Do You Want to Get Slayed by a Stew?

Feijoada is the glorious, long-cooked, ultradense, ultrabeautiful, ultra-hard-core pig stew of Brazil. Typically, your classic feijoada will include pork ribs, pork loin, pig’s tail, pig’s ears, pig’s trotters, spicy pork sausage, fresh linguiça, cured linguiça, and beef jerky. Oh—and beans and greens.

After going a little crazy in the brain for feijoada, rworange tried out three versions of the dish in the Bay Area, which may be a little more than one human should ever be allowed to have in a single month. We pray for her gastrointestinal integrity.

Her clear favorite is 25 West’s. It’s not only the best Brazilian dish she’s had in San Francisco—it’s one of the best dishes she’s had in the Bay Area period. “The purple black beans were loaded with sausage and long-cooked pig parts. The pork tasted like everything good about pig.” And, astoundingly, for all this pork energy, it’s not really that greasy—just rich, tasty, and satisfying. “On a cold rainy day I can’t think of a better dish.”

You get pig’s foot. You get some neck bone that you suck the meat off of. You get crispy bits of bacon. And you get huge hunks of pork, dyed purple-black by the beans.

For those of you who are creeped out by the more unusual pig parts, you may want to try Brazil Café’s feijoada. It’s tasty, but not in the same class as the 25 West version. It does have a noticeable lack of feet, tail, or neck, though. Wusses.

25 West [East Bay]
25 W. Richmond Avenue, Richmond
510-237-7585
Location

Brazil Café [East Bay]
1983 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley
510-845-8011

Board Links: Death by feijoada crawl part 1 – 25 West Brazil Restaurant … mercy !!!
Death by feijoada crawl part 2 – Nino’s Pizzeria and Brazilian Restaurant
Death by feijoada crawl part 3 – Brazil Café