BOS BBQ Brazil From A Floridian’s Perspective

I love to share the BBQ Experiences of others, and this blog often gives me a chance to do just that.  Recently, while judging the 2nd Annual Eagle Lake BBQ Festival, I had the good pleasure of finally meeting Mr. Neil Buchwalter who shared with me his story about traveling to Brazil and eating at the BOS BBQ Restaurant in São Paulo, Brazil that  Rob “Rub” Bagby helped to set up and configure Southern BBQ Style.

Here’s Neil’s story, republished here by his permission: 

Bos BBQ São Paulo, Brazil – A Southern Sojourn

I have one of those jobs that affords me the opportunity to travel – not just to visit local customer sites, but to places that people sometimes dream of. Throughout my career I’ve traveled all over North America from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific – and back again many times, and from Texas to six of the Canadian provinces.

I’ve been to three different continents as well. Not bad for someone that really doesn’t like to travel! I’ve even had the chance to travel to 2 additional continents but “politely” refused, allowing others to visit Hyderabad India (during their hot summer) and Johannesburg South Africa. Unfortunately, that dream trip to Hawaii still eludes me!

Most recently, I had the opportunity to visit Brazil. Customers in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo wanted to meet and interact with someone from the “home” office. Someone whose name they recognized (I’ve been associated with the CA ERwin Data Modeling products since 1995), has walked that proverbial mile in their shoes, can appreciate their perspective and then go make a difference. No matter how I might have wanted to ask someone else to go, this was just one trip I was going to make – and what a wonderful trip it was!

Despite my lack of language skills (some people tell me I have a hard time putting two sentences together to form a single coherent thought), most of the professionals I met in Brazil spoke very good English. Rather than having to rely on translators (a fear of mine before the trip) I was able to engage in very detailed and in-depth technical discussions. Many good ideas were exchanged and suggestions for future product improvements were brought back to the States.

Most people would consider this trip a success, but to my surprise, things were about to take an unexpected turn.

Brazilians Love Food… Especially Grills and BBQ’d Meats

Brazilians love food.Now that’s not a big shock, as most cultures do as well. However, to my surprise, Brazilians love barbecue and BBQ is a passion of mine.

I quickly discovered that Brazilian barbecue is not what I’m accustomed to.

BBQ to me is cooking “low and slow” over indirect heat with lots of smoke. This type of BBQ is commonly referred to as Southern style BBQ or just plain “Smoking”. Brazilian barbecue is what I generally refer to as “Grilling” although the official term in Brazil is “Churrasco”.

Traditional Style Table Service at a Churrascaria

In Brazil, they generally grill over charcoal, but sometimes (mostly in southern Brazil) wood is also used. If you look in any major city I’m sure you’ll find a churrascaria or a restaurant that serves Brazilian style grilled meat: beef, lamb, pork, sausage, chicken, fish and more. I definitely would not recommend this type of restaurant to a vegetarian.

My first official customer event in Rio de Janeiro was held at Fogo de Chão; a Brazilian churrascaria chain with locations across Brazil and in about 20 US cities. I thought that customers had come to hear what I had to say, but that may have been a bit of wishful thinking. I finished my presentation and it was time for lunch! If you’ve never been, let me be the first to tell you that having a meal at a churrascaria is an event.

Servers bring meat non-stop to your table and slice it to order.

When you’ve eaten enough, you place a “STOP” card near your plate and the server will move on without stopping. Being a BBQ fanatic, I skipped the bread and salad bar, ignored the vegetables that were brought to the table and concentrated on the meat extravaganza.

Now before I go any further, I want to say that I am a Certified FBA (Florida BBQ Association) and KCBS (Kansas City BBQ Society) BBQ Judge. Judges learn that when judging a BBQ competition it is possible to eat two pounds of meat or more. Well, the same holds true when eating at a Brazilian churrascaria if you’re not careful. Every bite of meat I had was tasty, cooked to perfection and left me wanting more!

