Swords of all-you-can-eat grilled meats
Friday - August 03, 2007
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Looking for a way to taste an entire menu and a different culture all in one sitting? Then head to Tudo de Bom in McCully Shopping Center. It’s a Brazilian restaurant owned by Alex Viveiros, who was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro and drawn to Hawaii by the ocean. He soon realized that Honolulu - a city that welcomes buffet dining with open arms and loose belts - would be the perfect place to open a churrascaria, a Brazilian steak house. The term more accurately describes a restaurant where rodizio cooking is the style: a rotation of grilled meats brought directly to be carved at the table.
“The style originated in the south of Brazil with the gauchos (cattlemen or cowboys),” says Alex, “but today you’ll pretty much find this style of restaurant throughout Brazil.”
Tudo De Bom has a casually elegant appeal. It’s light and airy, with a pleasant, neutral décor, white tablecloths and, if you go on weekend nights, there’s a nice buzz brought about by a younger crowd - and some fabulous caipirinhas (a refreshing cocktail made with sugar cane rum and freshly squeezed lime juice).
Tudo de Bom is an all-you-can-eat destination, but that doesn’t mean you’ll spend all night traipsing between your table and the buffet. Here, passadors (waiters) come armed with a “sword” full of different meat, ready to be carved at your table. All you have to do is turn the wooden “robot” on your table from red to green and they’ll keep the meat coming.
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The salad bar offers pretty standard fare, as well as some interesting Brazilian side dishes. Make sure to try the farofa - it looks a little like finely ground cornmeal and the idea is to dip meats into the flour. It adds a little crunch, spice and texture to the food - and is especially good as a dusting over french fries.
Other traditional sides include black beans along with a couple of dishes that seem more like entrees: fish stew with coconut, beef stroganoff and pasta.
Alex says that people love the style and the casual way the restaurant works.
“People in Hawaii love to eat, and we offer a place where they can come for a nice meal, bring their families, enjoy the atmosphere - and all for a very good price,” he says.
Lunch on weekdays (where there are about nine different meat choices) is just $11.95, with dinner (where they add five or six more meat selections) costing $19.95. It’s a little pricier on the weekends, when there are more meats, including rib eye, brisket, skirt steak and fresh fish added to the extensive rodizio choices.
What I particularly liked at Tudo De Bom was the chicken. I know it sounds boring, but it seems to work really well on the skewer, and stays beautifully tender and moist.
There’s a really good potato salad too, along with sausages made from both chicken and pork.
There’s top sirloin, lamb and pork loin and on weekends, there’s a fabulous turkey wrapped with bacon. In all, a total of 14 types of meats and fish are offered.
And the best thing about Tudo De Bom is that you don’t have to rely on food writers to tell you what’s good - you can go try everything at once and decide yourself.
Tudo De Bom
McCully
Shopping Center
second level
942-0267
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