Casa - Review

Intro
Casa - Highly Recommended
72 Bedford St, NY 10014
at Commerce St
Phone: 212-366-9410

After a long ass morning of training Brazilian jiu-jitsu, I felt like I wanted some Brazilian cuisine for dinner. My first time having Brazilian food and man I was totally missing out. Nothing fancy, but just phenomenal comfort food. Overall, I give the restaurant an 86/100.

My Menu

1) Caldo Verde Com Linguiça **
2) Feijoada ***
3) File de Peixe Com Banana Frita E Abobrinha Refogada *
4) Passion Fruit Caipirinha **
5) Passion Fruit

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way
* Good
** Great
*** What the F – in a good way

Dish Comments
1) A soup that was very surprising to me. Nice subtle potato flavor and an incredibly smooth texture. The linguiça was spectacular - juicy, smoky, flavorful. The collards greens added a nice texture and flavor. This seems similar to the Portugese Kale soup - hearty greens and sausage - I guess makes sense since Brazil was a colony of Portugal way back when.
2) The national dish of Brazil. Basically a stew of beans, pork belly, short ribs, linguiça, and some other cuts of meat. A complete what the f moment. Such a feel good dish with phenomenal flavor and incredibly tender meats. I almost cried after the first bite of pork belly. Comes with sides of rice, pickled onions, farofa, oranges, and collard greens (crunchy and great) - all completely complemented the rich stew. Usually this dish is made with cheaper cuts of meats (e.g. pig ears, tails, snouts) like many of the best Italian and Chinese dishes. This dish was still great, but I need to find one with the cheaper cuts of meats.
3) A nice light dish. Pan seared fish that was juicy with great flavor. Simple and delicious with a squeeze of lemon. Comes with a side of slightly sauteed zucchini and a ridiculously good roasted banana - kinda like the cuban style plantains except it's served whole and more subtly sweet with no crispy caramelization.
4) The best caipirinha I've ever had. Slightly sweet, sour, and great with the feijoada.
5) Fresh passion fruit juice, but it was very sour with absolutely no sugar.

Overall Restaurant Experience (86/100)

• Food 8.7/10 – First time for Brazilian food and I definitely want some more. Amazing comfort food.
  
• Service 7.9/10 – Food took a while to come out, but the waitress was generally nice. The waitresses sounded like they were Brazilian.
  
• Atmosphere 8.3/10 – Like all the restaurants on Bedford (which most kick ars), a super tiny quaint place. White walls and mirrors with large windows facing the street. Seats around 20 people, which means that you're almost sharing another table with other people. Crowd consisted of groups of 6 and some couples - the noise level is very loud. Got there at 8pm on a Saturday with no reservations and got in right away - we were lucky though since there was a line and the place was packed.
  
• Price 8.8/10 – About $30 a head which I thought was a great price point for such good food. Majority of the entrees are under $20 - feijoada was $22. Portions are pretty big, as I was still stuffed the next morning.
  

Closing Comments
Can't wait to go back and order a lot more food, but I definitely want the feijoada again. No pictures again, since it was really dark and didn't want to blind the people sitting next to us...