`Turkey?" asked the young man with a long sword in his yellow-gloved hand.

Well, sure.

Moments later: "Lamb?" Then "beef tenderloin?" and "venison?"

This is Brazas, a Brazilian churrascaria de rodizio. That means a restaurant specializing in Brazilian barbecue (churrasco, pronounced shoo-RAHS-coh), served in a rotation (rodizio, pronounced roh-DEEZ-i-yoh). That means servers bring skewers of meat into the dining room, one at a time, serving small pieces or carving off slices tableside.

But meats aren't all that's available in this fixed-price arrangement.

Here's how it works:

You're seated, and given a slip the size of a business card. On one side, it says, "No thank you." On the other: "Yes, please."

You begin by leaving the card "No" side up at your table, and venturing to the buffet area. At one long table are cold items, from salad bar to a wide range of prepared salads and other dishes: everything from calamari and thick ratatouille to Nicoise salad and olives. At the other is an assortment of hot dishes, both entrees (like mussels, shrimp with slightly sweet chayote squash, and beef Ipanema, baked with vegetables) and sides for the meat you will eventually be served (like farofa, pronounced fah-ROH-fah, which is toasted cassava meal; and Brazilian-style collard greens, bright and tender, cut into thin strips).

There's also feijoada (fay-ZHWAH-dah), black beans seasoned with meat and cooked to creaminess, and marvelous white rice to accompany it - or the meats to come.

When you've sampled what you will, you get a plateful of side dishes, return to your table and turn your card "Yes" side up.

From then on, each time a server brings a skewer (and they truly are sword-sized) into the dining room, he'll offer a slice or hunk of whatever's on it to you. Fans of Chinese dim sum will get this right away: It's like the carts wheeled round, except here, each meat is identified, so you don't have to guess and point.

We sampled flank steak, beef tenderloin (with drippingly rare interior), pork tenderloin, beef shish kabob, chicken drumsticks, lamb, ham and bacon-wrapped chunks of turkey (amazingly juicy and delicious). Most are minimally seasoned - rock salt only on all but the lamb, which is marinated - very moist and quite good (the pork was a bit dry for my taste). They're cooked over a gas grill from Brazil, says manager John Pereira.

We were also offered the specialty meats of the day, prepared to order - ostrich and venison. Other days may bring rabbit, suckling pig, boar, bison and quail.

Diners stay as long as they like, as servers continue to rotate meats through. When you're finished with them, you turn your card back to "No."

Now, to really take advantage of the opportunity, you need to sample as many Brazilian dishes as possible, from the fried bananas to the collards and beans. Brazas even offers the Brazilian soda Guarana, which tastes like a less sweet cream soda. (Guarana is also a tropical plant whose fruit has a notable amount of caffeine - no wonder I liked it!) You can't yet get a caipirinha, the Brazilian drink made with lime and cachaa, Brazilian sugar cane liquor; Brazas is working on getting its full liquor license. Beer and wine are available.

The dessert cart is heavy on very light mousses (chocolate, passionfruit, strawberry) and cakes (spongecake with cream fillings of strawberry and peach), and its wares are not included in the price of the rodizio.

That price varies by time of day and day of week. It's least expensive at lunch ($12.95) and most at dinner on Friday and Saturday ($22.95); check the accompanying box for a complete list of times and prices.

George Jakowczuk, an Argentinian jeweler married to a Brazilian, owns Brazas, and John Pereira, who's Portuguese, manages it. Though Charlotte's Brazilian population isn't very big (Pereira says Brazilian/Portuguese in Charlotte number about 1,000), plenty of business travelers who come in are already familiar with rodizio. (And the concept catching on in America is hardly farfetched, since it combines ethnic adventure with all-you-can-eat - a regular American jackpot!)

The dining room is spacious; paned windows fill the front, while paintings of the Ipanema beachfront - a gorgeous part of Rio de Janeiro - stretch across areas behind the buffet. Pale peach walls, lots of white woodwork and white linen tablecloths make the place light, as does quiet jazz (with a few brand-name holiday songs thrown in lately).

