Casa do Brasil

FOOD

Picanha provides three closely related reasons to pay attention when the beef arrives. Casa’s menus list top sirloin seasoned with sea salt, garlic or a spicy treatment. The sea-salt version is the clearest starting point for the cut itself; the other two let you compare seasoning without changing the underlying beef. That makes picanha more interesting than simply the first steak to come past your chair.

The Full Experience broadens the beef selection with filet mignon, bacon-wrapped filet, ribeye and bottom sirloin, or fraldinha. Filet offers a leaner cut beside the ribeye, while bacon adds its own seasoning to the wrapped version. Beef ribs give the rotation another shape altogether. These are parts of the carving course, distinct from the separately listed, individually sized steaks under Beyond the Rodízio.

Pork belly, pork ribs and sausage appear on the current main menus, with chicken drumsticks and bacon-wrapped chicken alongside them. The pork ribs are described as slow-roasted, while the sausage is grilled over an open flame. Pork belly adds a third cut to that selection, giving someone interested in pork several quite different preparations to consider. For a shared meal, there is already quite a range before the lamb and seafood arrive.

New Zealand lamb and grilled shrimp belong to the wider Full Experience. They matter when comparing packages: Austin’s Executive Lunch, for example, centers on beef, chicken and pork. Someone particularly keen on lamb or shrimp should choose the full rotation rather than assuming every carving menu is identical. Shrimp also appears as a measured protein add-on to salad-bar lunch, which is a different offer from unlimited shrimp in the full meal.

The accompaniments are worth knowing by name. Current Houston and Austin menus list garlic mashed potatoes, crispy polenta and caramelized bananas for the table, along with grilled pineapple, queijo assado and garlic bread. Queijo assado brings grilled cheese into the meal. Chimichurri and hot sauce appear on the lunch menus too, giving the plainer meats a choice of finishing touches. Bananas and pineapple add sweetness without requiring a dessert order.

At the self-serve salad bar, homemade salads sit alongside vegetables, imported cheeses, cured meats, seafood and soup. These are included visits with the Full Experience, and the salad bar can also be the meal on its own. The cold dishes and hot seasonal sides make that a substantial choice. There’s room for charcuterie and seafood here as well as something green beside the beef.

The seasonal selection deserves a look when you arrive. Austin and College Station advertise combinations such as baby arugula with acorn squash and fennel, couscous with cranberry, roasted pumpkin hummus and seafood chowder. Those are representative seasonal dishes, rather than a permanent checklist for every Casa. Squash and pumpkin give the spread a different character from the grilled meats, with the chowder adding another seafood preparation.

Desserts have their own menu. Flaming cheesecake is a particularly theatrical option: New York-style cheesecake dusted with cinnamon and sugar, then flambéed tableside with Licor 43. It extends the tableside theme beyond the skewers, although ordinary churrasco dining doesn’t automatically include dessert. Specific packages and local promotions can do so; the dessert menu is worth considering on its own merits.