[Wichita] El Gaucho Steakhouse: great concept, poor execution

[sambamaster]

Having lived and traveled in Brazil, and having some knowledge of S. American churrasco (bbq) and cuisine, I had high hopes for this new eatery way out west. Yeah, it lives up to the promise of being a meat lover's dream, but unfortunately, the overall effect is lost due to a lackluster choice of sides, and, frankly, the misuse of the open wood-fired grill (it is a beautiful thing) they have roaring in the back. What? Well, for example, Sarge ordered a quarter of a grilled chicken for $7.99 (it comes with one side, but if you want the FOUR lonely asparagus spears, ya gotta add another buck!!!!!). It was tender and juicy enough, but it had no flavor, certainly nothing that would be attributed to being cooked over a wood fire. Her comment at the end was that the $5.99 whole roasted chickens at Dillon's are more flavorful. (and you could get a pound of asparagus to go with it for the same money, and have change left over.) I had a fairly decently flavored cut, the cuadril, called picanha in Brasil, which for some reason they have translated as "Camp of Rump"!!!!!!! This cut doesn't exist in the vocabulary of most USA butchers, but I've seen it called Sirloin cap...camp????? You wanna pitch a tent on a piece of meat???? HA! Anyway, the flavor was ok, but this $14.99 eight ounce cut was about 25% fat. In globs, not marbled. And the accompanying side was 1/2 an onion, sort of grilled, but not very, i.e., nearly raw, and 2 sections of fairly well grilled green peppers and another half which, though sporting a couple of grill marks, was for all practical purposed, raw as well.

The menu over all was uninspired, and clearly aimed at pleasing the Wichita market, and not in leading it to a new, perhaps more interesting trough. I expressed something about the lack of any sort of rice and beans option and the waiter told me with a straight face that "they don't have rice and beans in South America...and we don't have any Mexican food on the menu"!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unbelievable. The kid had no idea what he was saying. Of course they have rice and beans in SA, I've been in precious few restaurants in Brazil that didn't offer some sort of rice and beans option (not refried of course). Soon the owner came to my table to answer my question and he told me that in churrascarias they don't serve beans. BEANS! Yes, in every one I've been to in Brazil, they do, but he told me otherwise...he's lived in Brazil also....guess in the south maybe they don't, but in Rio and São Paulo they sure do. But neither do churrascarias serve loaded baked potatoes which he has on his side dish menu. Mashed and fries yes, baked, well, I think that is more of an American (north) idea...i've never seen it south of the border. For the most part, the side dishes could have come from any menu at any restaurant in Kansas...like Chili's or something....
The service was a tad sloppy, for example, we ordered a dessert to split...we'd discussed flan and a dulce de leche cheese cake...we decided on the flan to go with a small (if we'd known how small we'd of skipped it) of port. the young dude brought the cheese cake instead. I would have sent it back, but Sarge said we should try it since it was there...and since it took 15 minutes to bring it to the table.... The port? It was about 2 ounces for $6.99 and it was not good at all. I should have known better, but after the wine, I had lost my better judgement. The wine? A nice Argentine Malbec...priced at $35 a bottle. After dinner we went into ABC Wines next door and bought the same bottle for $9.99 and it's probably cheaper at Grove's. The normal restaurant markup on wine is 2.5x, let's say retail, not cost, though I think that is the norm. If it were priced that way, the wine should have been $25 not 35. Did we feel ripped off? yes and no. for sure, we won't order wine there again....we might actually give this place another try, but who knows??? We were not impressed this first go-round. $76 for a very very mediocre meal and a decent bottle of wine.... a bit over the top. Ahhhhh, but the company was great! Sarge's words...and i'd have to agree!

[prairiepampas63]

I still have not gotten rid of the bad taste(figurative and actual) in my mouth from this place. Having recently relocated from Calif and being of Argentine descent, I was so excited when I first found out about this place that I was chomping at the bit to try this place. Needless to say, it was a huge disappointment! The meat was decent but skimpy and very fatty. Not much food for the prices and the chimichurri sauce was sub-par at best. Hard to mess up a chimichurri recipe, but they found a way to do it. I have had thousands of parrilladas in my life, and have never been served kidney in any of them. Must be a very cheap meat for them to purchase to fill up the tray. It was terrible. They should be serving morcilla which is blood sausage and very flavorful. We would have been better off eating at a Sirloin Stockade for what we paid. All show and no substance! Very disappointing and not worth a second chance. I'll just wait to get back to LA on a visit to eat a proper parrillada.

