Texas

Texas de Brazil is a family-owned restaurant brand built around the churrascaria format, a style of Brazilian steakhouse in which gaucho-style servers bring successive cuts of grilled meat directly to diners’ tables. The concept combines culinary traditions associated with southern Brazil with the larger cuts, robust seasoning, and steakhouse positioning commonly associated with Texas. Its core experience is designed as an ongoing table service rather than a single plated entrée: guests receive portions of roasted meat while they wish to continue, and use a reversible table card to signal whether they want service to proceed or pause. The first Texas de Brazil restaurant opened on October 13, 1998, in Addison, Texas, a Dallas suburb. The brand was founded by Salim Asrawi, a Lebanese immigrant who settled in Texas after leaving Lebanon during the civil war. Asrawi studied hospitality and worked in hotel operations, including positions associated with Ritz-Carlton properties, before using personal savings to open the original restaurant. His background in hospitality and the restaurant’s location helped shape the brand’s hybrid identity: it is neither presented as a conventional Brazilian restaurant nor as a standard American steakhouse, but as a Brazilian-American dining concept. The principal menu consists of meats prepared over an open-flame grill. The selection described for the brand includes beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and Brazilian sausage, with cuts seasoned and roasted before being carved or portioned at the table. The method draws on the southern Brazilian churrasco tradition, in which meat is cooked on skewers or over live fire and served by specialized attendants. Texas de Brazil’s menu also includes a substantial salad bar, side dishes, and desserts, making the restaurant’s offering broader than a meat-only experience. The brand is particularly associated with picanha and with its all-you-can-eat or continuous-service dining format. The salad bar and accompanying sides provide a counterpoint to the grilled meats and help define the meal as a full-service dining occasion. Traditional churrascaria items vary from restaurant to restaurant; Texas de Brazil is noted for not serving chicken hearts, although that ingredient is found at some other Brazilian steakhouses. The combination of table-served meats, an extensive self-service salad component, gaucho-inspired presentation, and Texas-oriented steakhouse cues forms the brand’s principal point of differentiation. Texas de Brazil operates in the United States and has also established locations outside the domestic market. Public reference material characterizes it as having both domestic and international locations, but the available material does not provide a complete, verified location count or a definitive list of current countries. The brand is therefore best described as an active U.S.-based restaurant chain with international operations. Its positioning is upscale-casual or premium-casual dining: the experience emphasizes hospitality, abundance, theatrical service, and a broad selection of grilled meats rather than fast service or conventional à la carte steakhouse ordering. The company’s known history is comparatively compact in the available reference material. The opening of the Addison restaurant in 1998 is the central documented milestone, followed by expansion into additional domestic and international locations. No reliable information was provided about a parent corporation, public listing, chief executives other than the founder, ownership changes, financial results, major acquisitions, or current store counts. Those fields remain unreported rather than inferred.

