Churrascaria Near Me in Pasadena: Fogo de Chão's Old Bank Building

Fogo de Chão Pasadena occupies a historic bank building at 234 E. Colorado Blvd., on the corner of Marengo Avenue and one block from Old Pasadena, and the full churrasco here costs $81 at dinner and $61 at weekday lunch. That makes it the closest rodízio for anyone searching churrascaria near me between Lake Avenue and the Arroyo. Gaucho chefs carve picanha, fraldinha, lamb and bone-in ribeye at the table until you turn your card to red.

Fogo calls this its fourth Los Angeles-area location, and it is the one with the most character. Instead of a mall pad or a new build, the restaurant moved into an old bank building on Colorado Boulevard, the same street the Rose Parade rolls down every New Year's Day. Inside, tall wine displays line a large dining room, a white Carrara marble counter holds the Market Table, and an open grill lets you watch the gaucho chefs butcher, carve and roast the meat.

The restaurant opened to the public on Friday, September 16, 2022, after a dedication the night before attended by Mayor Victor Gordo, according to Pasadena Now's coverage at the time. The paper reported it was the chain's 68th location worldwide. Dry-aged meat lockers hold the larger cuts during their in-house aging, and the indoor bar, called Bar Fogo, is the place to sit if you only want a drink and a few bites.

Fogo de Chão's founders grew up on a farm in the Serra Gaúcha region of Rio Grande do Sul, the southern Brazilian state where churrasco is a way of life. The first restaurant opened in Porto Alegre in 1979, a São Paulo branch followed, and the chain arrived in the United States in 1997 with a restaurant in the Dallas area. At the time of the Pasadena opening, Pasadena Now reported that the company was owned by Rhône Group and based in Plano, Texas.

The name translates roughly as fire on the ground, a nod to the old gaucho method of cooking whole cuts on skewers stuck into the earth beside an open fire. The Pasadena grill is a modern open station, but the skewers and the tableside carving still follow that tradition.

The dinner menu lists bone-in ribeye, picanha, fraldinha, lamb chops, filet and roasted chicken among the cuts carved tableside. Picanha is the one to wait for: the top sirloin is folded on the skewer with its fat cap intact, and the gaucho shaves thin slices that you catch with your own tongs. Fraldinha, the bottom sirloin, is looser and beefier. Lamb picanha shows up too, and it is worth a slice even if you rarely order lamb.

Turn the card to green when you are ready and back to red the moment your plate fills. Pace yourself: take two slices at a time, ask for the doneness you want, and let the next skewer pass if it is chicken. The crispy yuca fries, $8 as an extra side, are a better use of space than bread.

The Pasadena menus carry higher prices than many Fogo locations. Weekday lunch, served Monday to Friday from 11:30 am to 3 pm, is $61 for the Full Churrasco and $83 for the Indulgent version, and the Market Table alone is just $22 at lunch. Dinner is $81 or $103, and the Market Table alone is $43. Weekend brunch, Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 2 pm, is $63 or $85 and adds an omelet station, Belgian waffles and braised beef rib hash.

The Indulgent tier adds one dessert and one enhancement, either a crab cake, a butter-bathed lobster tail, roasted bone marrow or black truffle butter. Bought separately, the lobster tail is $20 and the bone marrow $18. Children 6 and under eat the Full Churrasco free, and children 7 to 12 pay half, which makes Saturday brunch a reasonable family outing. A single 8 to 10 ounce cut with the Market Table costs $59 at dinner.

Bar Fogo runs an all-day happy hour from Monday through Thursday with $6 beers, $8 South American wines and $10 Brazilian-inspired cocktails, and South American bottles under $150 are half off on those days. The regular caipirinha costs $12, as do the strawberry hibiscus and passion fruit versions, while the premium caipirinha is $16 and the mango habanero $16.50. At brunch, a passion fruit mimosa is $11.50.

For dessert, the papaya cream at $13.50 is the house classic: fresh papaya blended with vanilla ice cream and topped with crème de cassis. The chocolate brigadeiro, $15.25, is the more Brazilian choice. Skip the chocolate molten cake at $16.50, which you can get at any steakhouse.

Dinner starts at 3 pm on weekdays and at 2 pm on weekends. It runs until 9:30 pm Monday to Thursday, 10 pm on Friday and Saturday, and 9 pm on Sunday. Fogo takes reservations online, and parties larger than 14 go through its group dining team. On Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the restaurant serves dinner pricing from 11 am to 8:30 pm. On New Year's Day, it opens from 11 am to 10 pm.

If Pasadena is booked solid on a Saturday, the nearest alternatives are Fogo's other branches in the county, including Beverly Hills and Woodland Hills, each a long drive across town in traffic. A better plan is to move to Saturday brunch, which is easier to book and costs $18 less than dinner. Dress is smart casual, and jeans are fine.

Parking is easy here, with self-parking and valet available every day. After dinner, walk east one block to Paseo, the open-air shopping and dining center at 300 East Colorado Blvd., or head west into Old Pasadena's brick blocks, which begin a block away. If you have theater tickets, the Pasadena Playhouse at 39 S. El Molino Avenue is a few blocks to the east.

Convention-goers have it easiest of all. The Pasadena Convention Center and Civic Auditorium, at 300 E. Green St., is a block south, which makes Fogo a natural group dinner after a show or a trade event.

Address: 234 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101, at Marengo Avenue. Full Churrasco is $61 at lunch, $81 at dinner and $63 at brunch. The Indulgent version costs $83, $103 or $85. Children 6 and under eat free, and ages 7 to 12 pay half. Happy hour runs all day Monday to Thursday at Bar Fogo. Self-parking and valet are available daily. Opened September 16, 2022.