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Steakhouse Sensation: The Via Brasil Legacy Gomes Story | Adam Gomes

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Step into the culinary theater as Adam Gomes, the visionary behind Via Brazil Steakhouse, joins us for a captivating session at the chef's table. With a tale that weaves through the bustling streets of New York City and settles in the heart of Las Vegas, Adam brings to life the story of a family-owned gastronomic gem. Experience the dedication it takes to thrive in the competitive landscape of Summerlin, where only the most tantalizing of flavors and the warmest of welcomes endure. Adam's commitment to hands-on leadership and fostering a deep bond with patrons courses through our conversation, offering insights into what transforms a meal into a memory.

Venture behind the scenes where the art of menu curation comes alive – a dance between innovation and tradition, driven by the feedback of those who matter most: the staff and the customers. Adam takes us through the journey of selecting the succulent picanha and the crafting of empanadas that burst with authentic Brazilian zest. The alchemy of cocktail creation is revealed, where inspiration can spark overnight, and a new enchanting elixir finds its way to the menu. As for the road ahead, Adam imparts the wisdom of adaptability and the allure of expansion, while holding true to the family values that have been the cornerstone of Via Brazil's success. His narrative is an invaluable compass for aspiring restaurateurs charting their own paths, reminding us that an unshakeable belief in oneself and an openness to learn is the secret sauce to lasting achievement.

Paki:

Welcome to Vegas Circle Podcast with your hosts, Paki and Chris. We are people who are passionate about business, success and culture and this is our platform to showcase to people in our city who make it happen. On today's podcast, we're going to be delving into the culinary journey, through success and challenges, of building a family-owned restaurant. We're welcoming to the Soaker, the owner of Via Brazil Steakhouse. We've got Adam Gomez, so welcome to the Soaker brother.

Adam:

Welcome. Thank you for having me.

Paki:

Good to finally meet you in person. I've actually been to your restaurant. Big fan of your restaurant in Summerlin. You guys have been there, I think, for about 15 years now, from my understanding, which which is extremely hard to do in this restaurant business, especially what we've been able to deal with over the last couple of years with the pandemic and everything. But we just want to kind of jump in. So you've got a 15-year legacy. What inspired you and Anna, your wife, to get into the restaurant business or open your own restaurant business.

Adam:

I've been in the restaurant business a very long time. I'm originally out of New York. Been in the family business, basically for many, many, many years?

Paki:

Okay, new York City or upstate New York, new York City. Yes, okay, I'll be there in a few weeks. Did you actually have your own restaurant in New York City, or did you work in like for a family business? Or how did you actually do it in New York?

Adam:

I worked in our family owned restaurant, so the original Via Brazil has been around since 1978. Oh, wow, okay, wow. I was working there for many years before moving out to Vegas, okay, and opened a space out here. We were looking to open another restaurant, okay, and just a series of events just fell in place and this location just kind of appeared, yeah, it just all worked out timing-wise and we ended up opening Via Brazil out in Vegas.

Chris:

Is this an extension of the brand that's out of New York, or is that one still there, or is it strictly only in Vegas?

Adam:

at this point, the Via Brazil here in Vegas. It's a Brazilian steakhouse so it's an all-you-can-eat experience. It's a little different than the Via Brazil in New York. So the Via Brazil in New York is a traditional a la carte restaurant Got it. But we also have another Brazilian steakhouse in New York called Plataforma. It's one of the top Brazilian steakhouses in the United States Excellent. So when we look to expand and do something outside of New York, we took the Via Brazil name because obviously a longstanding….

Paki:

Makes sense, yeah, brand recognition and everything, yeah. So how long have you actually been out here now in Vegas?

Adam:

Me personally. I've been out for about 16 years.

Paki:

Okay, so you jumped right in, man, moved out and then had the plan.

Chris:

It's like this kind of a different, you know, that little area that you're in. You know, 15 years ago, I'm assuming it was vastly different than it is now and I think there's a lot more competition that's moved into that location but also a lot more people moved into the area.

Adam:

Do you think that's something that's benefited you or do you think it's something that, um, you know it's kind of hindered the experience of, you know, be a brazilian at location? It's probably a little of both, I guess. Obviously there's a lot more competition now. You have downtown summerlin there, which wasn't there before in the village and other uh restaurants that open locally and at the time we were opening, timing wise wasn't the best. Obviously we were just heading into a recession, I bet yeah and, uh, you know places were closing left and right.

