Chamas Churrascaria: Durham, N.C.

I'm not much on buffet, all-you-can-eat, or gimmicky restaurants.  Brazilian steakhouses could be accused of all three, but don't do that: go to one and eat instead.  It's better if you're (1) hungry and (2) desirous of large quantities of meat.  For those of you not familiar with the idea, in a nutshell: folks bring swordsful of meat to your table, carve off what you want, and don't stop until you tell them to.  And what could be wrong with that?  ;)

Chamas Churrascaria is in Durham, North Carolina's Brightleaf Square.  It's the third restaurant in a space vacated by Fowler's five years ago.  The space is big; I hope Chamas can fill it.  The restaurant has a bar (and the unfortunately ubiquitous bar TV) to the right of the entrance, and tables galore, with the space partitioned into manageable chunks.  On a Monday night, plenty of attentive staff were working, and I was seated quickly; my drink order was taken by the waiter who seated me.  Chamas has beer, wine (bottles and about 10 by the glass), and mixed drinks.  My California Syrah was yummy, and the cheese sacaduros (that's what I'm going to call them until I'm corrected: small dinner rolls, slightly crusty, with a cheese center) were yummy and replenished quickly, as was everything else. 

I'll get to the meaty swords in a minute, but the buffet/salad bar bears mention.  I didn't really look at the salad ingredients closely.  Instead I picked up some proscuitto-wrapped melon, a yummy cold mushroom medley, some top-notch steamed rice (most restaurant steamed rice is crap, buffet or not), and a bit of a salmon dish in a tomato sauce with big pepper rings (worth tasting, even if you don't like salmon).  I looked longingly at the almond-encrusted brie, and gawked unabashedly at an entire wheel of Parmesan, top removed, and hollowed out from the inside for guests to partake.  There was also a hot black bean sauce or soup, sliced cold salmon (lox?  I didn't taste it), attractively-arranged cold asparagus, a nice-looking farfalle salad.... you get the idea.  It wasn't huge, but everything looked pleasant, and everything I tasted was good to excellent. 

Once you have a plate, you sit back down at your table, and flip over a small yes/no disk.  This signals the boot-clad, fancily-dressed meat runners [hey, correct me -- I embrace change  ;) ] to stop by with their meat-laden swords.  I was offered marinated flank steak, chicken (or maybe some smaller game bird: I don't hear well, and the guy had an accent), sausages, medium-rare to rare sirloin, pork ribs, and pork loin within 5-10 minutes.  All of it was good to excellent.  The flank steak, chicken, and ribs were variously sauced and flavored.  The sirloin was naked, like the Gods intend.  The pork loin I passed on, as I was already porked out.  :)  One good thing about these restaurants is you can pass on whatever you don't like, get small portions of what you want to try, ask for a bunch of your favorites, or all three.  The meat was cooked as described in all cases.  In one Brazilian steakhouse I've visited (the Midwest Grill in Cambridge, Massachusetts), diners could ask for rarer cuts or specify where they wanted their slice from.  I didn't do that: I was happy with what they brought, and the place wasn't very busy -- I didn't want someone throwing more meat on a grill when I was happy with what was served.  I don't know what they usually serve, or if they have rotating special meats or the like: I never saw a menu or a price list, although I knew it was prix fixe, and I didn't see any literature or menus on the way out.  I did get a wine list.  I think I screwed up the rhythm of their service by leaving the table at a crucial juncture; a waiter later apologized for my not getting the rundown when I was seated.

After the meat started coming, the waitstaff brought me small dishes of mashed potatoes and sweetened, cooked bananas flavored with cinnamon.  These were also replenished as I finished them; I wish I'd left a little so they wouldn't have wasted more mashed potatoes on an already full diner.  But there are worse things to have happen, I guess. 

