[edit]In this rodízio restaurant in Germany, patrons turn over green/red cylinders to indicate to staff whether they require more food.
In most areas of the world outside of Brazil, a rodízio restaurant refers to a Brazilian-style steakhouse restaurant, where customers pay a fixed price (preço fixo). [1]
Inchurrascarias or the traditional Brazilian-style steakhouse restaurants, servers come to the table with knives and a vertically-held skewer, on which are speared various kinds of premium cuts of meat, most commonly local cuts of beef, pork, chicken, lamb, and sometimes atypical or exotic meats.[1] The exact origin of the rodízio style of service is unknown, but the traditional story is that this serving style was created when a waiter delivered a meat skewer to the wrong table by mistake but let the guest take a small piece of the meat anyway.[2]
Rodízio became increasingly popular in Brazil in the mid-20th century and spread around the world as experienced servers moved to open their own restaurants.[2] In Brazil, the rodízio style is sometimes also found in Italian (Italian restaurants serving pizza are especially common) or more recently Japanese restaurants.[2] Rodízio of crepes are also common in Brazil,[3] as also rodízios of other types of foods.[4]
In a churrascaria, the rodízio courses are served right off the cooking spit and are sliced or plated right at the table.[1] Thin slices are carved from the roasted outside layer of large cuts; the diners may use a pair of small stainless-steel tongs to grab the slices as they are cut, and then place them on their plate. Alternatively, the server will push smaller kebab-style chunks off the end of the skewer onto a serving plate.
In many restaurants, the diner is provided with a colored card or token. Green, on one side, indicates to servers to bring more meat. Red, on the other side, indicates that the diners have enough for the moment.[1] This does not necessarily signal that the diner is finished eating, but only indicates that no more meat servings are desired at that moment.