Adam:

so, um, definitely different struggles to deal with depending on the times, but there's a good following that we've built up a lot of regular customers, a lot of regular clientele. We have good name recognition around Las Vegas now. So I'd say a little of both.

Chris:

Because that location is fantastic and I think you got there, like you said, you prime time, when you got it 15 years ago, but I'm sure the real estate has probably gone through the roof because that location is just absolutely fantastic.

Paki:

It's a good spot.

Chris:

How did you determine at that point in time, 15 years ago, that that was the location you wanted to move into, instead of being on a strip restaurant or a strip restaurant or, you know, a Summerlin restaurant, if?

Adam:

you go back to when we were opening, there wasn't a lot of competition, like you mentioned, around that area. It was a unique concept for the area. At that time. There wasn't any other Brazilian steakhouses at the scale that we were looking to do it in Las Vegas, and it's just location wise it was a good area. The restaurants that were around there were doing well at the time, yeah, um, and it just looked like it was a good opportunity in that space.

Paki:

The restaurant industry I'm seeing is like it's such a challenge. We've had a lot of owners on you know the competitors of yours, of course, to you know being in the steakhouse business. But and I was restaurants close after like their first year and I think 80% of them close I think after four years, is what some of the new you know statistics that came out. But you guys must have a secret, right, secret recipe. You know 15 years is extremely hard. You went through, you know, the first kind of issue in kind of 2008, when we had those challenges. Then we went through the pandemic. What kept it together? What was the glue that kept it together for you guys to keep your doors open and keep it going, because it's really hard. You guys got a great story and a great legacy to be able to do that.

Adam:

As an owner of the restaurant. I don't just own the restaurant and delegate for other people to do everything. I'm there, my wife is there, we're there on a regular basis. So we keep that authenticity, we keep that quality, we keep our standard and I think that when you kind of farm that out for for other people to do for you, you're not going to get that same result. So I think that's what helped us really continue to expand in our in our local community and really ingratiated people to to what we were doing, you know, and helped us to build our regular clientele and honestly, that was the biggest thing. When we came out of the pandemic we didn't know what to expect, but a lot of the locals, a lot of our regular clientele, was coming to the restaurant two, three times every couple of weeks and really keeping the restaurant busy at that time when we were just getting back on our feet, I actually went to your restaurant during the pandemic.

Paki:

I was so excited to get some really good food and then you guys added like a brunch option. Right, that wasn't the original idea, right? You guys started doing these parties for Sunday brunch and things like that right.

Adam:

Yeah, we do a Saturday and a Sunday brunch. It's really unique. There's no other place doing anything like that. So what we're doing is we basically come around, we do the full meat service. We carve the meats table side but we got the chef's omelet waffle station going on as well and then we have our full salad bar. We put some breakfast options out there as well. So it's really it's a unique experience. You know, you get the all you can eat. You get the brunch experience, you get the meats.

Paki:

What do you see is happening? Right Because you come from New York City? Right is happening right because you come from new york city? Right, it's like the mecca for a lot of the restaurants. I'm really from chicago and chris is from from detroit, but I love new york city's. Got you know the top of the top right, and it seems like now Vegas is that now right? I feel like this is the transition that we're going to, where you got all the top chefs that are here. You got you know you guys bringing a different culture and a different spin, which is just absolutely awesome. But are you excited about seeing what's happening with these changes, with a lot of these restaurants and all the culture that's happening here and the growth?

Adam:

Oh, yeah, absolutely yeah. I remember when we first opened, you had a lot of national chains yes, and now you're seeing a lot of concepts that were chef-driven yes, something that I'm more used to coming from New York, sure. So, yeah, it's definitely exciting to see that out here.

Chris:

Yeah, how do you maintain that innovativeness? Because I know adding in a brunch, right? I think Vegas is a city that always seems like people are jumping to the next new thing, right? What? I think Vegas is a city that always seems like people are jumping to the next new thing, right? What is it right now, what's hip, what's in? And you know, as things become more established, you still have that brand loyalty that people recognize with. But how do you capture that new clientele by being, you know, more innovative. Is that something you put effort and thought into, or is it you kind of stick with the tried and true?