I was offered dessert and coffee, but passed. I just couldn't do it.  :)

To be more specific about the meat -- The flank steak: medium to medium-well; marinated, sliced at table cross-grain; beefy and tender.  The poultry: small, well-done legs, again marinated or well-seasoned.  Small sausages: hot and yummy; I don't know what they were -- probably pork.  Pork ribs: large, ok, cooked a bit too much for my taste, with the barbecue sauce only average, but I'm spoiled by a certain local BBQ place.  ;)  Sirloin: medium-rare to rare and very tasty.  One bite had a slight livery taste, but the rest was normal.  I'm told the livery taste comes from improper butchering, and isn't strictly the fault of the cook.  I'd think the whole of both slices would taste that way, but the rest was great.  I probably shouldn't even mention it, but I thought it was interesting; maybe that whole butchering thing is wrong.  Oh well -- no problem as far as I was concerned. 

What else can I say?  Oh, the price: $24.95 for one person, plus drinks and tax -- not cheap, but I've had many worse meals for more money.  Open for dinner only; closed on Sundays.  Overall, a really good dinner: no gaffs, no bad food, no unpleasant experiences.  Reasonably entertaining, but not demanding like a Japanese steakhouse or fondue restaurant.   I often get a taste for meat, but don't want to bother going out for steak or the like; the next time I have a meat jones and don't want to cook, I'm going to Chamas. 

Comments

[Eric Akawie]

MMMMM. Sword-meat.

There's a chain of churrascarias in the D.C. area called, for some reason, Malibu Grill. It's very good, but this one sounds like it is a cut above. Malibu Grill can be kind of generic. I actually considered going last week for a birthday dinner, because it fit our requirements - able to take a table of ten or so, and toddler-tolerant. But Bonefish was able to give us a reservation.

I'd change the name if I were Chamas, however. I read it as having the same pronunciation as Hamas. Of course once I've eaten sword-meat, I'm ready to explode, so maybe that's the point.

[Kira]

I've never tried anything like this!!! I want to go! And...what do you MEAN fondue restaurants are demanding? *gasps and looks shocked at Joe* ;)

[Joe]

The last time I was outside Chamas, I noticed they've put flambeaux outside the restaurant, high above and flanking the entrance. They look really cool.

[Joe G]

I've been to a few Churrascarias, mainly in Los Angeles. Chamas ranks higher than most because of the friendly staff. My gf is a vegetarian, and she likes the "salad bar" enough that we can go, and they offer a slightly reduced price for a meal sans meat.

[Joe]

Joe G., thanks for the visit and review. Chamas has changed their offerings and prices slightly since I wrote the original review; I'll post an update when I have time. And I've had luck with vegetarians as well at Chamas. I've also had luck with vegetarians at, believe it or not, the Q-Shack in Durham.

[Rose]

I cannot believe most of you are talking about the same restaurant I ate at last night. My husband and I had been looking forward to trying Brazilian beef- supposedly the best... this couldn't have been it although, I never saw a printed menu so have no idea if they claim it is. The beef was overdone - especially the filet, flank steak could only be described as tough, spareribls and lamb were okay, one slice of pork loin was actually delicious but the next one was a dry disappointment. There was no service from the "waiter" although the folks who keep your water glasses full and change the plates were very nice.
And there is no warning menu in the window to alert you to the price, which doesn't even include a cup of coffee...
All in all I cannot believe that this is considered upscale dining in Durham. Yuck!

[Joe]

Rose: I moved your comment to the Chamas post, as I imagine that's where you intended it to be.

Thanks for the update. The last time I was in Chamas was about a year ago; while the offerings and prices had changed a little, the service and quality were about the same as on my previous visits. I guess a lot could happen in a year. I'll check with other people to see if the place has gone downhill or whether your experience was an aberration. I do wish the offerings were a little more clearly explained, but most people don't seem to mind. It's certainly different from a regular restaurant experience though.