Eating at a churrascaria naturally led me to discuss my favorite style of BBQ with my hosts and just about anyone else that would listen. Luckily, I had my iPhone with me so I was able to show everyone pictures from several competitions/events as well as more than 150 pictures of meats and other items (e.g., ABTs) I personally have smoked at home.

I found out that smoking meat is almost unheard of in Brazil. Most people I spoke with were amazed at the level of passion around BBQ here in the US. Some of the questions I heard repeatedly were: “Do you really have BBQ contests?”, “Why do teams compete?”, “How do you judge BBQ?” and “Does everyone in the US eat BBQ?”

The people I spoke with were stunned when I told them that smoking meats was not just something we did in the US, but represented a lifestyle that could be found worldwide. The more I talked with my hosts, sponsors and customers about BBQ the more their passion for churrasco became apparent. I must have eaten at least one half of all my meals at one churrascaria or another.

Finally, My Chance To Eat At BOS BBQ Had Come

My final night in Brazil was spent in São Paulo. While discussing dinner plans with my Brazilian colleagues, I recall reading on one of the BBQ sites I regularly visit that Rob Bagby of team “Swamp Boys” out of Winter Haven, FL had consulted with the owner of the BOS BBQ restaurant to bring authentic US barbecue to Brazil.

A quick internet search turned up the name of the restaurant and its location in São Paulo. My dinner plans were now written in stone!

Several of us arrived at BOS BBQ around 7:00 pm. As soon as our waitress came over to our table to take our drink orders, one of my colleagues proudly stated that I was from the US, was a certified BBQ judge and that I also knew Rob.

A few minutes later the owner of BOS BBQ, Blake Watkins, was standing at our table wanting to know more about me and how I knew Rob. (BTW, Blake is originally from Texas and was the first and only American I met during my week-long trip.)

Out came my iPhone with pictures of my judge’s credentials and a short discussion about living in Florida and judging many of the FBA competitions that Swamp Boys compete in, convinced Blake I was legit.

Tweaking BOS BBQ’s Flavor to Match the Brazilian Palate

As my colleagues had never eaten American style BBQ before, I asked Blake to “fix us up” with a sampling of his restaurant’s different offerings. We were tempted with meat after meat and with several side dishes (mac ‘n cheese, Brazilian style barbecue beans and cream corn). The food was not quite what I was accustomed to back home and Blake explained that based on the taste testing performed at the restaurant, he found it necessary to “tweak” the recipes to better appeal to a Brazilian palate.

Tweaking produced a “fusion” of American and Brazilian flavors which tasted quite good. I really loved the lamb spareribs, the homemade smoked sausage (made with rib meats) and unique BBQ sauces that were offered.

BOS BBQ Chef’s Sampler – Photo Courtesy of Neil Buchwalter

Every single person at my table (all São Paulo locals) stated that they enjoyed the atmosphere at BOS BBQ, the live music and especially the food – and would return again with others. When we finally got up to leave the restaurant it was about 10:45 pm and the place was standing room only; not bad for a Thursday night.

If you’re ever in São Paulo, make sure you stop by BOS BBQ for a meal – you won’t be disappointed!

Two days later I was judging at “VikingFest” in Ft. Myers FL (an FBA sanctioned event). It was a good event – nice weather, about 30 BBQ teams, lots of crafts, music and even a silent auction.

After my judging duties were finished, I stopped by the Swamp Boys trailer to chat with Rob (the soon to be announced VikingFest Grand Champion). I told him that I had just returned from visiting the restaurant that he helped get started in Brazil. A big smile came over his face as we talked about my BBQ adventure down south. Before parting ways, Rob suggested that it would really be “something else” if we could have some US teams visit São Paulo for an authentic BBQ competition. Wow, what a thought. I’d definitely sign up to judge that one!

Original source here. 

For more on BOS BBQ Brazil, check out this interview with owner Blake Watkins