Walking in Memphis in Flats

I was off Monday for MLKJ Day, so Shane, my mom, my sister and I finally ventured out to Texas de Brazil to celebrate me passing my CBF.  I won’t bore you with all the details, but it’s a certification for people in the Credit field.  It’s the second of my certifications for work, and I will be taking my last one this May in Vegas.  It ended up being sunny that day but really chilly so we bundled up, and I actually wore flats since I wasn’t sure how much walking we would be doing.  And don’t worry, I did explain to Shane the montrosity of wearing his Nike’s with jeans, and he usually doesn’t make this mistake 99.99% of the time.  Side note, but Shane just started rolfing this week, and he is finally going to take my advice and try low to no support minimalist running shoes!!  I’m crossing my fingers that he’ll get used to them and love them.  He’s been wear bricks Nike’s for his ENTIRE life!  I usually try to eat at more locally owned restaurants and not chain restaurants just to help support Memphis, but oh my goodness Texas de Brazil is so good.  It is one of my favorite restaurants.  I was worried I would go crazy in there and stuff myself with all their good food, but this time I actually tried a different tactic.  I did go to the salad bar first and fix my plate with with some brussel sprouts, olives, artichoke hearts and sundried tomatoes.  As soon as I got back to the table, I immediately turned my card over to green so the gauchos would start bringing out the meat.  At first my family thought I was crazy and told me I’d be full in no time, but I think doing this turned out much better.  I actually ate my meat and vegetables together like a real meal instead of filling up on the salad bar first and then trying to stuff myself with meat afterwards just to make sure I got my money’s worth (yeah, that’s what she said.)  I ended up getting comfortably full, and that is probably the first time that has ever happened at Texas de Brazil!  If you’ve never been to one of their locations, you pay one price for all you can eat salad bar (which has much, more more than just salad), a huge variety of meats, fried bananas and mashed potatoes.  Since we went at lunch, dessert was included too.  Since I’ve been doing really well on sticking with my paleo/primal diet, I skipped all the starches and the dessert, and I don’t feel deprived.  Especially since I got as much sirloin and veggies that I wanted.  I’m definitely a meat, fruit and veggie kind of girl anyways.  What are your favorite restaurants to eat at?