Ch-Ch-Ch-Chima!

I went to a wedding reception at Chima Brazilian Steakhouse on Saturday night. Chima is huge taking up  two stories right in the heart of Uptown Charlotte.  Their setting is chic and trendy with a touch of class,  the upstairs area consists of a dining area, bar area and a couple of private rooms. I had to snap a picture of the wall because I thought it was so cool, I want a wall like this in my house!

Now the thing with Brazilian steakhouses is you gotta dig meat, like a lot. They give you these little cards that you turn off to indicate if you are ready for more meat or not so much.

This was the first wedding I went to stag. If I can’t find a date, I will usually drag a friend but couldn’t find anyone so it was me by my lonesome because my date is lame and canceled on me. It’s alright though, I make friends easily plus the drinks were aflowin

This is their signature drink and sadly,I have no clue what the name is. I just saw other people drinking it and told the waiter to bring me one of the pretty drinks. It was basically a mojito but without the mint. Regardless, it was still tasty! Add a couple of glasses of red wine and I was a happy gal.

We all made our way to the salad bar by order of table. The salad bar was ok….I was expecting more variety but the artichoke salad , monster asparagus and creamy veggie soup made up for that.

Before the meat came out, they set out polenta fries and creamy mashed potatoes but not enough. Seriously, five or six fries for our side of the table and a little side portion of mashed potatoes? Um, no, this girl likes her carbs. 

Then game on—flip that card to yes please and bring out the meat!! The meat men (seriously, what is their title?) came out decked in kerchiefs ala Don Knotts on Three’s Company armed with a stick of meat. At one point I just stopped asking what it was and just said sure.

And then papi chulo appeared. So papi chulo was one of the kerchief clad men serving the meat and reminded me of the guys in South Florida I used to like so much when I was in my teens. If he was over the age of 23, I am the queen of Sheba. He started asking where my date was, etc. You know appropriate stuff a young boy should be asking a woman while at work. I told him my ex boyfriend was supposed to come with me but canceled. He said something to the effect of “If I were your boyfriend, I wouldn’t let you out of my sight” Well, thank you papi. Then he asked me what a man should never ask a lady (I was in a dress and dolled up so a lady for the evening….not OF the evening) :

“How old are you?”

Oh hell no. I did my signature index finger in the air and started shaking my head back and forth and went off on a little rant. He backed off after that…..for a few minutes. Next round o’ meat he came back over asking if I wanted to get together at the end of the evening. I told him, sure, I would find him before I leave. I never did. Oops. Thanks for making me feel good for a few minutes papi chulo. I kind of want to go back there and school him on what not to say to women though.

It was very laid back and casual even for the setting. The setting was intimate where you could converse with the people around you without having to yell. I finally got to talk with my friend who got married without having to battle a line of people doing the electric slide.

The bacon wrapped sirloin was my by far my favorite because bacon wrapped items are proof that god loves us and the bbq ribs was my second favorite. Throughout the whole dinner, I was waiting for someone to say they didn’t eat meat because I wanted to break out my Greek accent with “What do you mean you don’t eat no meat…. that’s ok, I make lamb” but no go, it was a room full of carnivores.  I heard a rumor that there was pesto crusted lamb but by that point I never wanted to look at another piece of meat ever again and I also wanted to write an apology note to my colon. 

Game over.

Thank God there wasn’t a traditional cake served, instead….

wait for it….

there were cupcakes to go!

Courtesy of Just Baked Cupcakes, which I have a Groupon to burn through at home. They were so smart to give these out as favors instead of a regular dessert. And some people didn’t even want their cupcake –I believe I heard one guy say he doesn’t like cupcakes—wtf? So, me being the caring lady I am took a few to go. I would hate for those cupcakes to wind up in the trash while there is hungry Tiffany in Charlotte. So I went home and snuggled up with my hot date….their Zesty Orange cupcake.

No matter how much I eat, there is always room for cupcakes!

Have you ever been to a Brazilian steakhouse?