Adam:

That's the thing we try to keep things fresh. So you know our restaurant. It's very important to us that we're always adapting with the times, that we're not staying stale. And you know, and I think that's a lot of the problems that longstanding traditional restaurants sometimes have is they just kind of stay set in what they've been doing for year after year after year and they don't improve and they don't add and they don't stay current. And we're always doing that. You know whether it's adding something new to our salad bar or new to doing the meats that we're bringing out, instead of just bringing the same meats every day. Sometimes we'll bring out specialty cuts, things like that, the craft cocktails that we do at the bar and then different kind of events that we like to do to keep things fresh. So we're always trying to see what the next thing is and see how it works with our concept and if it's something that our clientele is going to enjoy.

Paki:

I remember years ago you guys did something that was like obviously it's a Brazilian setup, but it was almost like a Mardi Gras setup that you guys had. I remember going there weekend and you guys had the performers and everything that was in the restaurant. It was amazing. So I'm like man, are they going to do this all the time? It was literally like a Cirque du Soleil show, you know in Suburban. So it was pretty cool yeah yeah. That's the Brazilian Carnival. Brazilian Carnival Okay, I couldn't think of the name.

Chris:

Okay, awesome, oh yeah, carnival, carnival, yeah.

Paki:

I couldn't think of it. My mind was going blank for a Brazil then.

Adam:

Or my family's from Brazil, but I'm in New York.

Paki:

Awesome man, talk a little bit about, you know, being in business with family, right? I know that's extremely hard to tie, as everybody's got their different perspective, right. Some people think that it's bad, some people think that it's good. What's your perspective on that? Because you've been doing this, like you mentioned in 1978, is, you know, your family restaurant and you guys have had it for 15 years now here locally and you're partnering with your wife. What would you say? Is it good or bad?

Adam:

I guess it just depends on your family dynamic. For me it's been a positive thing always. I mean, like I said, I grew up in the restaurant business so I learned a lot of what I know from my father watching what he was doing. And I picked up a lot of what he was doing when I moved out here.

Adam:

So and I picked up a lot of what he was doing when I moved out here. So we're really kind of on the same page when we discuss what we're doing with the business. He has a lot of trust in what I'm doing and there's not that kind of conflict where I've been doing it longer. So I see it this way we just always kind of come to a good agreement. And my wife, when she started with us, we opened a place together from the beginning, so we kind of had that same vision from the start. So I think we've all just been on the same page. And the family aspect is that we know we can trust the people that we're partnered with and because we don't have that kind of constant conflict, we have that constant support.

Paki:

So it's worked well for us. Yeah, that's powerful.

Chris:

Kind of considering, like the current economic climate right, we all know restaurants seem to me to be one of the most impacted by what we're currently situated with Cost of labor, cost of goods, inflation, you know all of these different things that are happening right now in just the overall, you know country. You know how has these things impacted you and how do you prepare for that. Because, being at that kind of higher end restaurant experience, it's harder to keep pushing that bridge right, to go from a $50 experience to $100. It's not like McDonald's can raise their price a dollar and they're at 100% increase right, it's a very different experience.

Chris:

How do you manage that part of the restaurant business? It's pretty complicated to work through that.

Adam:

Honestly, that's probably the most difficult thing right now, with the inflation and labor costs going up. You know we are a all-you-can-eat steakhouse experience, so we're not like an a la carte restaurant where you can kind of pass those costs on a little at a time to different items on the menu. So we really have to be very structured in the way that we do things. We've got to make sure that we're working efficiently as a team, that we're getting the most out of our employees and just making sure that we're controlling our waste, which is one of the biggest issues with this kind of content.

Paki:

I was going to ask you about that. Yeah, I was very curious about that.

Adam:

Yeah, so that's really where we kind of try to tighten up the most so that we don't have to increase our prices to a point where you know inflation is going. You know it's quite a bit of difference compared to where we want to be priced at. So you know we try to make those cost controls as much as possible so we don't have to increase our price and put it on the consumer.

Chris:

And how important is it to have that vendor relation? I know you've been doing it for a long time. I'm sure your relations are pretty pre-established. But initially, when you're getting the restaurant kicked off the ground, how do you work that dynamic to identify who those vendors are going to be? How are you getting the best quality food, the best prices, and how often do you reevaluate those relationships?

