That Food Guy
Thursday, May 07, 2015
TerraMar Brazilian Steakhouse - Pinellas Park FL
Terra Mar Brazilian Steakhouse
We, my wife and I, have driven past the TerraMar almost weekly on our errands and each time I wondered what it was like. When I was assigned the task of selecting the restaurant, the TerraMar came to mind. Last year we all had dined at another Churrasco restaurant across the bay in Tampa. Everyone enjoyed that dining experience. It is close to home, of a type already enjoyed, and a check of the online reviews provided a positive picture of the TerraMar. Also, in checking the online menu, the lunch prices were very reasonable.
Marlete greeted us and showed us to our table. She was very vibrant, telling us all about the restaurant and our choices for the meal. Our beverage orders taken, we ambled to the buffet to start our meal. To those of you not familiar with the Churrasco style restaurant, it is a restaurant that serves grilled meat; many offering as much as you can eat. Most feature a large rodizio grill where a charcoal fire roasts many skewers of meat at the same time.
For lunch or dinner, the options are the same; the difference being the price. There is a buffet, a cold side and a hot side each with about 10 offerings. There is also a cauldron of soup of the day. (Lunch – Hot and Cold Sides Only: $9.99 All you can eat. 11AM – 3PM 10 different kinds of hot sides. 10 different linds of salads and soup of the day.) The second option is: (Lunch – Sides Plus Rotisserie Grill: $14.99 11AM – 3PM Top Sirloin, X Kebab, Pork Ribs, Chicken Drumsticks and our home made sausage.)
A bit early for a heavy meal, my three companions chose to have the Hot and Cold Buffet. I, on the other hand, chose the Sides and Rotisserie Grill. Even taking tiny sample portions, it requires two trips to the hot and cold buffet to try everything. My first plate of buffet food included green salad with tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, chick peas and delicious house dressing. There was cold pasta salad, sweet potatoes, an excellent potato salad, rice, fried bananas, and fried white fish. It was a meal in itself but the best was yet to come.
The slices of top sirloin were excellent. Cooked medium rare, they were tender and full of roasted meat flavor; a minimum of seasoning. That particular cut became my favorite for the meal. My second favorite was the X Kebob (why the X I do not know but I will ask my next time there). Skewered with slices of green Bel pepper and onion, they are flavorful little chunks of meat. Not as tender as the sirloin, they are however very tasty and go so well with the peppers and onions. I had several sausages over the course of the dinner. Homemade, they are very flavorful although I am not familiar with the spice combinations used. They are very tasty but I would have to learn to like them to make them a favorite.
Terra Mar Brazilian Steakhouse
6715 49th St No
Pinellas Park, FL 33781
(727) 525-1100
Open 11:00AM until 9:00PM
Tue, Wed, Thu, Sun,
and until 10:00PM Fri and Sat
Closed Mondays
As our moving day neared, my wife’s Aunt Effie and Uncle Gil asked to take us out to lunch. They reasoned that it would be a long time before we could go out to lunch together again. I was all for the idea. Whenever anyone wants to take me out to lunch, I am for the idea. I was assigned the task of finding a suitable place to eat. Ordinarily an easy task, it was not so in this case as there were some very definite likes and dislikes to be considered.
We, my wife and I, have driven past the TerraMar almost weekly on our errands and each time I wondered what it was like. When I was assigned the task of selecting the restaurant, the TerraMar came to mind. Last year we all had dined at another Churrasco restaurant across the bay in Tampa. Everyone enjoyed that dining experience. It is close to home, of a type already enjoyed, and a check of the online reviews provided a positive picture of the TerraMar. Also, in checking the online menu, the lunch prices were very reasonable.
Marlete greeted us and showed us to our table. She was very vibrant, telling us all about the restaurant and our choices for the meal. Our beverage orders taken, we ambled to the buffet to start our meal. To those of you not familiar with the Churrasco style restaurant, it is a restaurant that serves grilled meat; many offering as much as you can eat. Most feature a large rodizio grill where a charcoal fire roasts many skewers of meat at the same time.
For lunch or dinner, the options are the same; the difference being the price. There is a buffet, a cold side and a hot side each with about 10 offerings. There is also a cauldron of soup of the day. (Lunch – Hot and Cold Sides Only: $9.99 All you can eat. 11AM – 3PM 10 different kinds of hot sides. 10 different linds of salads and soup of the day.) The second option is: (Lunch – Sides Plus Rotisserie Grill: $14.99 11AM – 3PM Top Sirloin, X Kebab, Pork Ribs, Chicken Drumsticks and our home made sausage.)