[clsmith]

Has anyone tried the new place in Old Town Plaza called Sabor? All Latin dishes. Got a good write up in the paper, but I think some of you have more experience with this cuisine then Denise or Joe. Tried to go a couple of times on a Sunday but they are closed. End up @ Uptown Bistro which is always pretty good. Same owner, so I hope Sabor is better than the places discussed in this thread.

[shopgirl26]

I have only been once, but I really liked it. Let me preface by saying that we showed up very close to closing time without realizing it and they were super gracious. Some of the items like the rice and beans were probably not at their greatest,at that time of night but still ok.

I had fish tacos and they were really good, though I will ask for corn tortillas next time. The plantain chips with chimichurri sauce were really yummy. But I don't have any experience with authentic Latin cuisine. So take my opinion with a grain of salt. The quality of the food seemed very fresh, just like Uptown.

[Antithesisofpop]

I too approve of Sabor - although their "tostones" are really plantain chips. Real carribbean tostones are thick, crispy on the outside and soft and hot in the middle. I had the Adobo pork with the mango something sauce. The capirinha and the mojito were both good too ;). Hey Samba - you may not be able to find good churrasco, but you can get a good capirinha here!

[blackdog]

I have been to Sabor three times and it is good. Especially good is the pork adobo and the paellas. They have a wide selection of sauces, all interesting and tasty. The tostones (plaintain chip appetizer) are addictive. The wait staff is personable and even fun. The fish tacos I had were not of the quality I have had in various parts of Florida. The menu also needs a couple of decent Cuban dishes, like a Cuban sandwich and a pollo y arroz. But, all in all, a nice place in the popular Oldtown district. My daughter even chose it as her 16th birthday restaurant and invited seven friends. Recommended.

[kschomaker]

No rice or beans in South America? I can tell you first hand that Brazilians eat plenty of meat and all kinds of seafood, and rice and beans are served with virtually everything. Pinto beans are more common in the North, especially Bahia, and black beans are more common further south in Rio and Sao Paulo. How much research do you have to do as a manager of a restaurant to find this out?

[DarthSilentBob]

We ate there tonight. Wish I'd stopped by here first. I don't know if things were worse than normal but the service was absolutely horrible, they were clearly understaffed at the waitperson level, it was COLD in there and they couldn't seem to make it warmer. We had to wait over an hour to get our food (they weren't very busy) as did many other customers who, like us, were all VERY unhappy, and to boot, not a single one of us in my area was happy with the food. Ours was a 2-person grill combo and it was all charcoal, way, way, way overcooked. The tenderloin was the best of it but really poor for a tenderloin, the lamb was inedible, as was the chicken, the pork wasn't much better. We were there from time in the door until time out the door almost 2 hours on the nose. $65 (including some mediocre caiprinhas) for a horrible meal and lousy service. Even if it somehow manages to stay in business, which after tonight I doubt, we won't be back and from the general discussion, neither will anyone else we talked with during the hour long wait for food. Too KC (or in a perfect world, Wichita) doesn't have a Texas de Brazil. I love that place...

[gottahaveit]

After reading the posts this "eastsider" had to make the trip to parts west of the world to checkout this new concept. I have to agree that when we left we were very disillusioned and should have gone to the Granite City or something other than El Gaucho. Service was spotty - very good at first and then they forgot we were there. The wine prices were high compared to east side restaurants and the overall experience was mediocre at best. Maybe after a couple of months -if they make it- they will listen to the voice of the customer and make some positive changes. We are not as seasoned as most not really understanding what all South America food should be like but we will probably pass if the opportunity to dine there comes around again.

[podunkboy]

Sorry to hear that another interesting Wichita dining concept will soon join the list of failed Wichita dining concepts. I'm no student of Brazilian/South American cuisine, but I have seen plenty of recipes from that part of the world calling for beans, rice, or a combination of the two.
And food and wine pricing like that is what pushes people to eat mediocre food at ordinary restaurants.