Chama Gaucha, an authentic Brazilian Steakhouse in Grapevine, boasts an array of prime meats, an extensive wine selection and an atmosphere that brings the Brazilian countryside to the heart of Texas. Brazilian steakhouses are known for all-you-can-eat Rodiźio-style dining, where servers circulate the restaurant offering skewers of various meats. 

Chama Gaucha, an authentic Brazilian Steakhouse in Grapevine, boasts an array of prime meats, an extensive wine selection and an atmosphere that brings the Brazilian countryside to the heart of Texas. Brazilian steakhouses are known for all-you-can-eat Rodiźio-style dining, where servers circulate the restaurant offering skewers of various meats.

Chama Gaucha’s restaurant manager and sommelier, Paulo Serafini, discusses the restaurant’s unique concept, traditional cooking methods and impeccably high standards.

What do you love most about Chama Gaucha?

Serafini: Everybody has different roots, different traditions. I think it's really important to show other people your tradition and bring them a joy—that happiness—when they try different styles of food. We make sure that the guests feel at home and appreciated when they come to this nice, beautiful restaurant. But when they sit down and taste the first piece of meat—the look on their face, the love on their face—to see that. Man, that's incredible.

Over the past 15 years, Chama Gaucha has built a reputation for delicious, perfectly cooked food. What’s your secret?

Serafini: Quality of the meats is number one, and we only serve prime beef that’s been aged 45 days, at least. Finding the right salt is really important, as well. Some people just think that you can throw any salt on the meats. But [you have to] find the right salt: not too powdery, not too big to affect the taste. So it's a big part of it. The company's been around for 15 years. So we found the right product already. We find the right salt, we find the right lemon pepper, the raw spices and all that. Maybe seasoning with spices here and there for lamb or for chicken or for pork, but for the beef it is only salt, literally nothing else.

For cooking, I think it was born with us. [The owners and many team members] are from South Brazil, from the countryside. [Cooking happens on] natural wood fire. Let that become like a nice flame, a nice ember. You wait for a while until the fire is ready, and then you put the meats there. You see it by eye—the right temperature—just by looking at it. It takes time to [learn]. We don't have a timer or anything like that. This is a style of cooking back home. Texas is similar to what we have in South Brazil. Gaussians and cowboys, I’d say it's a very similar style: cooking the meats, farmers dealing with cattle and horses and things like that. This comes with you since you're a kid, right? There's a way that you get together on a Sunday after church. We cook for the whole family.

What is the meaning behind the name “Chama Gaucha”?

Serafini: The meaning is really simple, but it's very big as well. Chama is “flame.” Gaucha means you were born in the region of Brazil we are from. All of us that were born there were considered Gaussians, meaning cowgirls, cowboys. So the name means “cowgirl fire.” Those flames come up as we see on our logo.

I understand you are a Level 1 sommelier. What can you tell me about your wine selection and drink menu?

Serafini: We have a great selection of the wine. You know, people coming here expecting to have a great steak, the wonderful prime beef. So the wine combination with the steaks is really well paired, right. We have a great selection of wine from South America. I recommend a nice Catena Malbec with the steaks, [it pairs] really well. We have a variety of selections from South California.

[In addition] bartenders are well trained and prepared to make pretty much any drink the customer asks for. We have a [Brazilian] national drink here called caipirinha, a cocktail. It's prepared with fresh lime slices and a little bit of sugar—we use Cachaça, which is Brazilian sugar cane liquor. [The joke is] if you have maybe three of those, you speak Portuguese fluently.

What else would you like to share with us?

Serafini: I would love to invite everybody to come in and taste [our food] for the first time. Come and check us out—find out what real Brazilian food is, what the expertise to cook and serve prime beef tastes like.

In addition to the open dining area, Chama Gaucha also offers private rooms that can accommodate anywhere from 10-100 guests. To learn more about Chama Gaucha and reserve a table, visit the website.

The above story was produced by Community Impact's Multi Platform Journalist Team with information solely provided by the local business as part of its "sponsored content" purchase through our advertising team.