We recently visited Fogo De Chão’s Washington, DC location once again, and sampled both their new spring dishes and rodizio (selection of meats). The restaurant did an excellent job with the new seasonal dishes. Some of our favorite meats were the ribs, top and bottom sirloin, and sausages.

We enjoyed both of the spring salads. The Ancient Grain Salad is gluten-free recipe and features including quinoa, chia seeds, toasted kasha (buckwheat groats) and wild rice with diced apples, and pomegranate in a house-made citrus vinaigrette. The Asparagus and Spring Pea Salad features fresh asparagus, spring peas, arugula, goat cheese, lemon zest and herb vinaigrette, and is topped with fresh cracked pepper. This dish was listed as “Arugula Salad” on the salad bar, instead of “Asparagus and Spring Pea Salad.”

The Sweet Pea and Asparagus soup, is a nice creamy vegetarian soup made with sweet spring peas, asparagus and a blend of Parmesan, cream and fresh ground black pepper.

The three well-crafted seasonal drinks were the:

• Smoke & Honey – This smoky version of a classic sour features Monkey Shoulder Whisky, peaty Glenmorangie Original, honeyed ginger, and lemon.

• Guava Do Sul – This sparkling cocktail contains Belvedere Vodka, guava puree, fresh lemon, and La Marca Prosecco.

• Andean Punch – This non-alcoholic drink features fresh strawberries muddled with guava and mint, and topped with sparkling soda. We bet that the tasty and refreshing drink would be great with rum as well.

The service at Fogo was excellent as usual. We always enjoy our meals there.

-JAY