Pork Feijoada at Birchwood Cafe

"Brazilian black bean stew with smoked ham, bacon, roasted pork shoulder and spiced sausage served with braised greens, fried plantains, cashews and jicama relish, jasmine rice and Birchwood banana bread."

That was the description for the Pork Feijoada scrawled on the constantly changing menu chalkboard at Birchwood Cafe. I had to immediately enter it on my phone and post to BiteandChew so I would remember it, but after eating this stew, it was hard to forget. I find that Birchwood is one of the few restaurants that doesn't need to "romance" the descriptions of its menu items. Their creations are so intriguing, they need only to tell you what's in the dish to get you excited - no sex-ing up of the menu required.

Feijoada is a traditional take on pork and beans in Portugal and Brazil. Birchwood prepared the dish in the Brazilian tradition down to their inspiration for the sides of greens and fried plantains. According to Wikipedia, it is traditionally washed down by cachaça, caipirinha or beer (only beer was on offer at Birchwood). Don't expect to go there looking for it though - their menu changes weekly and I have never seen one of their entrees on the menu repeated, so they may have already moved on to the next adventure.