Texas de Brazil emerged from the intersection of Brazilian churrasco traditions and Texas steakhouse culture. The restaurant concept was created by Salim Asrawi, a Lebanese immigrant who made Texas his home after leaving Lebanon during the civil war. Asrawi had studied hospitality and gained experience in hotel operations, including work connected with Ritz-Carlton properties. He later used his savings to establish his own restaurant concept. The first Texas de Brazil opened on October 13, 1998, in Addison, a suburb of Dallas, Texas. Its format was based on the churrascaria model associated with southern Brazil. Rather than serving one principal entrée per guest, the restaurant uses gaucho-style servers to bring successive portions of roasted meat to the table. Guests indicate whether they want meat service to continue or pause by turning a reversible table card to its green or red side. This operating ritual became one of the defining features of the concept. The culinary identity of the restaurant is deliberately hybrid. The cooking technique and service tradition derive from southern Brazilian churrasco, particularly the use of open-flame grilling and table-side carving. The meat selection and steakhouse scale, however, are adapted to a Texas setting and to American expectations surrounding beef-focused dining. The menu includes beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and Brazilian sausage, together with salad-bar offerings, side dishes, and desserts. Picanha is among the cuts associated with the brand. Unlike some churrascarias, Texas de Brazil does not serve chicken hearts, a traditional item found in other versions of the format. The salad bar is an important part of the meal structure. It gives diners access to vegetables, salads, and complementary preparations while the meat service continues, creating an experience that combines buffet-style selection with full-service table presentation. The restaurant’s value proposition is therefore based on variety, abundance, and an extended dining occasion rather than on a narrowly defined single dish. Following the opening of the Addison location, Texas de Brazil expanded beyond its original Texas base. Reference material describes the chain as having both domestic and international locations. The supplied sources do not establish a complete chronology of openings, a current location total, or a fully verified list of countries, so the details of the expansion remain incomplete. The brand is nevertheless documented as an active family-owned churrascaria chain with a presence in the United States and abroad. The available history does not document a public-company listing, a parent corporation, a major merger or acquisition, or a change in ownership. It also does not identify a roster of current or former executives beyond founder Salim Asrawi. The most securely documented institutional facts are the founder’s hospitality background, the Addison debut in 1998, the Brazilian-American culinary model, and the subsequent domestic and international development of the restaurant chain.

• 1998

  First restaurant opens in Addison, Texas

  [1]Texas de Brazilen.wikipedia.org

  Texas de Brazil debuts on October 13, 1998, in Addison, a suburb of Dallas. The opening establishes the brand’s Brazilian-American churrascaria format.

Upscale-casual Brazilian-American dining centered on an abundant, theatrical churrascaria experience and Texas-influenced steakhouse meats.

• Main dining offering · 1998

  Churrasco grilled meats

  The core offering consists of seasoned cuts of beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and Brazilian sausage cooked over an open-flame grill. Gaucho-style servers bring portions to the table individually, allowing diners to receive successive cuts during the meal. The format reflects southern Brazilian churrasco while incorporating the generous cuts and steakhouse orientation associated with Texas dining.

• Beef specialty · 1998

  Picanha

  Picanha is a Brazilian beef cut associated with churrasco and is identified as one of Texas de Brazil’s signature offerings. It supports the brand’s emphasis on open-fire roasting, table-side carving, and Brazilian culinary identity within an American steakhouse setting.

• Accompaniment · 1998

  Salad bar

  The salad bar complements the continuous meat service with a broad selection of salads and other cold or prepared accompaniments. It is a central part of the churrascaria meal structure, balancing the restaurant’s meat-heavy menu and helping make the experience a complete multi-course dining occasion.

• Accompaniments and desserts · 1998

  Desserts and side dishes

  Texas de Brazil also serves side dishes and several types of desserts. These items extend the offering beyond grilled meats and salad-bar selections, supporting the brand’s positioning as a full-service dining destination rather than a specialized meat counter.

• 2022.03.08

  Reported2022.03.08

  Texas de Brazil launches VIP Dining Card promotion[3]Texas de Brazil 推出 VIP Dining Card 优惠prnewswire.com

  Texas de Brazil announced a March promotion for VIP Dining Cards. The cards cost $64.99 and offer purchasers 50% off twelve regular-priced dinners; proceeds also support the Children's Cancer Fund.

• 2021.05.05

  Reported2021.05.05

  Texas de Brazil partners with The Honor Foundation for May fundraiser[4]Texas de Brazil与The Honor Foundation合作开展五月募款活动prweb.com

  Texas de Brazil partnered with The Honor Foundation for a month-long U.S. fundraising campaign benefiting the foundation's program for veterans transitioning from military service.

Read more

1. 1Texas de Brazilen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Texas de Brazil official websitetexasdebrazil.com
3. 3Texas de Brazil 推出 VIP Dining Card 优惠prnewswire.com
4. 4Texas de Brazil与The Honor Foundation合作开展五月募款活动prweb.com