CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK

Massive slabs of beef are the draw at Fogo de Chão, a churrascaria newly arrived in Beverly Hills.

By S. Irene Virbila, Times Staff Writer

Come hungry to Fogo de Chão, a churrascaria newly arrived in Beverly Hills via Brazil. The scent of beef cooking over a hardwood fire assaults you the moment you pull into the driveway on La Cienega Boulevard. And before you ever step inside, you can see massive slabs of beef ribs turning in front of a fire on the other side of the window.

The entrance is as grand as anything in Las Vegas, the service just as studiously friendly. Behind the maitre d's post is a wall of wine bottles that seems to go up two stories. Seating up to 300, Fogo de Chão, which means "fire on the ground" in Portuguese, positions itself as a luxury churrascaria.

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In the center of the main dining room decorated with stylized paintings of gaucho life in Argentina is ... the salad bar. (Whoa, I say. Whoa.) A serve-it-yourself affair, it tempts with moist smoked salmon, slices of rustic salami and other cold cuts, and cheeses, including a wheel of Parmesan chiseled into chunks.

Then come the salad makings, everything from pristinely fresh romaine, steamed asparagus spears, thick-cut cucumber, bocconcini, artichoke hearts, roasted sweet peppers, etc., etc., with your choice of extra virgin olive oils, vinegars and various dressings.

And that's just for starters. But for vegetarian visitors to the world of Fogo de Chão, the salad buffet is dinner, given that everything else on offer is beef, beef and more beef, with a few cuts of pork and baby lamb chops more as asides than anything else. Everything is included in one price — $48.50 per person ($22 for visitors who limit themselves to the salad bar only, and half price for kids ages 6 to 10). Dare I point out that as a churrascaria, Fogo de Chão is basically all you can eat? I don't want there to be a stampede.

Once you've dispensed with the salad course, servers in gaucho outfits with billowy pants circulate with big hunks of meat threaded onto yard-long skewers. Turn your two-sided disk to green, and they'll be there in a flash, carving off slices of filet mignon, top sirloin, beef ribs, bottom sirloin, leg of lamb, pork ribs, pork loin, sausages or beef or chicken wrapped in bacon.

Need a pause to gather your wits? Turn the disk over to red, as in não, obrigado (no, thank you).

Servers are adept at finding just that morsel of meat that's medium rare, rare or however you prefer it. It's a brilliantly easy system. And, of course, you have to try everything. Even dessert, including a rich papaya crème that purportedly aids digestion. At that point, "purportedly" will do just fine.

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Fogo de Chão

Where: 133 N. La Cienega Blvd., Beverly Hills

When: Dinner, 5 to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 5 to 10:30 p.m. Fridays, 4:30 to 10:30 p.m. Saturdays and 4 to 9:30 p.m. Sundays. Full bar. Valet parking.

Cost: Fixed-price dinner, $48.50 for adults; $24.25 for children ages 6 to 10 (children 5 and younger eat free); salad bar only, $22.

Info: (310) 289-7755 www.fogodechao.com