LA’s Best Lunch Deal Is This All-You-Can-Eat Brazilian Barbecue Buffet

A salad bar plate from Fogo de Chão, a Brazilian barbecue restaurant. | Matthew Kang Choose a single meat addition to the all-you-can-eat salad bar for a $32 Brazilian barbecue feast This is Quick Sear, a column where Eater LA editors explore a pertinent topic in the city’s food scene with keen observations and earned takes. Today’s topic: An all-you-can-eat lunch hack at Brazilian barbecue chain Fogo de Chão.

Tariffs are up, stocks are down, and the overall economic anxiety in this country is palpable. Now’s the time for affordable dining, and there’s nothing better than a good lunch deal. Over the past year, I’ve been secretly enjoying the lunch salad bar buffet at Fogo de Chão in El Segundo, an outpost of the Brazilian steakhouse chain located on the ground floor of a mid-rise office building.



The full churrasco experience costs a hefty $54 for lunch at Fogo de Chão, although it comes with at least six different kinds of meats, including picanha (prime top sirloin), bone-in ribeye, lamb chops, and garlic chicken. But the salad bar, which is probably the best salad bar buffet to be found in Los Angeles, costs just $18. And once you add on the $14 single-meat option, you essentially get something close to an all-you-can-eat Brazilian barbecue lunch for just $32 before tax and gratuity.

My love for Brazilian barbecue, or churrasco, can be traced back to when I was very young, gnawing on hunks of grilled meats as my family looked on. Both of my parents spent their formative years in Brazil, as it was one of the only countries in the early 1960s to accept South Korean immigrants (later, the U.S.

allowed immigration from certain Asian countries as part of the 1965 Immigration Act). Culturally, my family grew up Brazilian and Korean, which means celebrations and big meals always involved churrasco and endless parades of grilled meats.While the Fogo de Chao lunch special may not quite be the meat spectacle of my youth, it shares enough similarities to satisfy the craving without going all out on barbecue.

At the salad bar, options include at least three kinds of pre-cut lettuces with a variety of dressings, charcuterie, cheeses, pickled chiles, and prepared vegetables that would make an Erewhon deli counter blush. My favorite picks here are the roasted vegetables like eggplant, bell peppers, cauliflower, and artichokes. The best pre-made salads are the tomato, caprese, and heart of palm, the latter of which is very typical of Brazilian lunches.

And, of course, there’s the all-important vinaigrette (pronounced boldly as “vi-nah-GRETCH”), a combination of chopped onions, bell peppers, and tomatoes seasoned with olive oil and vinegar. The tangy, crunchy, refreshing condiment is an essential part of cutting through the rich, grilled meats. There are also some hot foods in the salad bar, like steamed white rice, farofa (toasted manioc flour), and feijoada, the traditional Brazilian black bean stew flavored with sausages and other pork parts.

There’s a soup that changes every day, and often crispy bacon. For $18, the salad bar at Fogo de Chão is without peer in Southern California. Salad bar items from Fogo de Chão.

Smoked salmon, charcuterie, and more from the salad bar. But going to Fogo de Chão or any churrascaria without eating any of the grilled meats will seem pretty sad. The parade of servers slicing meats at the tableside will cause an inordinate amount of envy.

The solution is getting the “Grilled Selection” addition of $14, giving you a choice of picanha, fraldinha (bottom sirloin), lamb picanha, bistecca de porco (pork chop), or frango (garlic chicken). In my experience, the menu says you are supposed to get somewhere between eight to 10 ounces of a single meat, but most of the time, servers will just slice as much of that single meat as you desire (plus, any more than 10 ounces of meat is food coma-inducing for lunch anyway). The salad bar protein add-ons also include pan-seared salmon ($26), cauliflower steak ($22), and Chilean sea bass ($34) in case one is looking for non-red meat.

Typically, at a churrascaria, there’s a small green and red indicator to denote if you want servers to keep bringing meats (green) or take a break (red). For Fogo de Chão’s single-meat lunch, the card will show which meat you’ve chosen so that servers will just bring picanha, frango, or whatever you’ve selected. They’re not out there with a scale to measure how many times you’ve gotten slices of juicy, seared top sirloin with the fat cap still on.

Most of the time, I end up with four or five slices and feel more than satiated. And servers will always bring out complimentary sides like fresh-out-of-the-oven pão de queijo (cheese bread), mashed potatoes, caramelized bananas, and fried polenta.After multiple rounds at the salad bar, and servers offering up slices of tender grilled meat until I couldn’t even fathom eating any more, the meal still only comes out to $32.

While Brazilian barbecue aficionados crave the variety that comes with the format, and those indulgent meals are great for every once in a while, the modest single-meat situation works on a more regular basis, which for me means maybe once a month. Because nothing tastes better than an incredible, nearly all-you-can-eat meal, for an attainable price.Fogo de Chão, which is pronounced (fo-go jee-SHOWN), is located in El Segundo, Pasadena, Woodland Hills, Beverly Hills, Downtown LA, and most recently in Santa Monica.

It’s open for lunch from Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.

m. Slicing picanha at the table. Sliced picanha at Fogo de Chão.

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