Blame it on Rioz

Oofah.

I'm sitting here with a fully stuffed belly after supping on a carnivore's carnival at Rioz, the new Brazilian steakhouse in Myrtle Beach.

A certain "expert" who shall remain nameless, informed us that we should have no problem getting served quickly and didn't need reservations because the place is so huge. So I was shocked when my wife, Kim, and I arrived and we drove around for about five minutes before finally finding a parking spot across the street at Planet Hollywood.

The place was jumping, but we didn't have to wait long for our table, as Baker and Meredith, the couple we were meeting for dinner, had arrived earlier and put their names in the mix for seating. We didn't wait longer than 10 minutes.

I'd never been to a churrascaria before, but I'd read about the concept, so I knew they brought various meat dishes to your table, but I didn't know anything else.

So it was an exciting surprise to find out you start off with a huge salad bar, chock full of some traditional salad items, but some atypical stuff too, including the biggest asparagus spears I've ever seen, huge slices of hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, chilled shrimp, some sort of scallop dish, pasta salads, and a whole bunch of stuff that I didn't get around to. I didn't want to fill up too much on salad, because I was there for the meat. Mmmmm. Meat good!

You pass the salad bar on the way to your table, as it is the centerpiece of the restaurant, down a ramp from the host/hostess station.

While chomping on our salads, the meat parade began. It was non-stop, with various cuts of beef, lamb, sausage, pork, and chicken arriving at a quick pace.

You get a little coaster-like laminated ``button'' that is green on one side and red on the other, which tells the servers whether you want more meat or not. Green is for yes, and red is for no.
You gotta make sure you're on your game and have your button on the side you intend, or you can quickly have a messy meat pile-up on your hands.

Rioz is a little bit pricey - $34.95 per person - but worth it when you factor in the ambiance and the overall experience.

There were all kinds of characters there, including some dudes that had to be in their `60s dressed like rock stars, with leather pants, ear rings, etc. Maybe they were rock stars and I didn't recognize them. Then there was the dude in the in red zoot suit. What was he thinking and was he serious?

We all agreed that Rioz is definitely exciting and I think it's one of the hippest new places to see and be seen in Myrtle Beach.

That the food kicks ass and is decidedly different from the majority of what's out there is just gravy.

You gotta check it out.

You can scope out the menu at http://www.tbonz.com/rioz.asp?catID=12091