Des Moines has 2 Brazilian steakhouses now. But what is the difference between them?
Brian Taylor CarlsonDes Moines now has two Brazilian steakhouses to choose from. Both feature a churrasco dining experience with gauchos carving a nonstop assortment of meats carved tableside and unlimited trips to a gourmet salad bar.
BAH Brazilian Steakhouse is located on the ground floor of the new Soll apartment building on Ingersoll Avenue and Brazil Terra Grill is located in the Clocktower Square shopping center on University Avenue. But beyond that, what are the main differences between the two?
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We took a look at both restaurant concepts, comparing menu options, atmosphere, hours, prices and other noticeable differences and came up with this guide to help you determine which Brazilian steakhouse to visit first.
More:We tried the first Brazilian steakhouse to open in Des Moines. Here's what we discovered
More:An inside look at Brazil Terra Grill - the next Brazilian steakhouse to hit the metro
Dining rooms
BAH's dining room seating about 80 people faces Ingersoll Avenue and has a private dining room adjacent, with seating for about 18 people. The tables are large, with plenty of room for spreading out and getting comfortable for the impending feast. The salad bar is located unobtrusively off to the side of the dining room.
Terra's dining room is spacious, with tables and two rows of booths spread out in three sizable sections all centering around the salad bar as the main attraction. The restaurant seats about 220 people.
Both restaurants feature windows behind which you can observe the meats being prepared. And both restaurants will feature outdoor patios for summer dining.
Lounge areas
BAH's bar is intimate and separate from the main dining room, with five high-top tables for two and seating for 10 at the bar.
Terra's lounge features room to spread out, with seating for about 10 people at the bar and plenty of room for larger groups, with both high-top tables for four and high-top booths for six.
Be sure to bookmark these frequently-updated dining guides:
- Where to eat in downtown Des Moines
- The 2018 West Des Moines restaurant guide
- Everywhere to eat and drink on Ingersoll Avenue in Des Moines
- The dining guide to the East Side for 2019
Food
Both restaurants feature the churrasco experience, with gauchos carving hot-from-the-charbroiler meats tableside. Each meal comes with assorted sides like Brazilian cheese bread, fried polenta sticks and fried bananas. And both feature an all-you-can-eat gourmet salad bar with hot food offerings. But there are a few menu differences.
BAH uses a card — green on one side and red on the other — to let the gauchos know you're ready to be approached with selections and offerings. Terra uses a wooden hourglass with blocks on both ends painted red or green.
BAH's lounge serves both tapas and share-plate dishes that are not available at the tables like homemade linguiça sausage served with polenta fries and coxhina — savory deep-fried, panko-breaded pastries with a creamy chicken filling. And the dining room offers two fish entrées nightly for those who wish to decline the churrasco experience, but want a little more than the salad bar. The meat at BAH is cooked on a specially-built grill that uses wood charcoal.
Terra offers specialty skewers like shrimp, scallops and filet mignon. And lunch is also served, with a scaled-down version of its churrasco experience available. The gourmet salad bar has a few more hot dishes to sample like salpicão, a stew made from beef, garlic and chilies. The homemade linguiça here is smaller, served from skewers tableside. Terra chargrills its meats using infrared gas burners.
Beverages
Beverage offerings at both restaurants are similar, with just a few noticeable differences.
BAH has four beers on tap while Terra has 12.
BAH offers Coke products while Terra offers Pepsi products.
Hours
BAH is open Monday through Thursday, 4 to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 4 to 11 p.m.; closed Sundays.
Terra is open Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4 to 9 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4 to 10 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; closed Sundays.
Prices
BAH
- Churrasco dinner: $42
- Gourmet salad bar: $24
- Fish dinner option: $38
- Tapas and share plate options: $12 average
- Cocktails: average $11
- Beer: average $6
- Wine: average $9 by the glass and $30 per bottle
- Desserts: average $9
Terra
- Churrasco dinner: $38.99
- Churrasco lunch: $17.99
- Gourmet salad bar dinner: $22.99
- Gourmet salad bar lunch: $11.99
- Specialty skewers: average $12.99
- Cocktails: average $8
- Beer: average $5
- Wine: average $9 by the glass and $35 by the bottle
- Desserts: $4.95 or $5.95
Both restaurants' owners are from the southern region of Brazil.
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