[Stan]

I should have listened to what Rose had to say about the service at Chamas. I took my family there on Feb. 17, 2007. We had a reservation and were promptly seated. The waitress and staff came over and immediately set things in motion however, except for the meat servers, that was the last of such a flurry of activity. The owner stopped by while we were eating and there was a slight increase in attention from the waitress but as the meal progressed, we received no attention that we did not initiate except from the meat servers. The waitress constantly walked past us and avoided eye contact so it was hard to get our drinks refilled. We ended up asking the bus girl to refill our water and tea.

The food was in general very good but we realized that you have to ask for a rare piece of meat otherwise you get the dried out shoe leather. The salad bar was a fun place to explore. For the price, the service could and should have been better. After we finished eating, we waited over 30 minutes before the waitress stopped by to ask if we wanted any dessert. The wait would not have been so bad had we at least had water or tea to drink but we had run dry and could not get refilled.

It's a unique experience and I do recommend going there at least once (who knows, maybe your luck with the waitress will be better). However, we won't be going back till our collective memories fade on the lousy service.

[Tim Gage]

My wife and I went to Chamas this Sunday 8-Mar. We had enjoyed Chamas about 1.5 years ago with friends visiting from Chile. We were looking forward to another pleasant dining experience. We entered the restaurant with our 50% off coupon and pleasant memories of the past dining experience.

I will start positive. The restaurant was celebrating a Carnival event and the atmosphere was suitable. The dining area was decorated with balloons and pleasant music was playing in the background. The staff were smartly dressed in black and white with charming appropriately styled hats.

Unfortunately, the pleasantries ended there. Although the salad bar had more to offer than the typical Ruby Tuesday fare, it seemed like a smaller selection than we had experienced in our previous visit. The salad bar hosted an assortment of typical fare coupled with a reasonable selection seafood, cheese, and garnishes. Despite a couple good cheese offerings, no suitable accompaniment was offered. There were no crackers and the two breads offered were either sweet or cheesy. We did not try the seafood and the salad was average.

Although the salad bar was a little disappointing, we had come for the meat so we moved on. In retrospect, we should have cut our losses at $25 for the salad bar and left. We continued our dining experience with the $35 all you can eat (stomach) meat buffet.

First we tried the ribs. With no noticeable charring, the ribs were about as dry and crisp as they could be without turning to ash. These were not only unpleasant, but totally inedible. Our memories fostered hope; there were other meats to try.

Next, we tried the garlic steak. This meat was moist and almost tender. The flavor was salty but pleasant. Yes, our hope was returning. We can't wait for the bacon wrapped filet and chicken that we remember fondly.

The lamb we received next was fatty, tough, and inconsistently cooked. After 5 minutes attempting to cut off a piece of edible meat we gave up. Our one slice of well-done, medium, rare lamb was simply to fatty and tough to salvage. We were starting to feel guilty as the pile of waste meat on our plate started to grow.

With our hopes diminishing, we tried the flank steak next. Again, we were disappointed. The flank steak was tough and the flavor unpleasant. More for the waste pile.

Finally, the bacon wrapped filet mignon and chicken was served. At this point we were hungry, looking forward to the pleasant flavor and textures from our memory. Cutting into the filet revealed a grayish-black nugget of meat. Could it taste as bad as it looked? Our hunger pushed us on. I have had better tasting stew beef. The frozen bacon filet nuggets from Costco were better than this.

Our hopes now dashed, we surrendered. We summoned the manager and one of the owners appeared. When confronted with our pile of butchered meat, the owner defended the restaurant's cooking style. When asked how she could consider grayish-black filet mignon to be properly cooked, she responded "we have people who like it this way and come back every weekend." We were skeptical as we looked around at the many empty tables. My wife stated we would never be back as we paid our $50 check (after 50% coupon).

[Joe Eater]

Wow, Tim, that's really too bad. I haven't been by in a while, but last week I was in Amelia next door on a Thursday night. I stuck my head in the door into Chamas, and it was scary to see how poorly the tables were populated. I attributed it to the economy and the fact that I was there kinda early for dinner, but now I'm thinking that they might just have crappy food now and not have much of any business. Too bad.

Anyone else been in lately?