Chima's big problem is its inability to execute that formula with any consistent skill, which at a minimum of $50 a head, is disappointing. You can't phone in good cooking from Brazil, let alone Fort Lauderdale, Chima's American headquarters, where its corporate chef in charge of quality control resides.
One might hope for a certain value in the prospect of gorging on limitless quantities of grilled beef and salad. But that hope devolved quickly for us into a chewing chore, as skewer upon skewer of jarringly salty, mediocre meats paraded to our table.
Oversalting for the American palate is a common pitfall at churrascarias, where the Brazilian-born gaucho servers are responsible for both seasoning and cooking the skewered meats they carry through the restaurant. But Chima's gauchos were even more heavy-handed with the rock salt than I've experienced. Paired with a penchant to overcook most of the 17 cuts of meat and fish, precious few of these offerings left a good impression.
The best, by far, was the picanha, the classic churrasco cut of sirloin rolled along the grain into a half-moon. Sliced onto my plate, the round of meat was nicely pink and juicy, with a fat-ribboned crust that crackled like a heat-crisped halo.
Virtually every other skewer, though, brought a letdown, with the off-flavors of less than stellar meat that tasted either gamy (flank steak, leg of lamb), liver-y (filet mignon), or as dry as particleboard (parmesan-crusted pork loin). The plain chicken skewers were juicy, but the chicken wrapped in bacon (usually a treat) only amped the salt volume higher. Even a big slab of usually forgiving salmon was so overcooked it was chewy.
