Oliveira's Brazilian BBQ - Eastie

Why is East Boston full of inexpensive, delicious restaurants? I am not sure, but I am enjoying my Eastie restaurant crawl. Yesterday, after a 3-hour hike in the Fells, I got a taste of Brazilian BBQ/Churrascaria.

So, like, you walk into the place. Put your stuff down at a table; it's bustling, there's a soccer game on the flat-screen tv, there's a glass case full of coconout-dipped sweets and cookies. So then you pick a plate from the stack of clean plates, then serve yourself from a hot and cold buffet of pinto beans, black beans, rice, broccoli and cauli, thinly-sliced sauteed collard greens, chicken or shrimp salad, chicken stew, beef stew, fried fish, green salad, watermelon chunks, hearts of palm and sliced tomatoes...THEN you visit the rotisserie section for slices of steak, chicken, sausage, or pork.

I just opted for steak - haven't eaten it for a while. Medium-well. The Man With The Large Knife was ever so nice. My steak slices were beautifully pink on the inside, and smelled delicious.

So then I took my loaded plate to the cashier, who weighed my plastic plate on a scale. Then I got a tall glass of orange juice from the...circulating juice tanks? Behind her: cashew juice (?!), orange juice, and guava. All together, about $9.00 for some nice-looking food and drink! Seriously.

My intense hunger helped, I'm sure. But everything tasted mouth-watering. My collards, my pinto beans were tremendous. I ate slowly, to draw out my enjoyment. Then my steak wasn't just good, it was great. Like, I thoroughly enjoyed eating it. And was glad I hadn't got any other meat, because that single serving of steak was almost too much.

No indigestion afterward. My orange juice was weirdly good - pulp-free, but tasted fresh-squeezed or something like that. Overall, I am so excited to go back, or to find a similar Brazilian BBQ around Jamaica Plain. Seriously, awesome cheap eats.

Also, I would like to mention that I had this dining experience with someone who was previously almost vegan, omg. She had, I believe, four kinds of meat and fish on her plate. A parallel universe, I think. A delicious parallel universe.

Dear Sacrificed Cow - I am sorry that the beef came from you in particular. It was nice, though. I hope that your slaughter was humane and very fast. Thank you, Cow.