Meat-loving students can feel right at home with Casa’s varied Brazilian offerings

While Brazilian models make millions off of their slim bodies, the rest of the country is concerned with a more substantial matter—steak. Meat is one of Brazil’s greatest culinary assets, so it’s no wonder its steak houses have reached international fame.

Yet if indulging in endless protein gluttony—the trademark feature of churrascarias—seems overbearing, Casa, located in the depths of the West Village, provides a great alternative. Meaning “house” in Portuguese, Casa is the most genuine encounter students can have with home-cooked Brazilian food in the city. Nestled among the quaint townhouses on the corner of Bedford and Commerce streets, antique lanterns grace the restaurant’s discreet white brick wall exterior. By the entrance, a large window reveals a tiny, swarming dining room that could easily be mistaken for a residential dinner party.

The owner, Jupira Lee, has succeeded in crafting a nostalgic menu filled with dishes from different regions of Brazil, all prepared with the relative accuracy and care expected from a home-cooked meal. A basket of fried pastries stuffed with chicken, shrimp, or mild and irresistibly stringy melted cheese is the perfect introduction to this Brazilian experience.

Then comes the meat. Ranging from a hearty portion of tender Brazilian prime-cut steak to bife acebolado—a long, thin slice of pan-fried steak with sautéed onions—carnivorous options appear boundless. The moqueca, a creamy, coconut milk-based seafood stew, offers a lighter insight into Northern Brazilian cuisine. Though the stew could be more generously endowed with shrimp, squid, and chunks of grouper and mahi mahi, side dishes will compensate for any disappointments.

Choose from a mound of moist, white rice cooked with bits of broccoli, or fried yucca sticks resembling a denser—and, dare I say, more delectable—version of French fries, or the West African-influenced farofa. The latter is a dry, toasted manioc flour mixture enlivened with tomato, onions, and bacon, which can be jumbled with rice and beans for a more authentic bite.

The spotlight, however, is reserved for the weekend brunch. Brazil’s foremost staple dish, feijoada, is an amalgam of pork parts encompassing ribs, sausage, and pork belly—to name only a few—slowly cooked in a black bean broth. White rice, farofa, and sautéed collard greens naturally accompany the dish, which two diners can easily share. Feijoada’s heavy nature suits a voracious winter appetite well, especially when washed down with a strong caipirinha—a Brazilian cocktail consisting of cachaça, sugar and lime.

After all that meat is cleared, the path of least resistance is towards the smooth, tangy passion fruit mousse. For a richer option, try the brigadeiros, or tiny chocolate balls made with condensed milk and studded with chocolate sprinkles. Brigadeiros are typically served at birthday parties, but doesn’t a meal like this warrant such a festive ending?