Today project students were given the “rare opportunity” to go to Rioz, a Brazilian steakhouse. Rioz is a very high-end steakhouse of never ending food. Usually the bill would run at about $50.00 a person. We were able to score a deal for half price. Now it may seem that having to pay $25.00 for one meal is excessive, but I would like to make a distinction between a meal and a feast. Eating at subway, chipotle, packing a lunch, going to McDonalds—those are all meals. Rioz is a feast.
The first coarse at Rioz is a salad bar. It is actually a 36-piece salad bar, which means that they have everything a person could possibly want to have. It was excessive. Salad mixes, shrimp, a cheese bar, salmon, rice, beans, and every vegetable I have ever known—all of this buffet style. Eat as much as you dare.
Next comes the real food: meat. There are 15 selections of steak, chicken, sausages, and pork served by waiters with skewers. Let me explain the system.
Each customer has a circular card (photo below). It works like a stoplight. Green=go; red=stop. Waiters walk around with meat on skewers. If your card is flipped green, they offer you some. If your card is red, then they don’t. Steaks are prepared to all levels, so I enjoyed well-done steaks as well as rare steaks. There is no limit to the amount of food that you can eat.
As these waiters are walking around with endless skewers of meat, additional waiters are refilling your drinks, offering sides such as potatoes, corn bread, Brazilian bread, and fried bananas (all included in the cost).
Furthermore, after giving you an adequate amount of time with the meat. Waiters come out with skewers of grilled pineapple covered in cinnamon—this is delicious. I need to find out how to make it.
Finally, after you have eaten your fill, they take away your plate. But wait; there is one thing more! Would you like chocolate cake or cheesecake for desert? I have never been so filled by a meal in my entire life.
As I finished my last slice of cheesecake after countless mouthfuls of delicious food, I cannot help but think that this Rioz feast is very similar to the spiritual food offered to us this summer. Endless platters are brought to us of filling delicious steak—we just have to enjoy the experience of eating it, and burst at the seams as we are filled by it. It really makes me hunger and thirst for righteousness—that I may know what it is like to be full in those terms as well as the physical fullness of Rioz.
