LoDo gets more red meat with Fogo de Chao

You’d think that one Brazilian steakhouse might be enough for all of LoDo — much less a three- block stretch of Wynkoop Street. But then you wouldn’t be thinking like Hines, the international real estate firm that just announced that Fogo de Chão Churrascaria has signed a lease for 12,610 square feet on the first floor at 1515 Wynkoop, just down the street from the Rodizio Grill at 1801 Wynkoop.

The eight-story building is right next to the new EPA facility, and slated for completion in February 2009, with Sam Gary & Associates and Van Gilder Insurance moving in soon after. Fogo de Chão is scheduled to fire up the grills and spread out the salad bar next June.

The thirty-year-old Fogo de Chão chain now has eleven locations in the U.S., with three more opening this fall — in Miami, Scottsdale and Kansas City, and six in Brazil. I’ve eaten at the one in Washington, D.C, and it’s quite good — even if the vegetarians in our group paled when they saw the amount of meat the rest of us consumed.

But still, Fago is unlikely to offer the charming sight I once encountered at the Ice House, when two Rodizio workers were on a break, hanging out by the elevators in the shared lobby — and competing to see who could puff out his gaucho pants the furthest by farting. — Patricia Calhoun