If you're looking for a respite from shopping, but still love that pick-and-choose mindframe, Brazas is your spot. Turn that card to "Yes, thank you."

Brazas

***
FOOD: ***
SETTING: **1/2
SERVICE: ***

Quality ratings:
**** = excellent; *** = good; ** = fair; * = poor

NOTES: Seats about 240, with a semi-private area for 20 to 50; many vegetarian options on the hot and cold bars; children younger than 6 eat for free; those 6 to 12 cost $4.95 at lunch Tuesday-Saturday and $6.95 at lunch Sunday, and $8.95 at dinner.

ENTREE PRICES: This is tricky, so follow along: Lunch Tuesday-Saturday is $12.95 (you can choose to forego the meats and just eat from the hot and cold bars for $7.95). Early-bird dinner Tuesday-Thursday (5:30 to 6:30 p.m.) $18.95, regular dinner Tuesday-Thursday $20.95. Dinner Friday-Saturday $22.95. Lunch Sunday $14.95, dinner (after 3 p.m.) $20.95.
HOURS: Lunch 11:30 to 3 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, noon to 3 Sunday. Dinner 5:30 to about 10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, to 11 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 3 to 10 p.m. Sunday.

CREDIT CARDS: MC/VI/AE/DC/DI.

RESERVATIONS: Taken anytime.

NO-SMOKING SECTION: Yes.

HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE: Level entry; rest rooms accessible.

ADDRESS: 4508 E. Independence Blvd., Charlotte

PHONE: (704) 566-1009.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All content © THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER
and may not be republished without permission.

In just nine months, Zebra has become Charlotte's most intriguing dinner destination.

From soup to nuts - or amuses-gueules to mignardises, if you prefer - co-owners Pete Pappas and Jim Alexander are creating an experience no one else in town is attempting: a blend of the formal and the accessible in contemporary French food. And it works.

What's that mean?
It means your server will bring you an amuse-gueule - that's a complimentary tidbit to set the tone for your dinner - and explain it in English. ("It freaks out some people," laughs chef Alexander. "They say, `I didn't order that!' But it's a nice gesture from the house.")

It means a diner whose companions order appetizers or salads will be brought a "supplement" - a tiny cup of soup or salad to keep him from feeling left out.

It means you might order an appetizer of foie gras flan in an eggshell with foie gras au torchon and truffles, or you might just opt for parsnip soup.

It also means you might stop in for Two Eggs Any Style at 8 a.m. instead, because the place serves breakfast and lunch, too (though this review is about dinner only).

In a city split between diners who know moulard from muscovy and diners who couldn't tell a Screaming Eagle from a Mad Dog, keeping things interesting but approachable is no small feat.

The owners are equally intriguing. Pappas, an ex-bowling alley partner who nails up his own woodwork and delights in telling you how much money he saved doing it, uses his art-major background to critique the kitchen's presentations, and has developed a remarkable wine list. Alexander, an ex-country club chef hungry for validation in the "real world," wants nothing less than to create an East Coast French Laundry, a Napa Valley, Calif., restaurant known for extravagant detail and witty culinary concepts.

Both obsess over details and work ethic.

Listen to Alexander explain why he recently changed the look of his stellar lamb entree of tenderloin au poivre with braised shoulder meat:

"You know how when you've roasted meat just right, and you slice into it and the juices just come to the edge and hold on? There's nothing better. I was slicing (lamb) for the tasting menu and I thought, `God, that looks good!' And serving it that way adds another layer of color. To me, it's elevating the presentation, and maybe even the dining experience."

Here's Pappas telling how Zebra manages to serve three meals a day:

"I cook breakfast every day ... my mom (who's 80 now) comes in and does cash for me in the morning. It makes her feel needed - and she is needed. ... It's all family. I don't know how you could do it if it's not family." He doesn't have to find out. Family has been constant, from his 15 years working at the Epicurean, owned by relatives, to now, when Alexander's wife and sons help out in varying capacities.

