Danbury Brazilian Food and Portuguese Cooking

Danbury Brazilian food is a major part of the city's table, because Danbury has a sizeable Brazilian and Portuguese-speaking community. Restaurants, bakeries and markets serve grilled meats, rice and beans, savory pastries and sweets that travelers from Brazil and Portugal would know. Here are the dishes and how to order them.

If you have never tried these cuisines, Danbury is a friendly place to start.

The community is long established. Families arrived over several decades, opened shops and restaurants, and built churches and clubs. Today, many of the dishes on offer are the ones made at home on a Sunday, which is why they taste like they do.

What is Danbury Brazilian food?

A cuisine built around rice, beans, grilled meat, cassava and fresh vegetables. A typical plate has rice and black beans, a grilled steak or chicken, a salad and a spoon of toasted cassava flour. Weekend feijoada, a black bean and pork stew, is a classic in many homes and restaurants. Savory pastries, cheese bread and fried snacks fill the counters.

Brazil is a large country, and its regional dishes vary from the south to the northeast.

Cooks from Minas Gerais make cheese bread and slow stews. Cooks from Bahia use palm oil and coconut milk. Cooks from the south grill meat over charcoal. A Danbury menu may include several of these at once, and the server can tell you which is which.

What is Portuguese food in Danbury like?

Hearty and seafood-rich. Salted cod, grilled sardines, roast chicken, soups and cured sausages appear on Portuguese menus, along with rice and potatoes. Custard tarts and sweet breads are common at bakeries. The two cuisines share ingredients and history but taste distinct.

Portuguese and Brazilian communities live side by side in the city, and many restaurants cover both.

On a weekend, you may hear Portuguese spoken at every table. Do not be shy about asking questions. Most owners are proud of their food and glad to explain it, and a little curiosity is repaid with a better meal.

What is a rodizio, and what about grilled meats?

A rodizio is a style of service in which waiters carry skewers of grilled meat around the room and slice it at your table. Some restaurants offer it, and others serve grilled meats by the plate or by weight at a buffet. Ask which style a place uses, and ask about the salad bar and sides, which are part of the experience.

Come hungry, and pace yourself. Turn your marker to signal when to stop, if the place uses one.

For families, a plate to share is easier than a rodizio, and children usually like rice, beans and fried plantains. Ask for a mild sauce and keep the hot one on the side. Dessert is often a custard or a coconut sweet, and a small portion is enough.

What are rice, beans and farofa?

The core of the plate. Rice is steamed and fluffy, beans are cooked until creamy, and farofa is toasted cassava flour with butter, bacon or onion, sprinkled over the top. Fried plantains, collard greens and a spicy sauce often sit alongside. Together they make a balanced meal.

Try a bite of everything on the fork, as locals do.

Leftovers travel well. Ask for a box, and the rice and beans taste even better the next day. A plate shared between two is often enough for lunch the following day.

Is there a Brazilian bakery and sweets scene?

Yes. Bakeries sell cheese bread, savory turnovers, coconut sweets and cakes. A cup of strong coffee and a pastry is a common mid-morning break. Sweets are made in small batches, so selection varies by the day.

See the city restaurants guide for the wider downtown.

How do you order if you are new to the cuisine?

Ask the server for their favorite dish, and ask what is traditional on a weekend. Start with a plate of the day, which often comes with rice, beans and a protein. Order a drink you do not know, such as a fresh juice or a guarana soda. Be curious and polite, and servers will guide you.

In the Mosey app, a rater can add the cuisine tags for Brazilian or Portuguese, and a diner can look for them in the Find sheet. Tags describe a visit, not a policy, so confirm before you go.

How do you rate a regional dish?

Stars for the place, then the dish by its name: "feijoada, Saturday, rice and greens, rich". Add what you learned. If you went with friends, tag them and they can add their own rating of the same meal.

Your own highest-rated places are kept in a list called Top Rated.

Where next from the table?

The US food guides cover the rest of the country, and the pizza page covers another side of Danbury's food.

Heading somewhere else in Connecticut? The Food in Connecticut page links the rest.

Next time a plate of rice and beans arrives, open the Mosey app, rate the dish by its name and build a list called Danbury on a plate.