A bit early for a heavy meal, my three companions chose to have the Hot and Cold Buffet. I, on the other hand, chose the Sides and Rotisserie Grill. Even taking tiny sample portions, it requires two trips to the hot and cold buffet to try everything. My first plate of buffet food included green salad with tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, chick peas and delicious house dressing. There was cold pasta salad, sweet potatoes, an excellent potato salad, rice, fried bananas, and fried white fish. It was a meal in itself but the best was yet to come.
The slices of top sirloin were excellent. Cooked medium rare, they were tender and full of roasted meat flavor; a minimum of seasoning. That particular cut became my favorite for the meal. My second favorite was the X Kebob (why the X I do not know but I will ask my next time there). Skewered with slices of green Bel pepper and onion, they are flavorful little chunks of meat. Not as tender as the sirloin, they are however very tasty and go so well with the peppers and onions. I had several sausages over the course of the dinner. Homemade, they are very flavorful although I am not familiar with the spice combinations used. They are very tasty but I would have to learn to like them to make them a favorite.
In researching the TerraMar, I came across these two videos on YouTube. Perhaps you would like to take a look.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1ob60eG-XM& Uploaded Mar 22, 2013, andLabels: BBQ, beef, Brazil, Brazilian Steakhouse, chicken, chimichurri, churrasco, lamb, rodizio grill, rotisserie, salad, steak
¶ 11:30 AM 0 Comments
Wednesday, August 06, 2014
Texas de Brazil - Tampa, Florida
Many countries have traditions carried over from their pioneering days. In the Western United States we have cowboys, trail drives and barbecues that incorporate many of the unique flavors, ingredients and cultures of the American Southwest. It is no different in the rest of the Americas. In Mexico there are vaqueros and charros. There are many regional names in South America but we are probably most familiar with the cowboys of the pampas. The pampas is a large, flat and fertile plain that includes southern Brazil, much of Uruguay and part of Argentina. We know those cowboys as gauchos. Each of those regions have enshrined their cattle ranch hands in legend and frequent works of fiction much as we have here created the cowboy myths.
Churrascarias are
not common here in the United States. There are a few chains and their presence
seems to be increasing. One of those chains, Texas de Brazil, is represented in
West Central Florida by their Tampa restaurant. It was our pleasure to be the
guest of my wife’s Aunt Effie and Uncle Gil for lunch at Texas de Brazil. I am
all for it when someone wants to treat me to lunch. Cousins Alan and Kyla were
also there. It all made for a compatible party of six.
The restaurant building appears to have been purpose built. Nicely
furnished and maintained, it boasts of high-ceilings that maintains a low
ambient noise level; one can talk across the table in a normal voice. Center
stage, against the back window wall, is the soup and salad bar. They are open
daily during the dinner hours; 5 to 10 weekdays, 4 to 10 weekends. In addition,
they are open Friday 11 to 2, for lunch and Saturday and Sunday, 12 to 3, for
brunch (may vary with location). They
serve rodizio-style for preço fixo, a fixed price. With
each meal you can select just the salad bar, a meal in itself, of the meat
course which includes the salad bar. For Dinner:
salad bar $24.99 and meat course $44.99. For Lunch: salad bar $19.99 and meat course $24.99. For Brunch: salad bar $19.99 and meat
course $24.99. A 10% discount is offered for seniors and a 15% discount is
offered for the military. Call for reservations. I would hazard a guess that
they use the reservation totals to schedule the meat going into the churrasqueira.
Returning
to our seats we found the side dishes had already arrived, small bowls of
garlic mashed potatoes, sweet fried bananas and Brazilian cheese bread; little
almost bite sized pieces of tasty bread. As a side note, it was probably there,
somewhere, either on the salad bar or on the table. I am speaking of chimicchurri sauce. It is a green sauce
made of parsley, garlic, olive oil and oregano. It is used as a serving sauce
for meats. I was anxious to try this unfamiliar sauce but forgot about it in
all of the activity. You will have to tell me how you
liked the sauce on your next trip to Texas de Brazil.
Since we all were served from the same bowl, so to speak, I
will tell you about my meal as a collective for the table. At the salad bar I
chose the following; sausage, olives, marinated cucumbers, sliced tomatoes,
potatoes au gratin, pickled hot mix carrots, shrimp, potato salad, steamed
green beans and steamed asparagus, Genoa salami and some prosciutto. It would have been a fun meal all
by itself. I returned to the table and sampled awaiting the arrival of the passadores. Each of my selections was
excellent; taste and texture as you would expect it to be. Each place setting
has a small disc resembling a coaster. One side is green meaning More Please, and the other side red for
No More Thank You.
