IN THIS ECONOMY,  WHY WOULD A BRAZILIAN STEAKHOUSE CONCEPT COME TO LAS VEGAS?

I asked the CEO that question the other night - between skewers of beef and lamb, during a media night gathering.

With the Las Vegas economy still in the doldrums, forcing chefs to greener pastures, why would they come here?

Fogo de Chao is a high end restaurant chain, a Brazilian Steakhouse concept.

For starters, the CEO said "they are sold on Las Vegas, with its convention business, and we wanted in here since 2005 with 17 of their restaurants in the USA and seven in Brazil."

"We wanted the right location, the right price and the right time." "But the market was so crazy by 2008 we couldn't do a deal."

Late last year the deal was resurrected and they got what they were looking for.

"We had 30 other cities that wanted us but we wanted Las Vegas." "We are going to be a great addition to the city."

Irv