The Signal for Brazilian Barbecue

It was a Saturday night at Green Field, a new Brazilian churrascaria in Long Beach, and four of us were sipping caipirinha cocktails by an artificial wall of water in the foyer. The dining room was jammed and we were waiting for a table.

Nothing unusual in this picture, eh? Except that Green Field is a huge ski lodge-style building with room for more than 300 diners.

We thought back to some other restaurants that tried their luck in this building. The Deli and Papa’s Western Barbecue always seemed cavernous and empty. You couldn’t say that about Green Field.

So we waited. It was half an hour before we were seated, but we didn’t complain. Our caipirinhas, made with Brazilian sugarcane rum (cachaca) and lots of muddled lime, were perfectly refreshing.

What is it about this place that has excited Long Beach? Apart from being exceptionally large, it isn’t so very different from other Brazilian-style barbecues in the Southland. All the meat is cooked over open flames and carved to order at the table, and the skewers keep coming until you say to stop. There’s a huge salad bar where you can fill up on composed salads (thus keeping the management’s meat costs down). The only distinctive design element, other than the open kitchen, is a giant mural depicting a Rio landmark, Sugar Loaf Mountain, on the rear wall.

Once seated, most people follow a different strategy than they might at a buffet. They hit the salad bar first, then the station of hot dishes; then they finally signal the waiters to start delivering skewers of meat.

To signal, diners turn over the wooden block that sits on each table. As long as the red side faces up, the waiters will stay away. Turn the green side up and you’ll inaugurate a parade of barbecued meat that will rival any you’ve ever seen.

OK, maybe you do want to lay down a stratum of guarnicoes (trimmings) from the salad bar. There’s a lovely hearts of palm salad, a creamy potato salad and a delicious black bean soup to go with some crunchy, golf ball-sized cheese breads that most people can’t stop eating.

Over at the hot station, it’s even harder to avoid filling up before you get a chance at the skewers of grilled meat. It features little pieces of chicken fried crisp and sugary fried bananas. One large tub contains feijoada, the national dish of Brazil: black beans stewed with sausage and pork ribs. The idea is to add rice and a heap of the crunchy fried manioc flour called farofa. Watch it, though: It’s filling.

When you turn your block green side up, the skewers will be upon you almost instantly. When I ate there, the first to arrive were beef shish kebab, beef rib-eye and prime rib, all perfectly seasoned with salt, pepper and a hint of garlic and perfectly cooked: blood rare in middle, crusty outside. Maybe this explains the crowds. Green Field is a beef lover’s dream.

The next round was a less flashy selection: chunks of turkey wrapped in bacon (strangely little flavor) and chicken hearts (just fine, though they seemed to turn off most of the people at surrounding tables). The third round contained a rather timid Brazilian sausage: nothing fiery or exotic, just a mealy-textured pork sausage spitting juice and fat. In this context, it seemed to be filler, like some of the salad bar items.

But there was also delicious cubed lamb, which might have been just a little too rare (no one at our table was in a mood to complain), tender pork loin and some good pork spare ribs. Later they brought us more exotic stuff: tiny barbecued quail and crisp little pieces of rabbit. Unfortunately, as good as they were, we were far too full by that time to do them justice. With regret, we turned our blocks red side up.

While you’re eating, you can drink Brazilian drinks such as maracuja juice (similar to passion fruit) or guarana soda, a soft drink with a tropical fruit flavor.

The one disappointment is the a la carte desserts, just a parade of sugary, gaudily decorated cakes.

But who goes to a churrascaria for dessert? Hey, who even expects to eat dessert?

Green Field Churrascaria, 5305 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach (562) 597-0906. Open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Full bar. Parking lot. All major cards. Buffet for one, $11.95 lunch, $19.95 dinner.

What to get: feijoada, fried bananas, rib-eye steak, quail.