Berimbau is a cozy West Village gem serving stellar Brazilian fare like smoky feijoada and cheesy pão de queijo, with a vibrant outdoor dining vibe.
"This Brazilian restaurant has both a front and a back patio, and you should come here for some feijoada and baked-to-order pão de queijo. Be sure to add a caipirinha to your order." - matt tervooren, neha talreja
"Feijoada Just as someone can only be nominated once per category at the Oscars, restaurants can only be highlighted for one dish in this guide. And just like this rule prevented Leo from a The Departed nomination in 2007, it’s keeping Berimbau from occupying multiple spots here. With that said, if you only order one dish at this West Village spot, it should be the feijoada. The slow-simmered bean stew is packed with pork, which has the pull-apart texture you’d expect from stewed meat, and the bark and smoke rings you’d find after a slow-cook in a smoker. Top it with some of the bacon-studded farofa that comes on the side, and you’ll have NYC’s best version of Brazil’s most famous dish." - matt tervooren
"Berimbau was undergoing a complete renovation just as the pandemic hit, but now it has reopened with an extensive outdoor seating area. There the Brazilian classics are rendered in brunchlike fashion, including a very solid rendition of feijoada, the national dish, the delightful cheese balls called pao de queijo, perfect for brunch, and strogonoff in three permutations. The restaurant is open from Sunday to Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and stays open half-an-hour later on Fridays and Saturdays." - Eater Staff
"Berimbau is the best Brazilian restaurant in the city, and they have a garden patio (which is covered when it's cold out) hidden behind their West Village space. Whenever we’re here, we order the bacon-studded farofa, smoky feijoada, a basket of stress ball-sized pão de queijo, and some not-too-sugary caipirinhas for everyone at the table. Groups of more than five people need to email info@beriumbaurestaurant.com for a reservation, but they can accommodate up to 20 people in case your group dinner is more of a group banquet." - hannah albertine, neha talreja, bryan kim
"Feijoada October 24th “Brazilian spots in NYC range from cafes and buffets to all-you-can-eat steakhouses, but there are two things you can find at pretty much all of them - feijoada and, for a solid portion of 2020, me. And after ordering Brazil’s national dish at just about all of the best Brazilian spots in NYC, the version at Berimbau stood out as the best. The various cuts of pork in the slow-simmered bean stew each have drastically different flavors and textures, with pork rib that tastes like it’s been slow-cooked in a smoker, pig ear that has the texture of jerky, pork sausage that adds spice, and pork belly that dissolves as soon as you bite into it. Even bites without any meat give you flashes of a churrasco experience thanks to bacon speckled into the farofa (ground cassava root) that you sprinkle on top.” -Matt Tervooren, Staff Writer" - hannah albertine, nikko duren, hillary reinsberg, arden shore, matt tervooren
