photo by Mark Wagoner

It’s easy to have too much of a good thing at Leblon Churrascaria Brazilian Steakhouse, but the restaurant’s owners advise against it.

Overdoing it on a favorite cut of meat or seafood from the salad bar could leave you too full to try something else you might love.

“There’s a misconception that our restaurant is all-you-can-eat,” says Ilma Vanucci, who owns Leblon with her husband, Walter. “But the concept is to try the pork and beef and lamb and sausage.”

And chicken; there’s also a succulent chicken leg. For $27.95, diners can have it all, plus access to a salad bar that’s unlike any other you have ever seen.

Vanucci opened Leblon when she arrived in Greensboro 12 years ago, but in 2004 she decided to turn the Brazilian continental restaurant into a churrascaria, a Brazilian term describing a restaurant serving mostly grilled meats.

“Churrascarias are on every corner in Brazil,” Vanucci says. “I remember as a girl, every Sunday after church we would go there. The main thing was to be together as a family.”

Vanucci’s Brazilian continental cuisine won critical acclaim, but she admits it wasn’t as successful on the business front. After about six months as a churrascaria, she didn’t have to worry about paying the bills anymore. The new Leblon became wildly popular.

Much of its success has to do with perceived value. The $27.95 tab isn’t cheap, but diners get a tremendous variety of foods to choose from. It starts at the salad bar, which Vanucci says is handled by Antonio Rodrigues, a chef who has worked in some of the best restaurants in Rio de Janeiro. His skills are apparent.

The salad bar has all the usual fresh vegetables. But it also has shrimp, mussels, and salmon, as well as rice, beans, and oven-roasted tomatoes.

A vegetarian can purchase access to the salad bar for $19.99 and be more than satisfied all night long. But for a carnivore, portion control is a must.

To begin the parade of meats, diners must flip over a small, coaster-like card from the red side to the green side. Then, the gauchos start coming. Gauchos are waiters wielding large skewers of meat who visit the tables in succession to slice cuts of beef, pork, lamb, and chicken right onto diners’ plates. “Usually, we start with the sausage and chicken, then get to the red meat,” Vanucci says.

It happens quickly, and it’s hard to say what tastes best. The leg of lamb and the turkey wrapped in bacon are excellent. The pork loin with Parmesan is great. So is the rump roast with garlic. The tender and juicy bacon-wrapped beef tenderloin is amazing.

Be sure to pause between bites to ask for chimichurri, a thick herb sauce made from olive oil, vinegar, finely chopped parsley, oregano, onion, garlic, salt, cayenne pepper, and black pepper. “[Chimichurri] is something all of South America uses when they’re eating red meat,” Vanucci explains. “It’s become so popular for us that people come in to buy it to go.”

Waiters drift by with various side dishes, as well. The fried bananas have a caramel-like sweetness, and the mashed sweet potatoes are made with a splash of bourbon, ginger, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Both are perfect counterpoints to the salty meats.

Leblon also has an extensive wine list to match the food. “Our guests come from a variety of backgrounds, so we try to have something for every palate,” Vanucci says. “Overall, the wine list is as important to our guests as our selection of meats. They complement each other.”

If you don’t want wine, try a caipirinha, the national cocktail of Brazil. It’s made with cachaca, sugar, and lime. Common in Brazil, cachaca is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane. A caipirinha tastes a little like a margarita, but cachaca is less invasive than tequila, allowing the fresh, tart limes to shine.

By the time you’re finished, dessert may be the farthest thing from your mind, but do yourself a favor and look at the dessert tray anyway. Everything from the dulce de leche cake with toasted coconut to the creme caramel in Grand Marnier sauce is created in-house from Walter’s own recipes.

Whatever you try, you’re bound to be glad you didn’t fill up on everything else.

Leblon Churrascaria Brazilian Steakhouse, 4512 W. Market St. 336-294-2605.