The meat, carried by the passadores,
comes from the kitchen in batches. There were more than a dozen kinds, perhaps
less than twenty; too many to really keep track of. There are offerings of
lamb, many cuts of beef, pork and chicken. I passed on the lamb, not one of my
favorite meats. I did hear that it was very good. The beef; flank steak, ribs,
filet, etc., were all excellent. They are cooked to about medium rare inside.
If you prefer a more well done piece of meat you have to ask for an outside
cut. When the passadores come to your
table, they are holding a large skewer of meat, a large sharp knife and a small
dimpled metal saucer. The dimpled saucer is placed on the table and the sharp
point of the skewer sits in the dimple. He then starts a slice down the length
of the meat. He waits until you use your tongs to grab hold of the meat and
then he completes the cut. Each place setting has a small tongs similar to a
sugar cube tongs. The meats are seasoned before cooking and you will have
little use for your salt and pepper shaker; all had excellent flavor, savory
and juicy..jpg "Medalion asking for MORE!")
The manager was a busy fellow. He was never obtrusive,
almost always in the background, but he was there making sure everything was
working smoothly. Our server, Camille, did an excellent job. She kept our
glasses full and responded quickly to requests. Like a good server, she was a
very definite reason we had such a good meal, a good time at Texas de Brazil.
Texas de Brazil
4112 W Boy Scout Blvd
Tampa, FL 33607
(813) 871-1400
www.texasdebrazil.com
Many countries have traditions carried over from their pioneering days. In the Western United States we have cowboys, trail drives and barbecues that incorporate many of the unique flavors, ingredients and cultures of the American Southwest. It is no different in the rest of the Americas. In Mexico there are vaqueros and charros. There are many regional names in South America but we are probably most familiar with the cowboys of the pampas. The pampas is a large, flat and fertile plain that includes southern Brazil, much of Uruguay and part of Argentina. We know those cowboys as gauchos. Each of those regions have enshrined their cattle ranch hands in legend and frequent works of fiction much as we have here created the cowboy myths.
Common to all are meals taken together either during the
cattle drives or at the end of the trail. Here we have the chuck wagon and the
barbecue with all the traditional Southwestern fare. In Southern Brazil they
have the churrasco, Portuguese for
barbecue, it is meat on a skewer and roasted over coals. A churrascaria is a house where churrasco
is served. It may be served as proportioned meal on a plate or it can be served
rodizio, for a fixed price, all-you-can-eat.
When served rodizio-style, passadores, meat waiters, bring skewers
of the freshly roasted meats to the table and slice off pieces for the diners.
Common to most is a table top token that is used to signal ‘More’ or ‘No More.’
Churrascarias are
not common here in the United States. There are a few chains and their presence
seems to be increasing. One of those chains, Texas de Brazil, is represented in
West Central Florida by their Tampa restaurant. It was our pleasure to be the
guest of my wife’s Aunt Effie and Uncle Gil for lunch at Texas de Brazil. I am
all for it when someone wants to treat me to lunch. Cousins Alan and Kyla were
also there. It all made for a compatible party of six.The restaurant building appears to have been purpose built. Nicely
furnished and maintained, it boasts of high-ceilings that maintains a low
ambient noise level; one can talk across the table in a normal voice. Center
stage, against the back window wall, is the soup and salad bar. They are open
daily during the dinner hours; 5 to 10 weekdays, 4 to 10 weekends. In addition,
they are open Friday 11 to 2, for lunch and Saturday and Sunday, 12 to 3, for
brunch (may vary with location). They
serve rodizio-style for preço fixo, a fixed price. With
each meal you can select just the salad bar, a meal in itself, of the meat
course which includes the salad bar. For Dinner:
salad bar $24.99 and meat course $44.99. For Lunch: salad bar $19.99 and meat course $24.99. For Brunch: salad bar $19.99 and meat
course $24.99. A 10% discount is offered for seniors and a 15% discount is
offered for the military. Call for reservations. I would hazard a guess that
they use the reservation totals to schedule the meat going into the churrasqueira.
