a visit to the Grill From Ipanema would be in his wheelhouse.  You see, an endless supply of meat brought right our table sounded like the right thing to do.

However, to balance off the abundance of meat, we hit up the Salad Bar.  Of course this was without my son as he was there only for the meat.  There was a pretty decent selection of items including 2 soups (cheddar chowder and tomato basil), cooked food, salads, grilled veggies and fruit.  I found the soups pretty forgettable (as the tomato basil was more akin to a salty pasta sauce) but the rest of the items were more than acceptable.   In particular, the green beans were cooked just enough that they weren't raw while maintaining a fresh crunch.  The grilled zucchini sported an appealing char while lightly salted.  As much as the soy mushrooms looked tasty, they were also very salty.

Another distraction from the meats was the plate of Cheese Biscuits and Fried Banana that was offered continuously throughout the meal.  Due to the use of tapioca, the cheese biscuits were dense and gummy.  However, these were better than the last time I had them (at another restaurant).  They were plenty cheesy, warm and soft.  As for the fried banana, the breading was firmly crunchy while spike with a good amount of sugar and cinnamon.  Very tasty, but a touch too sweet for me.

Onto the meats, there was a good selection including Sausage, Bacon-Wrapped Steak, Pepper Steak, Garlic Steak, Tri-Tip, Sirloin, Parmesan Pork, Chicken, Beef Ribs and Grilled Pineapple. For those who haven't dined at a Brazilian Rodizio before, these meats (on skewers) were brought to our table by wandering gauchos where we would use our tongs to place it on our plates.  On the table was a card with a green side and a red.  Green meant "keep it coming" while red would imply that you stuffed yourself silly and wanted no more.  We did eventually flip the card to red, but I changed it back to green when the ribs finally showed up at the very end.

The highlights of the meal definitely included the Parmesan Pork and the Tri-Tip Steak as well as the beef ribs.  We found the pork to be sufficiently moist (except for the edges) while plenty seasoned by the ample Parm and salt.  The tri-tip steak was juicy and tender, yet sporting far too much salt.  As expected, the beef ribs were fatty, fairly tender and plenty flavourful from the nice char on the outside.  When I finally finished the piece of rib, it put me over the top and I was too stuffed to eat anymore.  Yup, that is probably what you can expect at a Brazilian Rodizio and the Grill From Ipanema was no exception.  Most of the meats were pretty good (albeit very salty) and there was never a shortage of it.

The Good:
- Fun way to eat especially for meat-lovers
- Plenty of meats floating around
- Spacious dining space

The Bad:
- Pricey
- Salty
- Service was decent, but hard to flag down someone