Adam:

I mean, at the beginning you're comparing a bunch of different vendors. Usually they'll start you off with some product samples, try things out. It's kind of getting a feel for who the rep is going to be taking care of you to. That's a key part of it, you know, because throughout the year you're going to have issues, you know there's going to be problems and that rep is there to really help you when you need it. You know, and that rep is there to really help you when you need it. And the places that over the years haven't had a customer response that we needed. That's kind of where we've drifted away from some of those companies and stay closer to some of those vendors, that they're there for us when we need them. And especially after the pandemic, that was a really key thing.

Paki:

Who decides what's on the menu? Is that kind of like a collaboration between you and anna? Or you guys battle it out to figure out what's gonna win, or you know how do you guys make that determination? No, no, we don't really battle it out.

Adam:

I'd say, for the most part, we, um, we usually we come to a consensus and, and you know, maybe one has an idea and the other one has an idea and we kind of compromise and see what makes sense. But yeah, we haven't really had much issue with that. That's awesome, do you?

Chris:

test it out, so you just throw on some ideas, have your chefs cook it up and see how it tastes? Are you constantly trying out new things and seem to roll it out, or do you put a lot of effort into it and you just know what you want to do ahead of time? Sometimes, do you?

Adam:

put a lot of effort into it and you just know what you want to do ahead of time.

Adam:

Sometimes the idea just kind of comes to you and then we'll kind of play it out beforehand, try it out in the kitchen or, if it's a specialty cocktail, taste the staff on it, for example on the bar, and get input from everybody. So that's kind of generally how we'll add something new. We'll get the feedback from the staff, we'll take the input and see what makes sense and again, we're doing it for our customers, right. So we want to make sure it's something our customers are going to enjoy. So it's not something that I personally like, or maybe my wife Anna personally likes. We may have an idea, but once we kind of try it out and see kind of what our consensus is for the staff and for us, what our consensus is for the staff and for us, we can then kind of put it in perspective and start thinking, you know, is this something that's going to be, you know, really interesting for our guests? Is this something they're going to enjoy, or is this something maybe we should pass on and look at something else?

Chris:

And do you have like the nimbleness to be able to make that happen fairly quickly, or is it something that you know a couple months like? Are you from idea to execution.

Adam:

It kind of depends on what the concept is at the point. But I mean, we've come up with an idea one day and then the next day already put it on the menu, so we have that kind of nimbleness, like you're saying. It just depends on what it is, how complicated the idea is, if it's something that's like an immediate hit, where we don't have to tweak it at all and it's like okay, I got this idea, let's try it out, see how it goes, everybody wow, this is great. Yeah, on the menu the next day.

Paki:

Yeah, what's your favorite thing on the menu?

Adam:

Like, if you were to eat tonight, what would you eat there? Are you putting me on the spot?

Paki:

Yeah, I'm curious because I want to know what to get next time.

Adam:

I mean, you got to go with the picanha. That's the signature cut in Brazil, so you got to go with that. But if I'm going away from the meats and I'm thinking about more, some of the stuff that we have on our bar menu, it's going to be one of the empanadas the empanadas that we do at the bar. Everything is made fresh and they're handmade from scratch. I'm disappointed. I never tried your empanadas.

Paki:

I didn't even know you had empanadas there. I'm really mad at myself, because I love empanadas.

Adam:

Okay, yeah, I'm pretty proud of those. Okay, I worked together with the chefs for probably about a month putting those all together and it utilizes a lot of stuff that we use in our, in our dining room, you know, in our, in our full service. But then we kind of mix it with a lot of different unique flavors. So you're not getting like your typical empanada when you try the empanadas at a restaurant, um, you're getting like a really interesting, really unique sauce, um, and the fillings inside, I mean it's it's just packed with a lot of flavor.

Chris:

it's really good okay, don't forget the specialty cocktail. What's one of your?

Paki:

favorite.

Adam:

Yes, he's talking to me, I'm gonna eat the drink, yeah well, uh, we were just talking about, um, going from putting something on the menu after having considered it just for a short period of time or a longer period of time. Yeah, so, like we said, the empanadas probably was about a month. Working on those, okay, um, but one of the more popular cocktails at the bar right now is we do a hot honey margarita okay and yeah, that was something that just came to me. One day I mentioned it to my wife.