We arrived just about the appointed hour. The hostess showed us to our
seats within moments of our arrival. Our server, Camille, was there to greet us
and take our beverage orders. The restaurant does feature a full service bar
(where bar patrons can order downsized meals from their own menu) and a wine cellar
for wine by the bottle or the glass. Then it was a short walk to the salad and
soup bar.
Salad bar is a bit of a misnomer; it is much more. The salad bar itself
is a free standing kiosk. Next to it is a serving counter with many tureens;
rice, black beans, au gratin potatoes, and soup du jour (that day it was lobster
bisque. On the salad bar there are some small bowls of lettuce. But this salad
bar is not about the lettuce, it is the fifty or so other items to choose from
including salami, prosciutto, shrimp, steamed asparagus, sliced
tomatoes, green beans, cheeses, olives and grilled sausages. Carnivores and
vegetarians alike can make a satisfying meal from the salad and soup bar.
Returning
to our seats we found the side dishes had already arrived, small bowls of
garlic mashed potatoes, sweet fried bananas and Brazilian cheese bread; little
almost bite sized pieces of tasty bread. As a side note, it was probably there,
somewhere, either on the salad bar or on the table. I am speaking of chimicchurri sauce. It is a green sauce
made of parsley, garlic, olive oil and oregano. It is used as a serving sauce
for meats. I was anxious to try this unfamiliar sauce but forgot about it in
all of the activity. You will have to tell me how you
liked the sauce on your next trip to Texas de Brazil.Since we all were served from the same bowl, so to speak, I
will tell you about my meal as a collective for the table. At the salad bar I
chose the following; sausage, olives, marinated cucumbers, sliced tomatoes,
potatoes au gratin, pickled hot mix carrots, shrimp, potato salad, steamed
green beans and steamed asparagus, Genoa salami and some prosciutto. It would have been a fun meal all
by itself. I returned to the table and sampled awaiting the arrival of the passadores. Each of my selections was
excellent; taste and texture as you would expect it to be. Each place setting
has a small disc resembling a coaster. One side is green meaning More Please, and the other side red for
No More Thank You.The meat, carried by the passadores,
comes from the kitchen in batches. There were more than a dozen kinds, perhaps
less than twenty; too many to really keep track of. There are offerings of
lamb, many cuts of beef, pork and chicken. I passed on the lamb, not one of my
favorite meats. I did hear that it was very good. The beef; flank steak, ribs,
filet, etc., were all excellent. They are cooked to about medium rare inside.
If you prefer a more well done piece of meat you have to ask for an outside
cut. When the passadores come to your
table, they are holding a large skewer of meat, a large sharp knife and a small
dimpled metal saucer. The dimpled saucer is placed on the table and the sharp
point of the skewer sits in the dimple. He then starts a slice down the length
of the meat. He waits until you use your tongs to grab hold of the meat and
then he completes the cut. Each place setting has a small tongs similar to a
sugar cube tongs. The meats are seasoned before cooking and you will have
little use for your salt and pepper shaker; all had excellent flavor, savory
and juicy.
With such an over-abundance of food, I didn’t sample all of
the meat offerings. As I mentioned I passed on the lamb, but of all the other
selections, save one, were, to my tastes, excellent. The chicken thighs were
cooked skin on. That made for a very juicy piece of meat but also a bit greasy
with the chicken fat from the skin. It wasn’t bad but it was far from a
favorite piece. The side dishes, the garlic mashed potatoes, bananas and bread
were all excellent.
The manager was a busy fellow. He was never obtrusive,
almost always in the background, but he was there making sure everything was
working smoothly. Our server, Camille, did an excellent job. She kept our
glasses full and responded quickly to requests. Like a good server, she was a
very definite reason we had such a good meal, a good time at Texas de Brazil.
We were all engrossed in after dinner chatter as the last of
our dinner plates were cleaned. Camille arrived with a large tray of dessert
items. Yes, there is a whole other menu page for dessert things. There were
some luscious looking items but there were no takers. We had all sated
ourselves on the meat and salad bar items. There was no room left for dessert;
we had gone from gourmet to gourmand.
It was a great meal that we all enjoyed. A good meal is so
much more enjoyable with good company. Good company was in abundance at that
table. Save for the kindness of Aunt Effie and Uncle Gil, the dining at Texas
de Brazil might not have come to pass. I will always be thankful for their generosity
and courtesy. And all our thanks to the staff of Texas de Brazil for their kindness and service.
Labels: beef, Brazil, churrascaria, churrasco, lamb, poultry, salad bar, skewer, steak house, Texas
¶ 5:14 PM 0 Comments
