Brazilian restaurant in Medford moderately priced and delicious

Taking a seat at our table at the Oasis restaurant, the first thing I noticed was a pole protruding from a neighboring table. The pole was maybe 18 inches tall. And it was covered in meat. Huge pieces of meat. The night was looking up.

Situated in Medford Square, Oasis bills itself as a Brazilian restaurant specializing in barbecue. About a fifteen minute walk from campus (and a few scant blocks from the Sci-Tech Center), students looking to try something new but not too unfamiliar should find it perfect.

The dining room is nice and the staff keeps a steady stream of Brazilian music flowing from a radio in the corner. It's a bit cramped, but what you would normally expect from such a suburban eatery.

But back to the important stuff: the skewers of meat. Meat on a stick is naturally an attractive novelty so my companions and I certainly needed to try some. The menu offers the "Brazilian B.B.Q." for $15.99, which includes five speared pieces plus salad, rice, beans, fries, and a side known as farofa, which you can read more about later.

Judging from tables around us, this seems to be a popular dish for groups. Everyone can sample a bit of each.

The "Mini Skew" provides two pieces with same side orders for $9.99. The meat choices include sausage, pork, steak, and chicken.

For those who for some reason do not like their food speared on a spike, the menu offers a wide variety of vegetarian, steak, poultry, pork, seafood, and pasta dishes. Some choices are familiar, such as the bourbon and cajun chicken or the fajitas.

To give it more of an authentic tone, much of the menu is written in Portuguese with English translations underneath, although the Salm??o grelhado is helpfully translated as "Salm??o grelhado" so that dish may remain a mystery.

Between us we ordered three types of meat (in skewered form, of course), blackened catfish ($8.99), and fried plantains ($2.49). Most entrees come with a salad, complete with beats and vinegar and oil for a do-it-yourself salad dressing.

The arrival of the main course signified probably the lowest point of the night. Quoted verbatim from the menu, the name of my dinner is "Brazukinha (Mini Skew)" and yet my steak and pork did not come pierced on a miniature sword. What a disappointment!

Fortunately, everything improved from there. The two pieces of meat served with the Mini Skew are enormous; cuts this size would probably run $15 or more each at a steakhouse.

The quality was superb. Although the meat was cruelly unskewered, every piece was juicy and quite flavorful, more so than most Americans would probably expect.

The same can be said about the other meat at the table, a piece of chicken and the catfish. Both were quite good.

These dishes came with a bowl of black beans and a huge pile of rice, also delightfully savory, although mine was undercooked. The "skewers" came with fries and the mysterious farofa.

This intrepid reporter entered Oasis expecting to fill his notebook with discreet notes and instead walked out with merely the word "farofa" scribbled on a blank page because this side order was so interesting. It looks something like a pile of breadcrumbs and tastes about the same.

After some research about farofa (the Brazilian embassy in London's website dedicates a whole page to it), I discovered it is a "simple cassava flour mixed with butter to make it moist and crunchy." The site says it is an acquired taste, and I'd tend to agree.

For such generous and scrumptious helpings the prices are very reasonable. Very few entrees run more than $9 and all the desserts go for $2. Remember to bring your ID because Tufts students receive ten percent off.

The service was excellent with a pleasant staff and speedy food delivery. At one point, someone appeared to be the manager even dropped by to inquire how we were faring.

Those looking for a nightcap will find a rather large selection of desserts, including flan and mousse variations, and alcoholic beverages, although some may be disappointed that the Brazilian restaurant offers very few exotic imported beers.

And for those who don't want to walk to Medford Square, the restaurant runs a delivery service as well.

All in all, the Oasis has a bit of an exotic flavor to it, good especially for those who want some familiar items served in a new way. And on spears.