Cheeks to Cheeks

As mentioned previously, we had a lovely dinner at Pampas on Saturday to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary. Pampas is located at downtown Palo Alto, right on Alma. It used to be Q Club and that club was a popular bar/club during the 90s. A lot of college students hung out there until a random shooting incident that killed a girl. It was big news then ‘cos the victim was an American born Chinese girl. Anyway, that’s a little gossip to start the story.

We dropped the kids off at the in-laws around 5-ish and arrived at Pampas a little before 6pm. We didn’t make a reservation, thinking the usual dinner crowd will not be there around that time. The restaurant opens at 5pm and there were a few diners when we got there.

We were seated at a corner and it was very near the side bar. Pampas is famous for its Rodizio meal. It is a Brazilian all you can eat grilled meat. We had prepared ourselves by looking through the menu on their website and we knew what we wanted. Our server was amazed at our speedy response when he asked what we would like.

We started off with a cocktail and wine. Jon loves his cocktail; whereas, I prefer my wine. He had this Brazilian style cocktail and it can’t be found in the online menu. He now calls it the “long ass name” drink. I had the Rayoh Syrah (from Chile). Syrah compliments all sorts of meat, except seafood. Anyway, before long, we had the servers coming by with the meats (tri-tip, lamb, pork, chicken, turkey, etc.). There are 14 ways they had the meats grilled.

“Long ass name” cocktail, Pampas menu & tea light candles in the background

We tried to pace ourselves by having bits and pieces of the food from the side bar. We enjoyed all the dishes from the salad bar. Jon’s favorite is the grilled peach with fresco cheese. I fell in love with the heart of the palm. It tasted like tender bamboo shoots.

~Two types of salad and its exotic vinegarettes~

If you do not fancy meat that much, they do have a variety of seafood to choose from. The side bar alone will be able to fill you up too. Side bar is around $27 but we would recommend going full course with the Rodizio.

~My favorite: Heart of Palm (center dish)~

As we were munching away, we talked about family and decided to bring his folks and mine to Pampas next month. My aunt will be visiting too; so, it will be great to dine out with the family. The ambience at Pampas was perfect. They had a live band playing at the front of the foyer, where the bar is at. It’s a perfect place to dine out in a group.

~Jon’s favorite: Grilled Peach with Queso Fresco~

As you can see there are about 24 or more dishes from the side bar alone.

The above is just a little something on my plate. We wanted to taste all 14 type of meats, so we came up with a plan. Jon would have one meat and I would have another. We would then cut our meat into half and share. That way we were able to taste all 14 of them. Here’s the type of meat on the Rodizio menu:

Picanha: traditional Brazilian cut of sirloin
Maminha: tri-tip slow-roasted and seasoned with rock salt and olive oil
Cordeiro: leg of lamb marinated with yogurt, garlic, and mint
Lamb chop: marinated with garlic and ginger
Lombo: pork tenderloin slow-roasted with authentic spice dry rub
Lombo: port tenderloin slow-roasted with parmesan
Sirloin filet: with garlic and herbs
Sirloin filet: with parmesan
Frango: natural chicken legs and thighs marinated with white wine and herbs
Frango Picanted: with natural chicken legs and thighs marinated with garlic, spicy pepper, and vinegar
Linguiça: Brazilian pork sausage
Presunto: ham slow-roasted with pineapple
Peru: turkey breast wrapped with smoked bacon
Fraldinha: skirt steak with onion-herb marinate

~Fraldinha: a little chewy but the marinate is oh so heavenly~

On the table, the diners will be given a paper weight. It is red on one side and green on the other. Once the servers see the green top, they will go to the table and offer the meat. At first we were overwhelmed by the servers ‘cos they came one right after another. We had to quickly flip the paper weight to red to stop them from coming to our table. So, my advice is to get one or two type of meat and flip the paper weight to red. That way you can enjoy your meal and savor the meat.

~I got the server to smile for me. He was serving the Brazilian sausage and turkey~

The servers at Pampas were courteous and very helpful. They knew we were on a “mission”–A mission to try all 14 type of meat. A few of them would come to our table and asked what we have not try. They would then go to the kitchen and bring it out to us.

~True meat eaters would love this: Medium rare sirloin…yummy!~

By the time we have tasted all 14 meats, we were stuffed BUT what is a meal without dessert, eh? We ordered the Chocolate Torte served with caramel ice-cream, creme fraiche sauce, bacon Brazil nut toffee, and smoked sea salt. Quite a mouthful, isn’t it?

The torte, I would give it 2 out of 5 thumbs up. It was a little dry. The ice-cream tasted like coffee ice cream to me but it was really delicious. I was a bit disappointed with the arrangement. For dessert, take a look at how it was served…

A bit plain, don’t you think? The toffee was chewy but oh so lovely. The roasted sea salt melts in my taste buds as I chewed on the toffee. The toffee deserves a 4 out of 5 thumbs up.

Would we go back to Pampas again? You betcha! The service was good, the food was exceptional. It is a 4 out of 5 thumbs up from both of us. We can’t wait to bring our family there next month. You can go to pampaspaloalto.com to check out their website.

I love Chocolates. I can’t describe the joy I get whenever chocolate melts in my mouth. I, for one, particularly fancy chocolates that look as good as they taste. Needless to say, if the chocolate is not up to my taste standard, I will not consume it. Now, this brings me to one online store that stands behind their products. Gertrude Hawk Chocolates guarantees every item they sell and if a customer is not satisfied with the purchase, it can be return for full refund or replacement. One word: WOW!

Gertrude Hawk Chocolates claim it uses the freshest ingredients and on top of that, the recipes used are well time-tested. They have gourmet chocolates, fresh Fudge, chocolate covered cherries, sugar-free candy, truffles and others. All of these can be found beautifully wrapped and are sold under their Holiday Gift Collection.

Now, if I could get this message across the husband. Chocolates will be a nice gift for Mother’s Day.

Last Sunday I had a sudden craving for Pho. It is very rare for me to have cravings especially for this pregnancy. Jon had raved about this Pho restaurant at Alum Rock Ave, San Jose and told me whenever his Vietnamese friend has a craving for Pho, he would go to this restaurant. Hey, if a Vietnamese recommends this place, it must be good. I read some reviews about this place and all Vietnamese raved about the Pho. The only thing that turns people off is the interior look of the restaurant. For us, that isn’t important. As long as the food is good, service is fast and the place looks “clean”, we’re all for eating there.

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