Samba Shack

This place is no longer at D Street Noshery but their stuff was good when it lasted. I think they might still do catering.

We ended up here after our dog gyro-​blocked us with her adorable happy dance, heavy with the «you do not get to abandon me right now, not after a full work week, not happening» undertones, and left us looking for dog friendly options.
We hit up the D-​Street pod, grabbed an arepa next door and a small plate of the feijoada to steal bites from each. The feijoada won, for me at least. It hit the spot. It’s the perfect meal. A little rice, some meat, beans, some veggies. We got the small portion because we were sharing dishes, but if I were eating solo it would be the perfect sized dinner.
What’s more, the cart is located in a great pod. Grab dinner from the Samba Shack, a couple pie holes or a scoop from Ice Works, wash it down with a beer or two from Captured By Porches — do it all for ~$ 15. Bring friends, mix and match your food adventures. It’s a great set up, tons of space for eating and enjoying your beer. A perfect spot to start off a summer night in SE.

Who knew so much South American goodness could come from this cart and its next door neighbor.
There are just a few tasty dishes: feijoada, fish muqueca and açaí, plus rotating specials.
The feijoada is a black bean stew of shredded pork and sausage, which gives it an intense smoky flavor, with a toping of toasted yucca flour. It’s served with rice, and just slightly wilted collards with a light oil and lemon juice dressing. It comes with pork rinds as a garnish, I skip them.
The fish muqueca is whitefish and shrimp flavored by a red orange palm oil from Brazil and onions, sweet peppers, tomatoes and a touch of coconut milk, served with rice and toasted yucca flour on the top.
Both are extremely tasty, not too heavy or hot pepper spiced and come in a small and large size.
The açaí bowl is a meal in itself. It’s an açaí smoothy, with chunks of banana and a sprinkling of granola in a bowl. It makes a great desert (or breakfast), but if you are having the other dishes, one person would find it a large portion. They do have something similar in a cup that would be much easier to take home as leftovers.
Captured by Porches brew truck is often open if you would like a tasty micro in a mason jar.
It was great to talk to the cart owner about Brazil, the culture, different parts of the country and traditional Brazilian ingredients. It is the unofficial Brazilian embassy in Portland if you need to find the community. This cart is serving a unique cuisine, made with quality.

For such a little food cart, the Brazilian dishes served here are amazingly good.
Feijoada (stew) is their speciality. However, I ordered a different dish comprised of sausage, red beans, collard greens, rice and fried yucca flour. The sausage was delicious — sweet and aromatic (almost jasmine like). I especially liked how the collard greens were sliced into tidy thin strips. The fried yucca flour is interesting because at first glance, you might think it is polenta.
Today, as a special, they were selling a Heart of Palm Biscuit for $ 3. Upon initial inspection, you might think this is just a muffin. But no, it is not just a muffin. Take a bite. The inside of the heated muffin is loaded with diced heart of palms, onion and tomato. Very good. The flavor of palm heart reminded me just a bit of artichoke heart.