Our friend Inge looks for any excuse to go to The Gaucho’s Way Brazilian Steakhouse (part of Park City Shopping Center, Lancaster) and offered to treat us to a meal there because of things we had done for her and for Cerwin’s birthday. It is a special treat to her because she was born in Brazil.

The salad bar has some things we Americans are used to and other things unique to Brazil and other South American cultures.

Cerwin took a picture of Inge and me with his cell phone and for some reason there were shadows that make our mouths and chins look black and blue. 🙂

We sat next to a large painting of Brazilian Gauchos (cowboys) cooking their meat.

From the internet: Brazilian gauchos traditionally cooked their meat over open fires or wood pits in the grasslands of the Pampas, using a method now known as churrasco.This was a practical, simple, and highly effective way to prepare large cuts of beef for their herding lifestyle.

Gauchos would build a large bed of hot, smoldering wood—often dense hardwoods like quebracho—on the ground. The meat was butchered into large cuts or even split whole, then impaled on long metal skewers (espetos). The skewers were placed directly over or near the embers, allowing the heat to cook the meat evenly.

That is how all their meat is served in this restaurant – on large skewers. There is a variety of perfectly roasted beef, lamb, chicken, and pork cuts.