Brazilian steakhouse is no longer a world reference – 11/29/2023 – Cozinha Bruta

The third best restaurant in Latin America, according to the 50 Best ranking released on Tuesday (28), is a steakhouse.

Don Julio, in the Palermo Viejo neighborhood, in Buenos Aires, differs from the general footprint of the list. It’s a traditional house with the same menu. It doesn’t invent fashion, it doesn’t serve food on porcelain with a signature design, it doesn’t propose any kind of gastronomic proposal.

It is a parrilla – despite the debatable conceptual differences between parrilla and barbecue, I will treat the terms as synonyms.

I went to Don Julio once, a long time ago. It was a tidier meat place than the average Buenos Aires restaurant and, I confess, I don’t have very clear memories of the experience (¡el vino!). It didn’t impress me – if it had, I would certainly remember it.

Finally, we have an Argentine steakhouse in third place and, in 33rd place, the Peruvian Osso – a meat restaurant with a branch in São Paulo.

No winner in Brazil specializes in barbecue. I don’t think it should or would need to be, but it illustrates a phenomenon of recent years: the decline of Brazilian steakhouse culture.

The world reference for meat is Argentina – on the global list, Don Julio occupies 19th position. So far so good, it’s always been a fierce rivalry, but… Peru? Peru has never been an exporter of beef. On the contrary, it matters to us.

This occurs at a time when Brazilian meat is reaching its historic peak in quality. But the world doesn’t care about our barbecue. Honestly, not even Brazil respects its own barbecue.

Just look at the historical series of lists of the best restaurants in São Paulo. Until a few years ago, they highlighted houses like Rubaiyat and Varanda. These are still standing, aged but still in shape, and a new generation of steakhouses has not emerged to replace them.

What appeared in the place were pantagruelic eating events like Churrascada, which would later open a permanent spot in Morumbi.

Brazil is experiencing the consequences of its past decisions. Here almost everything was bet on the rotation system, which quickly went from euphoria to exhaustion.

Today the skewer is not a speck of what it was in the 1990s. In Brazilian capitals, it has lost the opulence of the granite buffets and they live on promotion; abroad, they are an additional ethnic curiosity.

As for the meat prepared on the grill and served à la carte, in Brazil it was outsourced to Argentine parrillas and restaurants with various specialties. The grill is not dead, the steakhouse is in bad shape.

Meanwhile, Argentina remains strong with restaurants where people go for a steak dinner with a salad or fries.

Brazil chose the path of abundance, carvery and barbecues. There is no problem with that – unless we are dealing with awards and international rankings.

LINK PRESENT: Did you like this text? Subscribers can access five free accesses from any link per day. Just click the blue F below.