The Room
Esplanada Grill opened on Haddock Lobo in 1985 — one of the first serious Argentine-style steakhouses in São Paulo, and four decades on, one of the most consistent business-lunch addresses in the Itaim/Jardins corridor. The room sits in a converted ground-floor space with a long wood-fired grill visible from the dining room, a marble bar at the entrance, and one hundred seats across the main dining room and a side terrace.
The interior is Argentine-steakhouse house style. Brick walls, framed black-and-white photographs of Argentine pampas, candle lamps on every table, and the obligatory cattle-brand iron above the bar. The grill at the back is partly visible through a glass wall and is the working centre of the kitchen. The terrace at the side, under a covered awning, is the seat to request for weekday lunch.
Esplanada draws an old-São-Paulo crowd — career executives who have been booking the weekday business lunch for two decades, the Saturday-evening Itaim/Jardins set who book the steak-for-two, and the occasional Argentine expat who recognises the chimichurri. The booking window holds at one week. The Sunday lunch service is one of the most generous Argentine Sunday lunches in São Paulo.
The Food
The kitchen runs Argentine-steakhouse classical with the discipline of a four-decade brigade. The signature ojo de bife — bone-in ribeye Argentine-style with chimichurri — is the order to make on a first visit. The bife de chorizo, the entraña, the chorizo Argentino, and the Friday-only asado de tira are the four other dishes that account for most of the kitchen's beef output.
Starters are Argentine-classical — provoleta, empanadas (beef and ham-and-cheese), the obligatory carpaccio. The chimichurri is house-made twice daily and arrives at every table without being asked. Sides hew to steakhouse classics — papas fritas, sautéed spinach, the obligatory grilled provolone — and they are made well enough that the table will reach for them without being asked.
Wine list is Argentine-led with a serious Mendoza Malbec bench, a usable Patagonia Pinot Noir programme, a small Brazilian wine list, and a usable French upper register for the diners who request it. House Malbec carafe at R$65 is honest. Service is steakhouse-Argentine in the right register — career captains who remember regulars by cut, sommeliers who suggest rather than insist.
Best Occasion Fit
Close a Deal: The weekday business lunch at Esplanada is one of the most efficient mid-range deal lunches on Haddock Lobo. The R$165 menu, the carafe of Malbec, the captain who knows when to leave the table alone — Esplanada performs the working lunch the way the neighbourhood expects.
Birthday: Esplanada handles birthdays the way a serious Argentine steakhouse should — a small cachaça from the bar, the bife de chorizo for the table, a candle on the flan, a signed menu the table will keep. The round table at the back holds parties of six to twelve.
Team Dinner: The back room at Esplanada holds parties of ten to twenty without losing the steakhouse warmth. The set menu at R$220 walks the team through provoleta, empanadas, a steak course and dessert. The room handles team dinners the way Itaim regulars expect.