Aromas & the Rodizio

Today we had lunch at one of my favorite restaurants.  I'm not sure why but it has 3 names, Aromas, Camêra, or "the BP."  That's because it's located at the BP gas station.  Normally, in the States, I don't think of eating at a truck stop restaurant as a special treat, but that is different here in Brazil.  Some of the best meals we've had have been in truck stops. 

Just on the way to town (this restaurant is on the outskirts of Santa Rosa, about 40 minutes away), I was telling DaddyHealy that one of the things I missed the most about the States was the predictability of restaurants.  With general certainty, you know most towns of any size will have a restaurant chain you've heard of, and when you eat at Applebee's, you know what the menu is going to be like and that it is reliably good.  Here it is always an independent restaurant (normally a truck stop) and usually a buffet.  Sometimes it's the best thing you've eaten in months, and sometimes you wish you'd have picked somewhere else. 

But we were on our way to Aromas, by my request, because for Sunday lunch they have a wonderful buffet with various salads, grilled chicken, salmon, a few pasta dishes, and so on.  Then, the main draw, the rodizio, which is like a walking buffet.  Rodizio is a very popular way to eat here.  Waiters and waitresses go from table to table carrying different dishes and you accept or decline what they are offering.  We've had all different sorts of rodizios: meat, pasta, pizza, beef filet in different sauces....but the most popular type of rodizio is churrasco.  If you've ever eaten at a "Brazilian Barbeque" restaurant, that is how they serve you, walking around the restaurant with long spits full of different types of meats cooked over an open fire.  When you accept a particular type, they give you a small portion.  If you love it, the good news is they will be around again.  Rodizio is a very relaxed way for people to enjoy a meal.  You eat a little, have a little beer, talk, enjoy, eat a little more, and so on.  For us, (who have 3 small children and don't drink beer) that whole process is much more expedited.  But it is a wonderful way to enjoy a variety of delicious food at one meal.

At Aromas, the rodizio is meats and pastas.  It pleases our whole family, so everyone was excited when we told them we were going.  But as if to spite me when I said I like the restaurant consistency in the US, when we arrived at Aroma's, their buffet was clearly not set up.  We asked if they were having the rodizio today and they assured us they were, but obviously they've changed things a bit.  But the rodizio was we came for, so we sat down and waited to see what surprises were in store.  More for me to remember, but because you also may be interested, here is what we were served today:

Appetizers were brought out right away and placed directly on the table, plates of salami and cheese, 2 spreads--one of seasoned mayonnaise and the other tuna salad, baskets of toasted bread chunks, plates of polenta slices covered with mozzarella cheese.

This was followed by plates of fried polenta and mini cheese filled pastries (pastels) a plate with a halved cornish hen, and a small rack of pork ribs and 2 salads. (The one I ate had bitter leaves, thinly sliced onions, bacon, and a vinaigrette.)  At this time we also received a small plate of spaghetti and 2 dishes to top it, one with garlic and olive oil and the other with a thin tomato sauce.

That was all before they started to bring us the rodizio.  Then started the waiters appearing, faster than you could eat, with various delicious looking dishes...incredibly tender pork loin, file in mustard sauce, filet in a brown sauce, thinly sliced grilled steak, one with a wine sauce, pumpkin ravioli, spinach rolled in pasta in mushroom sauce, 4 cheese cannelloni, green fettuccine in a cream sauce, lasagna in meat sauce, ricotta stuffed ravioli, pasta rolls stuffed with ham and cheese. It was amazing, and everyone left stuffed.

They also make wonderful fresh juices there, so today D had passion fruit juice, and M chose watermelon juice.  The kids love Aromas because it has a neat playground (okay our standards have changed,....it has some old, rickety wooden playground equipment, but different is always fun), so they behave well in the restaurant to earn time on the playground after lunch.    We had a great family day, talked about some great friends who first brought us to Aromas, but have since moved, and were thrilled to consider how far we've all come in 14 months here.