Restaurant Review - Pampas, Palo Alto

On Sunday night a group of us went to Pampas Restaurant in Palo Alto to celebrate a birthday.

 
 Pampas is a Brazillian Churascaria.  I had the rodizio.  That is the "meat buffet".  The servers come around carrying skewers of different meats and carve you off a hunk.  The rodizio is priced at $44. That includes all the meat you can eat, plus the unlimited side bar that consists of salads, pastas, cheeses, vegetables, and a bunch of other stuff. 

This is a list of the meats.

Picanha traditional Brazilian cut of top sirloin seasoned with rock salt and olive oil
Cordeiro leg of lamb marinated with garlic and mint
Costela de Cordeiro lamb chop marinated with garlic and ginger
Lombo pork loin with coriander adobo
Medalhão com Alho tenderloin filet seasoned with garlic and herbs
Medalhão com Queijo tenderloin filet with parmesan
Maminha tri–tip seasoned with rock salt and olive oil
Frango chicken thighs marinated with smoked paprika and lemon
Frango Picante chicken legs marinated with garlic, chili peppers, and vinegar
Linguiça house-made Brazilian pork sausage
Abacaxi slow-roasted pineapple
Peru turkey breast wrapped in smoked bacon
Fraldinha skirt steak with onion-herb marinade
Coração de Frango marinated chicken hearts (available upon request)

The meats were all delicious! My favorite was the Picanha.  So good!  And, I even ate a chicken heart! 

For dessert I had the Chocolate Torte. It was served with caramel ice cream and a toffee made with brazil nuts, and bacon.  Yummy!

The best part of the night was after dinner. We got to go into the kitchen and meet Chef Nikki Baverso.  She is the executive chef, at just 26 years old.  That's about the coolest thing ever!  She was so great explaining how things work and even said she would be happy to take some of us on for a stage!

Meeting Take Home Chef Curtis Stone

Yesterday Sur La Table at Santana Row hosted a book signing for Curtis Stone's new cookbook "Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone"



Curtis walking to the stage for a cooking demo


Curtis during cooking demo


My cookbook autograph


Me with the adorable Curtis Stone

celebrity chef news...

Giada's pregnant!

iron chef masaharu morimoto...

i snuck out of work a few minutes early this afternoon so that i could get to santana row by 5:00pm. my friend mrs. L had told me that the iron chef was going to be at sur la table for a book signing. she was unable to make it due to a prior commitment so i went in her stead.

this first picture is from the cooking demo that chef morimoto did.

this picture is from the book signing portion of the night. i was number 3 in line. when i thanked him in japanese, he got a huge smile on his face and shook my hand again and said "thank you so much..." :) how cool is that?

TV chefs coming to town...

tonight iron chef masaharu morimoto will be at sur la table in santana row for a cooking demo and book signing.

december 15th rachael ray will be at sur la table for a Q&A session and book signing.

who's got napastyle?

the city of Los Gatos does now...

Mrs. L says over here that the adorable michael chiarello was going to be in Los Gatos at the opening of his new store Napa Style. Mrs. L was not able to go because it was her mother's birthday so i went instead. :)

michael was charismatic and charming. and oh so cute!