Call it the beef battle. As of Thursday, there are two Brazilian steakhouses on Wynkoop Street within three blocks of each other — Rodizio Grill at 18th Street and the new Fogo de Chao at 15th.
But how much Brazilian-style rotisserie cow can one town take?
“The consideration to move to Denver had everything to do with Denver and not what was up the street from us,” said Fogo corporate manager Andy Feldmann. “It’s a brand- new location in LoDo, and we see the potential and want to be here for the long term. We’re a destination restaurant.”
The massive 14,000-square-foot space that seats 300-plus folks is built on the former Post Office Terminal Annex site.
Fogo, with 15 restaurants in the U.S. and six in Brazil, is owned by brothers Jair and Arri Coser, Brazilian natives.
If you aren’t schooled on the Brazilian steakhouse tradition, servers garbed in gaucho pants and leather boots scurry around the dining room bearing beef, pork and chicken — and lots of it — on skewers.
Diners are equipped with tongs used to hold a piece of meat while the server is carving. Each diner is given a coaster that’s red on one side and green on the other. And green means go — as in, bring it on, boys.
The price for dinner is $38.50, which includes the nonstop meat bounty plus a giant salad bar. Lunch, which starts Aug. 3, is $24.50 for the same menu.
Nene Hilario, the famous Brazilian Nugget, stopped in for a test dinner Wednesday night with his wife. He said he always seeks out a Fogo when he’s in a town that has one. “This is Brazil,” he pronounced during dinner.
They like us, they really like us.
Cable financial-news network CNBC named Colorado No. 3 in its third annual study of America’s Top States for Business.
Colorado fell after No. 1 Virginia and No. 2 Texas. Each state was scored using “publicly available data on 40 measures of competitiveness,” according to the press release.
States received points on various items such as cost of doing business, workforce, economy, education, quality of life, technology and innovation.
Colorado ranked No. 5 in economy and business-friendliness. Its lowest ranking was 36th in transportation and infrastructure.
Awesome awning.
The venerable Oxford Hotel at 17th and Wazee streets gets an outside makeover today with the installation of a $125,000 canopy — a replica of the original.
The Oxford, managed by Denver’s Sage Hospitality Resources, had to get approval from the Colorado Historical Society and the Colorado State Historic Fund, which supplied a $35,000 grant from Historic Denver.
The original awning was installed in 1894 and removed in the 1930s.
Eavesdropping
on two women at Fogo de Chao: “When in Brazil, do what the Brazilians do.”
“You mean wax?”
Penny Parker’s column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Listen to her on the Caplis and Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-AM (630). Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail pparker@denverpost.com.
