I Dare You.

We've talked before about Gaucho Ranch.  It is located at 7201 NE 4th Avenue.  If you drive south on NE 2nd Avenue, and take a left on 71st St, very shortly after the railroad track, you will take a hard left onto NE 4th Avenue.  If you drive south on Biscayne Boulevard, you'll take a right onto 71st St, then the right onto NE 4th Avenue.  There's a strip of retail and other outlets, and Gaucho Ranch is the first one you'll see.

Gaucho Ranch specializes in meat, although they also sell wine, cheese, tea, and various kinds of grilling hardware, and their product is meat from purely pasture-raised animals.  They sell more beef than anything else, but they sell other meats, too.  Many of them come from South America, especially Uruguay.

Over the years, Gaucho Ranch has had occasional (a few a year) evenings, where patrons paid a flat rate, and ate all the meats (several cuts were served), and salads, and cheeses, and related comestibles they wanted.  On some of these evenings, wine was included.  On others, it was BYO.

But Gaucho Ranch has a new program.  They, like everyone else, are trying to emerge from the pandemic, and either to increase their business, or to let their regular customers know they're there, and it's OK to come shop.

So, now, starting today, Gaucho Ranch has begun every Friday lunch gatherings.  The time listed is noon to 3:00.  Each Friday, a different cut of beef will be served.  Bread is included.  There is NO CHARGE.  They just want you to know they're there, and/or they want you back.  You can have as much as you like, and they'd certainly be happy if you enjoyed your lunch so much that you wanted to buy something.

Today, they served flatiron steak.  It was a bit tough, but it was very tasty.  By the way, Gaucho Ranch's owner, Pablo Liberato, appears to have an uncanny knack for finding exceptional grillmasters.  Today's grill operator was previously unknown to me, and his name is Fernando.  He grills a perfect steak.  I stayed for a little while -- enough time to get a nice lunch -- and at the end of my time, they brought out a new and somehow improved (I didn't think it could get any better) version of their marinated strip steak.  Unbelievable.  And that's their main menu item for next Friday.

I already know BrambleWitch can resist this, because she told me she has restricted to a vegetarian diet for decades.  But it's hard to imagine anyone else can resist.  Unless they're just not in the area between noon and 3:00 PM on Fridays.  And if you like what you can eat for free, then you can go right into the shop and buy some more for another time.  Or you can buy anything else that appeals to you, which I would guess a lot of things will.

Fernando, the grillmaster, told me an interesting story.  This has to be considered anecdotal, and it wouldn't be anyone's medical advice.  He told me about one Gaucho Ranch customer who buys $400 a week's worth of meat.  Because meat is the one and only thing he eats.  And his blood pressure is low, as are his cholesterol and lipids.  What's particularly curious about this is that Freddy Kaufmann, who, with his wife, owns Proper Sausages on NE 2nd Avenue at about 97th St, told me the same thing about himself.  He did an experiement, and for a year, he ate almost all meat.  (Freddy/Proper Sausages specializes in pork more than beef.)  He had the same experience: lowered cholesterol and lipids on a high red meat diet.

It would be irresponsible of me not to encourage you to go to Gaucho Ranch for lunch on Fridays.  And frankly, I dare you not to.