by Allana Wooley |Walking into Rafain Brazilian Steakhouse's new West 7th location, I was on a mission. I was determined to try every single one of the 16 meats paraded through the dining room rodízio style. I took notes, carefully eyeing each glistening skewer as it went past and conspiring with the meat waiters to sample every option. (It's a rough job, but somebody's got to do it.)
Despite my best efforts, I missed the pork ribs. Such is the nature of Rafain's traditional Brazilian-style restaurant. Food parades around the room constantly. The gaucho-chefs are prompt to respond to the discs laid before each patron-green for "Go, bring me more and more and more" and red for "Wait, I need to recover." With such a constant deluge of food, it's easy to miss a skewer or two. And even if you don't miss a thing, good luck eating everything.
Carrying a meat-laden skewer and a butcher knife, the gaucho-chefs approach and announce what they carry. Prime beef gaucho. Parmesan encrusted pork loin. Lamb porterhouse. Filet mignon. The complete list represents lamb, chicken, pork and beef in a variety of high-quality, tender cuts.
I could detail every dish I sampled from the 55-item salad bar. I could describe the impossible paradox of the simultaneously crunchy and creamy bread rolls. I could wax poetic about the delicately fried bananas and paprika-spiked mashed potatoes served at each table as palate-cleansers. But these items are just extras. Rafain isn't a restaurant you visit for the salad bar.
Though the generous portions had long filled me up, I couldn't help but eat bite after bite of the tender, flavorful, perfectly roasted and seasoned meat anyway - a decision I still don't regret.
The house special, Picanha, may have been my favorite. It pulled apart with barely a touch of the fork. Or my favorite might have been the beef ribs, as good as any Texas barbecue. Or the bacon-wrapped filet mignon, which induced a television-ready sigh of appreciation. And have I mentioned the cinnamon-sugar roasted pineapple, sweet and warm and the perfect complement to the heaviness of the meats? As I've said, I missed the pork ribs. But if the rest of my meal was any indication, they were exquisite.
I couldn't leave without sampling the desserts (again, just part of the job). Though a sweets buffet stands near the salad bar, I ordered an a la carte item, a papaya ice cream with raspberry liquor: light, airy and the perfect ending to my carnivorous feast.
After recovering from the food coma, I can look at the experience (and it is an experience) with clarity. For just under $50 a person, Rafain is a delicious all-you-can-eat must for Fort Worth foodies. But plan on a few trips - better to pace yourself over several visits than to strain your stomach in a single marathon feast.
