Arrive Magazine - September/October, 2011

Chef Spotlight

The Gaucho Way

In a landmark building just steps from the theater district
in Philadelphia is one of the best and most exciting dining
experiences you’re likely to find this side of Brazil—Fogo de
Chão Churrascaria (pronounced “fo-go dee shoun”).

Guests rave about the restaurant, and the secret behind Fogo is a team led by Leandro Benacchio, the head gaucho chef. Benacchio has been learning the way of the gaucho since he was a boy in southern Brazil. The gaucho way is to grill meat on skewers over open pits of fire, which draws out all the best qualities of a rich cut. The style is called churrasco, and its proud tradition derives from the campfires of South American cowboys known as gauchos.

Benacchio has been working in Brazilian steakhouses for nearly 20 years, and at Fogo de Chão for 13, transferring from São Paulo to the U.S. when Fogo debuted its Atlanta restaurant in 2001. Before that, growing up in Santa Catarina, a small state in southern Brazil, he watched his father work the fires for Sunday barbecues. At 17, he moved to São Paulo and started as a dishwasher in a Brazilian steakhouse, then worked his way up to server and eventually gaucho chef. It is that experience at all levels of the gaucho way that guides Benacchio in Philadelphia. In addition to head gaucho chef, he is the restaurant’s general manager and oversees every aspect of what diners enjoy, including the tableside service of the meats.

Top: The lobby in Above: Head Gaucho Chef and GM Leandro Benacchio exhibits the “gaucho way.”

Beyond just plain delicious food, customers and critics praise Fogo de Chão for the fun dining experi-erence—there is plenty to eat and plenty to see. The servers, dressed in the traditional garb of the gaucho, are also the chefs of the meat they serve.

They circle with skewers of picanha (sirloin), lamb chops, filet mignon and bacon-wrapped chicken, engaging diners with friendliness and old-fashioned Brazilian hospitality brought with them from the farms on which many were raised in southern Brazil.

The promotion of these gaucho chefs from Brazil to the United States, like Benacchio himself, is part of the Fogo philosophy of preserving and sharing the culture of southern Brazil.

It is one of the keys to the restaurant’s
success in this country.

Food, especially meat, is the main attraction here, but wine is of supreme importance, too. In Philadelphia, not only does it grace the menu, but it also provides a significant contribution to the decor as well, displayed proudly in pleasing artistic arrangements on the walls. The wine list is the winner of consecutive awards of excellence from

Wine Spectator magazine since the restaurant opened in 2006. Fogo takes special pride in stocking wines from around the world, including France, Italy, Spain, Australia, the United States, and many widely admired regions of South America. Locations carry between 200 and 300 labels.

Stop in for a true Brazilian experience in Philadelphia, and be sure to try a slice of Benacchio’s favorite meat, picanha, one of the most flavorful cuts from his home in the south of Brazil.