Adam:

She's oh, I've never even heard of that before yeah okay, we tried it with the staff the next day and we put it on that night already on the menu.

Chris:

So I think the only thing I ever drink, and I don't know. I think I had it first of all at at a Brazilian steakhouse, all you could eat was a caipirinha, the caipirinha national cocktail of Brazil.

Paki:

What is that? What's a caipirinha? I was like sangria while I'm there.

Adam:

What is that? So it's made with a Brazilian sugar cane rum and fresh fruit, so it's fresh muddled fruits. Now, the traditional one is with lime, a little bit of sugar and a sugar cane rum. That's it. We do it with a bunch of different flavors, though, so basically any fruit we have in-house we can make into a caipirinha.

Paki:

Sounds smooth yeah, yeah.

Adam:

So we do with kiwi, we do with strawberry, we do with the lime, of course, and then my personal favorite one is we do with grapes.

Chris:

Oh, that sounds amazing. I'm going to try that out.

Paki:

I'm definitely going to check. You make me hungry. That's like the best summer drink you ever had.

Chris:

That's what's up, man In the summertime, it's so light and refreshing.

Paki:

You do a commercial. He just did the full commercial for you. That sounds amazing. I'm always drinking sangria. I always do the same I love sangria.

Chris:

I got caperinha. Yeah, caperinha is great. I got a caperinha flight to the menu so I could try all the flavors at once.

Paki:

So when you start obviously us being a business podcast, right, we focus on business and culture and kind of how everybody's growing, Like you've been doing this for a while, right? So what's the one thing that you would probably recommend? Or maybe you made a mistake on that. You would probably tweak if you were to start today. What would that be?

Adam:

That's a tough question. It's really kind of hard to think back on that Sure.

Adam:

Like I said when we first opened Different times. Yeah, we were opening right, heading into a recession, and places were closing left and right, and I'd say that one of the things that I didn't do, that I should have done at the beginning, was I should have adapted to that faster. I think I came in more with the mindset of this is what our concept is, this is what we're doing. We had it all planned out. We know how to execute it. Um, we had our price point. Um, that was pretty much set and it was lower, obviously, than what our price point was going to be. Um, and I think I should have adapted a little bit sooner and realized what was going on around, sure, and and maybe, maybe, adjust some of the things that we were looking to do and maybe roll some of those things out later, rather than do everything all at once.

Paki:

Yeah, that's great.

Paki:

I appreciate the honesty, because that's hard to do, especially when you're trying to scale. So it makes a lot of sense. What would you say? With us being Vegas Circle? It seems like your dad has been a huge impact for you as far as being in your circle and mentorship and teaching you the the business and in the ropes of everything. But who else is in your circle that maybe was able to speak in your life or give you some nuggets or things along those lines to be able to help you maybe go to the next level or keep everything together in a way? What would you say? That would be Dr.

Adam:

Again, we're a family business. So I have that support from my family, which has been big.

Adam:

So I'd say you know it's my family you know my father, my mother, my brother, you know we're all in the industry. My brother is open restaurants doing consulting as well. So you know, when I have questions on something or have some ideas that I like to get a fresh perspective, sometimes I'll talk with him about it and then my wife comes from a completely different angle. So you know, I really get a lot of different perspectives just from inside the family, which helps a lot.

Paki:

Yeah, what's one lesson you learned from your father?

Adam:

That's tough, because I learned a lot.

Paki:

Like I said.

Adam:

I learned a lot growing up in the restaurant business. I'd say one of the biggest lessons that I learned is not to make myself bigger than what the business is.

Paki:

Okay.

Adam:

And I think that's what's helped us a lot with longevity in this business and my father for so long in New York. That's powerful.

Paki:

Yeah, what's the plans for via Brazil Would you cause? Right now, it's obviously probably probably on this, not franchise or anything like that. Is the plan to open up other restaurants in Vegas with all the growth that we've been having happening, or continue to keep strategizing on the current, you know, location?

Adam:

You know we're going to keep obviously working on the space that we have. You know, like I said, we're always, you know, adding things, always adapting, yeah, but we definitely have interest in expanding out to other ideas, other concepts. Sure, like I said, we've been working on with the empanadas at the bar. You know things like that that we'd like to get into some different spaces.

