Chama Gaúcha opens Downtown

Houston Street Gets Its Flame Back: Chama Gaúcha Opens Downtown

There are some restaurant openings that feel like another place to eat. And then there are openings that feel like a signal.

Chama Gaúcha’s new downtown San Antonio location at 217 E. Houston St. feels like the second kind.

The locally rooted Brazilian steakhouse has officially brought its fire-roasted, tableside-carved churrasco experience into the heart of downtown, just steps from the Majestic Theatre, the River Walk, the Alamo and some of San Antonio’s most iconic old storefronts. And in a city where buildings carry memories, this one comes with plenty.

The new Chama Gaúcha sits inside the historic Frost Bros. building, a four-story structure built in 1908. Before it became part of San Antonio’s retail memory, the building had another life as the Orpheum Theater and later the Princess Theater. It eventually became home to Frost Bros., the elegant San Antonio department store once known for luxury shopping, polished service and holiday-window magic. For generations, Houston Street was where San Antonio dressed up, went out, saw a show, shopped, strolled and made a night of it.

Now, more than a century later, the building has a new kind of stage.

Instead of theater lights, there is the glow of the grill. Instead of window displays, there are gauchos moving through the dining room with skewers of picanha, lamb, ribs, filet mignon and other cuts carved right at the table. It is part dinner, part performance, and very much in the spirit of a street that has always known how to put on a show.

Chama Gaúcha itself is a San Antonio success story.