Zebra's combination of artistic leaning and hard-knocks practicality results in its best features.

Alexander, for example, has taken to turning orange and grapefruit rinds left over from daytime fruit cups into part of the evening's coffee service: strips of blanched, sugar-dusted rind for between-sip munching. After cleaning foie gras for the tournedo of beef Rossini style, he uses the bits in soup - and the breakfast menu features a foie gras omelet. He uses "the entire animal" for his rabbit ballotine (the meat is boned, stuffed, rolled and tied, then poached in stock made with said bones).

Other dishes are purely fun.

A playful lobster "Waldorf" salad encases succulent bits of shellfish in a paper-thin casing of pear, topped with two shelled claws and a drizzle of anise-flavored creme fraiche. A "sail" of crackery lavosh bread, complete with a mast made of a single chive, tops a fat and juicy crab cake. The Cristo layers salmon and snapper with shrimp mousseline (like a mousse) and baby spinach.

The popular surf-and-turf entree employs a willowy basket of angel hair pasta, butter-braised lobster, roasted beef tenderloin and sauteed shrimp and scallops. I didn't see poached Dover sole, but Pappas described it: It's filleted in the kitchen and its bones rinsed, then interlocked like a rollercoaster for presentation.

Colors and height are key (the more vertical, the more Pappas likes it).

Desserts are still what Alexander calls "kitchen desserts"; not particularly elaborate, but handsomely executed. (Our otherwise-subtle server steered us hard toward one evening's "Chocolate Creation," a flat-topped pyramid of citrus-inside-milk-chocolate bavarian cream, garnished with thin chocolate shapes and raspberries in a Deco sort of look.)

The mignardises - or friandises, or (are you gasping for English now?) little delicacies served after dessert - included tiny jellies and chocolates on our visits. Another formal detail, graciously done.

Servers, well-educated and self-assured, guide with ease and humor.

What the menu misses in accessibility - it's awash in precise French - they make up for in personable explanations. Their wine advice is sound, but can't compare with Pappas's detail-driven chat; luckily, he's nearly always there.

Is Zebra completely realized? No. The learning curve continues, as does staff and menu smoothing. Unlike the woodwork, for which area artist Terry Reitzel condensed a 17-step finishing process into three steps, there's no cutting corners. But Zebra is growing more confident, not trying quite so hard to impress, and, as is often the case, becoming more impressive because of it.

Zebra

4521 Sharon Road; (704) 442-9525

Food: 4 Stars Setting: 3 1/2 Stars Service: 4 Stars

**** = excellent; *** = good; ** = fair; * = poor

ENTREE PRICES: Dinner $18 to $29; lunch $6.95 to $16; breakfast $3.95 to $11.

HOURS: Breakfast 7 . to 10 a.m., lunch 11:15 a.m. to 2 p.m.; dinner 5:45 to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; dinner only Saturday.

CREDIT CARDS: MC, VI, AE, DI.

RESERVATIONS: Taken anytime.

NOTES: Seats 90, plus 24 on the handsome courtyard. Private parties may be booked on Sundays. Smoking permitted at the bar only.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All content © THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER
and may not be republished without permission.

Take a guy who had a side of beef roasted in salt and drenched with butter for his last big birthday dinner. Put him at Woodlands Pure Vegetarian South Indian Cuisine, where the closest thing to meat is - well, nothing, and put entrees of spinach and cauliflower in front of him. What do you have?

I'll spare you the multiple choice, in favor of the stunning answer: Two empty plates and one believer.

Woodlands prepares the staples of south Indian cuisine (plus a few non-south dishes) with verve and grace and a warm welcome. Its menu goes a fair way toward explaining things to the newcomer, and some servers can finish the job. (Some cannot, so if you need more help, ask.) The food itself is most convincing.
Rice and lentils, and a little wheat, form the backbone of south Indian food, from the steamed patties known as iddly to the massive crispy crepes called dosai to the pancakes dubbed uthappam (say oo-dah-pum).

