Downtown San Diego has become a melting pot for international fare. Spin the globe and stop it with your finger. Wherever it lands (unless you hit Antarctica or the middle of the Indian Ocean), there’s a San Diego restaurant, opening or established, dishing up that country’s cuisine.

Samba Grill, located in Horton Plaza, isn’t the first Brazilian restaurant to satiate San Diego stomachs—Rei Do Gado is only a few blocks away. But Samba Grill’s chefs know what they’re doing. The original restaurant, located in Salt Lake City, won the 2004 award for Best Downtown Restaurant, and the menu is the very same, as well as the presentation. The prime attraction is the “Churrascaria”, hunks of meat carved from enormous spits right at the table, a Brazilian specialty. Portions are enormous, and range from typical proteins like beef, pork and poultry, to rarer fare like lamb and occasionally, wild gator.

Dishes can be healthfully augmented by selections from a hot-and-cold salad bar, all of the Brazilian persuasion. After dinner, world travelers and homebodies alike will agree that Brazil is delicious. Next stop: Antarctica.