The meat lover’s paradise: Gaucho Brazilian Barbeque

Gaucho Menu

Gaucho Brazilian Barbeque has recently moved to a new location, across from Chinook Mall (5920 Macleod Trail SW, Calgary). If you’ve been to the old place, you’ll appreciate the new design: urban and chic. They’ve also updated the menu, so you now have more of a choice (although it’s quite debatable whether you actually needed more choice in this restaurant…).

For those who have no idea what Gaucho is, then get ready for the ultimate meat experience. For $35/ person, you get to eat as much meat and salad as you want and can eat (limit of 2 hours).

But Gaucho is more than simply meat: it is a meat experience. All the meats – and you’ll sample beef, pork, lamb and chicken – are freshly BBQ-ed. The staff comes with huge meat skewers at your table, and cuts a little bit of everything for you.

I wouldn’t know what to recommend first: the beef or the chicken wrapped in bacon? The pork or the tender lamb? The only thing I found too heavy for my taste was a type of sausage. Otherwise, the salads were great, the polenta and fries treats they brought at our table were really tasty, and the drinks menu seemed to please everyone.

For two people, the dinner bill came at $110 with a half bottle of wine, one sambuca and a soft drink. If you didn’t go to Gaucho’s before, it’s really worth trying it out!

Bison, Peas and Rice Risotto

Rice by WayTru

Here’s another way of cooking ground bison. The dish is not very complicated, but it will require at least 2 pots and one pan to prepare… You’ll need: 1 cup of white rice, 300 gr ground bison, 1 cup frozen peas and carrots, 1 onion, 3-4 garlic cloves, oil, cooking wine, salt, pepper, basil and parsley (optional: saffron threads).

Gratitude Cafe – Another vegetarian option in Calgary

Gratitude Cafe is a little and quite cozy place in Kensington (#101, 227 – 10th Street NW). I didn’t try the food, but I did check the menu. Prices range from $7 to $15 for a food item. I am not a big fan of vegetarian dishes, but I could definitely be content with the warm pita, hummus and tzatziki ($8) or the greek veggie wrap with feta and olives ($9). The cafe features organic tea ($2.50) and coffee ($2.50), as well as wine and fruits/ veggies drinks.

The best thing about it though is that it’s new and therefore clean. I really hope they do keep it clean, because the interior design plays a lot on white, and if it gets dirty it won’t look so neat anymore. It’s really nice to be able to have a cup of coffee and a quick bite in an area that feels urban, where you can actually see people walking on the streets at almost any time (the cafe closes at 10pm)… The second best thing about it is that you can play a quick game there: patrons can choose between a wide array of easy and funny social games, from dice to cards and snakes and ladders.