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Indianapolis Star

INdulge: National dish of Brazil at new Mass Ave spot is best thing I ate in Indy this week

It was a blistering Fourth of July weekend, during which I exercised the full extent of my God-given right as an American to consume a nutritionally indefensible number of grilled meats on assorted buns. That said, man can not live on Hebrew Nationals alone (so I'm told). For this week's edition of INdulge, I swung by a new restaurant in my neighborhood for: Opened just over two years ago in Broad Ripple, Fernando's Mexican and Brazilian Cuisine has quickly made a name for itself with a menu inspired by the home countries of its owners, Elizabeth Fernandez and her husband Cristiano Rodrigues. Rodrigues' motherland gives us feijoada, the national dish of Brazil and a staple food throughout the Portuguese-speaking world. More in food: Historic Indiana tavern, opened in 1934, still 'kind of everybody's place' under new owner Brazilian feijoada (fay-zhwah-dah) is a stew of black beans (feijão is the Portuguese word for bean) and meat, traditionally pork and beef. Fernando's prepares its take with hunks of pork belly simmered to shreds and a scattering of sausage. The restaurant serves a dish called feijoada completa, which pairs the stew with white rice, cooked collard greens, orange slices and a fine powder of toasted cassava root called farafo, to be sprinkled on top for additional flavor and texture. What feijoada lacks in conventional attractiveness, it more than makes up for in flavor. It has the deeply savory taste and concrete-like consistency that make meat-studded stews of the American South so special, while the crunchy collard crinkles and farafo dust add lovely textural contrast. The meal gets an extra bit of pop from the accompanying vinegrete (also called molho a campanha), an acidic Brazilian condiment of minced tomato, onion and bell pepper similar to pico de gallo. At $30, the feijoada at Fernando's is substantially pricier than the dishes typically featured in INdulge, so consider saving this meal for a special occasion or a date night when you're especially invested in impressing your partner (the Broad Ripple Fernando's also serves a lunch portion for $15). The origins of feijoada are, supposedly, much more modest. A popular Brazilian story claims feijoada was created by indigenous and African slaves who added leftover meat to pots of cheap black beans. But many modern scholars argue it's unlikely a large share of the Portuguese settlers who owned slaves would have been altruistic enough to give them even the lowliest cut of livestock. Meat in any form has been a massive luxury for most of human history, which can be easy to forget if you grew up in a relatively prosperous nation where the Arby's '5 for $5' was a thing. Indy food history: These 10 Indianapolis dining institutions are still worth visiting all these years later Today, historians generally agree Brazilian feijoada probably descended from Roman stews that migrated to western and southern Europe, spawning a class of similar delicacies such as French cassoulet and Spanish cocido. Portuguese colonists likely carried their feijoada to Brazil, adapting it to include the black beans and cassava of native Brazilian cuisine. While feijoada's mystique as a dish created by and for the downtrodden doesn't quite hold up to scrutiny, more affordable home-cooked renditions are still common in Brazil. As someone whose cultural upbringing skews much closer to St. Paul, Minn. than São Paulo, I don't have strong feelings about how much feijoada should cost, though the dinner portion at Fernando's certainly isn't for penny pinchers. Personally, I'd be perfectly content to occasionally splurge on a hefty, well-rounded meal that tastes as good as Fernando's' feijoada, though I'll plan my visit a bit better next time. Brazilians typically eat feijoada for lunch on weekends for reasons that became brutally evident to me when I returned to my workday, my very full stomach churning through its recommended daily allowance of about five different nutrients. As several writers have noted over the years, recovering from a feijoada completa is the sort of activity for which you should probably clear your calendar. Where: Fernando's Mexican and Brazilian Cuisine, 834 E. 64th St., (317) 377-4779 and 888 Massachusetts Ave., (317) 771-6653, What: Feijoada, $30 In case that's not your thing: There's plenty of room to experiment or stick to your comfort zone at Fernando's, whose blend of Mexican and Brazilian dishes ranges from familiar American favorites like fajitas and enchiladas ($10 to $20 at lunch and dinner) to lesser-known Brazilian staples like chicken stroganoff ($24) or a dish of stewed chicken and okra called frango com quiabo ($24). Given the higher price point — and quality of food — I suggest taking a leap of faith and asking your server for advice.