Paki:

That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, I definitely got to check this drink out there. That you said out there. That sounds amazing. It seems like definitely to get in that space.

Chris:

I'm going to try to go make one tonight. Yeah, that sounds wild man.

Paki:

He's got to get in business for yourself and even take the leap A lot of the times. What's one nugget you would leave for one of our listeners that, um, you know, maybe they're thinking about opening a restaurant, but they think about getting into business for themselves. What would you share with them of maybe that would help them? You know, jump in and actually do it.

Adam:

Say. The first thing is you got to believe in yourself. You have to have the confidence and believe that your idea, whatever it is, is going to be a success. And then you got to work hard to make it that and, like I said, it starts with that belief. If you really believe it, you keep pushing and you keep trying until you get where you want to go. But at the same point you got to realize that you don't know everything and you got to take advice from other people and you got to realize what other people have to say or what you could learn from them that could help you along your way.

Paki:

I agree, we always ask all of our guests about restaurants in general, so I'm curious for you so when you're not eating at your restaurant, where, where do you eat at? Could you give us one, one gem of a restaurant, maybe a hole in the wall or something that you and your and Anna like?

Adam:

coming from New York, I'm very big on Italian restaurants, so when I go out, I don't want to eat steak. Okay, I stay away from steak houses. Yeah, um, I'll usually opt towards going to an Italian restaurant. Okay, um, one of my favorite Italian restaurants we've been going to for quite a while was a Scarpetta at the at the cosmopolitan Awesome.

Paki:

Okay, I don't think we've ever been to Scott Scarpetta before, so I got to definitely check that. I don't think anybody's mentioned that before. So shout out to Scott I love Italian food. I think I was Italian in another life man, so I love, love Italian food. So that's great. What else do you want to leave us? Leave us on anything we forgot to ask you at all that you want to share.

Adam:

Well, you had mentioned about different things that we're doing and how we adapt and add things. So we actually have a event coming up soon. On March 5th, we're doing a paint and sip kind of event. So since we mentioned a couple of things, I might as well throw that in there. We're going to be teaching people how to make the traditional Brazilian drink, the caperinha.

Paki:

Oh nice. Oh, that's awesome. We'd rather show up for that. We'd rather show up for that. For sure, that sounds amazing.

Adam:

So we're going to have the customers come in. We're going to show them how to make that drink.

Paki:

That's excellent.

Adam:

We're going to include some food from the salad bar as well. Okay, and then we have a well-known professional local painter named.

Paki:

Alexander Franco is going to be there teaching people how to do some painting after that. You know that's actually a great concept to do. We did that recently and I actually really enjoyed it. It kind of gets your mind off of, you know, the stress of life and the noise and everything. So that's a hell of an idea.

Paki:

It actually makes you proud too, Like when you could finish it yeah it does, man and I'm not not just saying I actually really want to do that again is uh, it's amazing that you guys are doing at your restaurant and you guys got a big space. Man, I forgot to ask you how big is your square footage there, because you got banquet space and the whole nine, so how big is the square footage?

Adam:

yeah, we have a large place, it's uh just under 10 000 square feet. Oh, it is that big okay I didn't realize it was that big. Okay, we have, uh, we have two private dining spaces there, okay, so we can hold up to 150 people just in the private dining area, wow, okay.

Paki:

Well, pay attention to these guys. But I'm definitely going to have to check out that March 5th event that you do. So you said it's a paint and sip event and you guys are going to start marketing it pretty soon, absolutely Okay.

Adam:

Awesome man. So we'll be doing that at 5 o'clock, march 5th. Okay, it's $60 a person. It's going to include, like I said, it's going to include the drink class, that's not bad Get those caipirinhas started get the liquid courage working and help with that painting.

Paki:

That makes it right, man. That's awesome, man. Well, we appreciate you hanging out with us, man.

Adam:

What's the social handle for Via Brazil, brazil or Vegas, brazil or?

Paki:

Vegas. Check them out, excellent food, and I appreciate you, adam, for coming on. Man, you can check us out at VegasCircuitcom, so subscribe with us, man. So we appreciate your time, man. Thank you very much.

Adam:

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Paki:

Awesome, good stuff.