These are fleshed out by vegetables and the extraordinary palette of Indian seasonings - mustard seeds, cardamom, coriander, chiles, garlic, turmeric, fenugreek, peppercorns and much more, plus foods used in small amounts as seasoning, such as coconut, nuts, fruits and more.

These become fillings, toppings or curries - and remember, "curry" comes from the word "kari," or sauce, and just means a dish with sauce. Woodlands offers 11 curries, some creamy, some not, some spicy-hot, some not.

(If you think all south Indian food is hot, you're probably thinking of the well-known searing curries of Madras. Woodlands' recipes lean more to the western side of south India, where partners Narayan Mogera and Ragavendra Sheregar are from, than to the east, where Madras is. And if you're thinking about tandoors, you've got the wrong end of the country altogether.)

So spinach and cubed yogurt cheese come together with spices, tomato and onion into the curry known as palak paneer, served with dryish white rice and the cool yogurt sauce called raita. Chickpeas combine with a long list of spices into the vibrant chana masala (masala means spices), served with rice and raita or with an enormous puff of fried bread called batura. Baigan bartha is eggplant mashed with tomatoes, onions and spices.

Uthappam are floppy pancakes of rice and lentil flour batter (faintly sourdough), about a foot in diameter. Some might compare them to pizzas, but I suggest thinking of a really good, thin potato pancake. Pleasantly browned onions and peas can top them, or onions and chiles, or shreds of coconut, or you may have one made with chickpea flour.

Dosai lap over their plates, the crunchy edges of these enormous crepes giving way to a softer interior. Thin fillings of potato, onion, spicy chutney or combinations thereof make one of these a meal. Dip them into the accompanying vegetable-soupy sambar or coconut chutney (think a loose paste with lots of flavor).

Iddly has the texture of corn bread, a few inches across and steamed rather than fried. They're offered on Saturdays and Sundays with cashews, carrots and coriander, and called kancheepurum iddly. Yum. Other appetizers are the little fried unsweet "doughnuts" called vada, crisp-pastry-wrapped samosas and the fritters called pakora.

House specialties include mixed-lentil pancakes with vegetables called malabar adai; pongal avial (rice and lentils cooked with spices and served with the coconutty stew known as avial); and gobi Manchurian, a decidedly Chinese-influenced dish of lightly breaded chunks of cauliflower sauteed with lots of ginger and garlic.

If you want to get a quick feel for the cuisine, several combo dinners are offered. The Woodlands special dinner gives you a choice of soup, iddly or vada and dosai or uthappam, while the South Indian and Mysore Royal thalis (samplers) bring tiny silver bowls of many dishes to try, perhaps half a cup per serving.

Co-owner Mogera says the Charlotte clientele is about 75 to 80 percent Indian, with perhaps half of those from south India. He's worked, as has his partner, at a nearly identical restaurant in Maryland; this is "not really a franchise. We have a group of friends who independently own places in different states."

On our visits, the sparely decorated dining room has been filled with large groups and small, many with children, nearly all of which have at least one person (usually more) ordering rapidly and assuredly.

It will take me some time to be able to choose decisively, but I, and others I know, plan to enjoy working up to it.

Woodlands

7128-A Albemarle Road; (704) 569-9193

Food: Four Stars
Setting: Three Stars
Service: Three stars

ENTREE PRICES: $5.50-$6.95.

HOURS: 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, to 10 p.m. Friday-Sunday.

CREDIT CARDS: MC, VI.

RESERVATIONS: Taken anytime Tuesday-Thursday, taken before 7 p.m. Friday-Sunday.

NOTES: All no-smoking; busiest times (with lines at the door) are weekend evenings; no alcohol is served.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All content © THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER
and may not be republished without permission.