Churrascaria in the Valley: Fogo de Chão Woodland Hills on Topanga

Fogo de Chão Woodland Hills sits at the foot of the Q Topanga high-rise at 6263 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Suite 100, and it is the San Fernando Valley's only branch of the Brazilian chain. Dinner's Full Churrasco is $81 a person, and weekday lunch is $61. If you are searching churrascaria near me from Calabasas, Canoga Park or Tarzana, this is the shortest drive to tableside picanha. It faces Topanga Village across the boulevard, so a meal here slots easily into an afternoon of shopping.

Before this restaurant, Valley diners had to cross the hill to Beverly Hills for the chain's rodízio. The company announced the Woodland Hills project in February 2022, and WhatNow Los Angeles reported then that the space would cover about 8,066 square feet and become the fourth Fogo in Los Angeles County. A September 2023 company release listed Woodland Hills among the locations opened that year.

The building matters to the experience. The restaurant fills the ground floor of the Q Topanga, a luxury residential tower, and Fogo's own description calls it the brand's first restaurant in the Valley. The room is built around a white Carrara marble Market Table, an open churrasco grill and a glass-fronted dry-aging locker. An indoor-outdoor bar opens toward the street, which suits the warm Valley evenings.

The feature that sets this branch apart from older Fogo dining rooms is the large covered outdoor patio, which the restaurant advertises for al fresco churrasco. On a hot August evening in Woodland Hills, it is the better table once the sun drops behind the hills, and the gaucho chefs carry skewers out there just as they do inside.

Ask for the patio when you reserve rather than at the host stand, since it fills first on weekend nights. If you are coming with children, the patio is also a little more forgiving of noise than the main room.

The menu names picanha, fraldinha, bone-in ribeye, lamb chops, filet and roasted chicken among the cuts. Picanha, the top sirloin cap roasted with its fat on and shaved thin at the table, is the reason to come. Lamb picanha is less common on American menus and is worth a slice. Fraldinha, the bottom sirloin, has a looser grain and a deeper beef flavor than the filet.

The green-and-red card on your table controls the flow. Flip it to green only when your plate has room, take one or two slices per pass, and ask the gaucho for the doneness you like, since each skewer has rarer meat toward the center. Let the chicken go by early so you still have appetite when the ribeye arrives.

The Market Table is a long marble counter of seasonal salads, cured meats, aged cheeses and hot Brazilian sides. The feijoada is a black bean stew with sausage, served with rice and orange. Eat a small plate here, then save room for the meat. If someone in your group does not eat much beef, the Market Table & Feijoada Bar alone is $22 at lunch and $43 at dinner.

A simple routine works well here. Take a few greens and a spoon of feijoada first, return to the counter once midway through the meal, and skip the heavier cheeses until the end, when a bite of something salty resets your palate before dessert.

Lunch runs Monday to Friday from 11:30 am to 3 pm, and the Full Churrasco is $61. Dinner is $81 for the Full Churrasco and $103 for the Indulgent Churrasco. The Indulgent tier adds one premium enhancement and one dessert. A single churrasco cut with the Market Table is $59 at dinner, a good choice if you want one steak instead of the full parade.

Weekend brunch is served Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 2 pm at $63, or $85 for the Indulgent version, and adds brunch dishes to the Market Table. Children 6 and under eat free, and ages 7 to 12 pay half. That makes brunch the best value for a family table in this part of the Valley.

Happy hour runs all day Monday through Thursday at the bar: $6 beers, $8 South American wines and $10 cocktails. A regular caipirinha, made with cachaça, lime and sugar, costs $12 on the menu. The premium caipirinha is $16, and the mango habanero version is $16.50.

For dessert, the papaya cream at $13.50 blends fresh papaya with vanilla ice cream and finishes it with crème de cassis. The chocolate brigadeiro, a rich take on the Brazilian party sweet, is $15.25. Share one of them, since you will be full.

Dinner service starts at 3 pm on weekdays and at 2 pm on weekends. It ends at 9:30 pm Monday to Thursday, 10 pm on Friday and Saturday, and 9 pm on Sunday. Fogo takes reservations online, and parties of 15 or more go through its group dining team. Dress is smart casual, and jeans are fine.

Parking is simple by Los Angeles standards. The restaurant says you can self-park across the street at the shopping center or use the $10 valet at the Q Topanga, available every day. Friday and Saturday dinners are the hardest seats to get, while weekday lunch rarely needs much planning.

Topanga Village, at 6256 Topanga Canyon Blvd., is the open-air shopping center directly across the boulevard, with its Costco, restaurants and boutiques. It is an easy pre-dinner stroll or a place to walk off the meat afterward. Westfield Topanga, the large enclosed mall at 6600 Topanga Canyon Boulevard, is just north.

Put together, the three make a full Warner Center afternoon. Shop in the mall, cross to the village for coffee, then take an early patio dinner before the evening rush.

Address: 6263 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Suite 100, Woodland Hills, CA 91367, at the base of the Q Topanga. Full Churrasco is $61 at lunch, $81 at dinner and $63 at brunch, with free meals for kids 6 and under and half price from 7 to 12. Happy hour runs all day Monday to Thursday. Valet costs $10, and free self-parking is across the street. The Fogo chain was founded in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 1979.