Gauchos serve meat in Niagara Falls hotel

By Mike Deibert, Contributing editor

NIAGARA FALLS—If you’re in a restaurant here and you look around and see men in costume carrying large knives and wheeling around skewers of meat, then you’re in Brasa Brazilian Steakhouse and Wine Bar at the Hilton Hotel and Suites Niagara Falls/Fallsview.

Beef, pork, lamb and chicken are cooked over an open range under the direction of Brazilian grill master Racardo Zanona in this approximately 200-seat restaurant that opened earlier this fall.

Brasa is one of two new dining spots that opened as part of a $150-million expansion unveiled in June, which included a 53-storey story all-suite tower, bringing the total number of rooms in the hotel to more than 1,000.

A second expansion phase, to be completed by the spring of 2012, will include the creation of 40,000 square feet of conference and meeting space and a 40,000 square foot themed recreation pool and spa.

In the 8,000-square-foot dining area of Brasa, 12 cuts of specially seasoned meat are brought to the table when guests leave a disk green side up, indicating they want service. Red side up means they have had enough for the moment or have finished devouring the meat.

Trained in charrasco table service by grill master Zanona, a native of Southern Brazil, servers bring the meat to the table and slice what guests choose.

The servers are dressed as gauchos, a nod to the history of churrasco—a cowboy meal where the meat is cooked over fire pits outdoors under the open sky.

Diners go to a buffet to pick up salads and grilled vegetables, along with traditional Brazilian sides such as fried polenta and cheese bread.

“Every detail is 100 per cent authentically Brazilian, from the way food is cooked to the way it is served,” said Hilton Hotel and Suites marketing vice-president Anthony Annunziata, in a release.

For all-you-can eat-meat and buffet, the price is $45.95 for adults and $19.95 for children 10 and under. Locals receive a 10 per cent discount.

The international wine list has 86 table wines ranging in price from $32 a bottle to $360, with most in the 440 to $70 range, and 17 by the glass, priced from $7 to $16.

The list has two dozen Canadian labels.

There are also champagnes and Icewines, as well as ports.

The restaurant manager is Steven Bamforth, who has been 10 years with the company running the Niagara Hilton, Hospitality Resorts Incorporated.

The interior designer was Howard Fields of HFA international, a U.S. company.

The Brasa concept was created by the hotel owners.

The other restaurant that opened in the new section of the hotel was a Romano’s Macaroni Grill franchise. This restaurant has an open kitchen, and a menu that is a blend of traditional fare and signature dishes. Signature thin crust pizzas are handmade to order with fresh ingredients and pasta dishes all feature imported pasta, freshly made sauces and a variety of Italian cheeses.