Rodízio

Rodízio (roo-DEE-zyoo or IPA: [xu'dʲizju]/ IPA: [xo'dʒizju] – BP – or [ʁu'dizju] – EP) is a style of restaurant service in Brazilian and Portuguese restaurants. One pays a fixed price (prix fixe) and the waiters bring an offering of food to each customer at several times throughout the meal, until the customers signify that they have had enough. In churrascarias servers come to the table with knives and a skewer, on which are speared various kinds of meat, most commonly local cuts of beef, pork, or chicken whereas in a Pizza rodizio varied pizzas are brought on trays.

Foods served at a churrascaria often include:

Filet mignon chunks wrapped in bacon
Turkey chunks wrapped in bacon (these two are usually two-bite sized)
Sirloin steak (cut semicircular and served in slices)
Roast beef (served like sirloin steak)
Beef short ribs
Pork ribs
Chorizo or some other spicy Iberian pork sausage
Chicken hearts
Grilled dark-meat chicken
Grilled pineapple or banana (meant as a palate cleanser between courses)
Sushi (in rare occasion)

Most rodizio courses are served right off the cooking skewer, and are sliced or plated right at the table. In some restaurants, they are accompanied with Spanish fried potatoes, fried bananas, collard greens, black beans, and rice.

In many places where churrascarias have been opened, such as the United States (but much less common in Brazil), the diner is often provided with a colored card, red on one side and green on the other. According to the usual meaning of these colours, the servers will only bring more meat if the card is flipped to green side.

See also