Then again, if authentically home-cooked flavors are their priority, adventure eaters will fare better at Picanha, a relatively modest diner-turned-churrascaria that serves Northeast Philadelphia's growing Brazilian population. This casual BYO has plastic table covers, TVs playing Brazilian soap operas, taxidermy and trinkets for decor. But the meats coming off its charcoal-fired grill recently were consistently superior in taste and tenderness to what I'd just eaten at Fogo de Chão.
One of Fogo's main issues, it turns out, is that its gauchos do considerably more than jump at green disks and slice meat. In fact, these fellows actually cook the meat themselves, bopping back and forth between the dining room and kitchen to tend their skewers. And with essentially 12 different cooks at work each night, the preparations are maddeningly inconsistent, ranging from blandly underseasoned to blazingly oversalted. Some meats are cooked with relative delicacy. Others, like the ribs and lamb chops, are cooked to chewy jerky.