We’ve said it many times before that The Bronx’s greatest resource is its people and diversity.
And it’s that very diversity that gives our borough an amazing yet underrated food scene.
The Bronx is home to one of the largest populations of African immigrants in the country, particularly from West African countries.
Five Bronx restaurants made the cut in an article over at Eater on NYC’s West African food scene.
So which ones made the cut?
Eater writes:
1. Ebe Ye Yie
2364 Jerome Ave
Feast on tuo zaafi (a mash of pounded maize or millet) with a stew of mutton and dried fish, thickened with the crushed melon seeds known as egusi. A great cow foot soup is also available, along with the usual peanut and okra stews.
2. Papaye
2300 Grand Concourse
…Papaye is one of the most mainstream West African restaurants in town…Try the mashed rice called omo tuo, along with a stew of goat in peanut butter sauce.
3. Bognan
590 E 169th St
A colorful menu posted on the wall offers abe nkwan (a palm nut sauce with goat), okra sauce with fish, and a very light peanut sauce, in addition to the stray dish from the Ivory Coast or Ghana. All sauces can be matched with kneaded starches like banku (fermented cornmeal) or fufu (a mixture of white yam and plantain).
4. Grin
454 E 168th St
This small rustic establishment features the cooking of Cote D’Ivoire (the Ivory Coast), including the national dish of attieke (pronounced “ah-check-ay”), which is a coarsely textured manioc stodge with a delightfully sour flavor. It’s served with a relish or two and a cube of salty Maggi.
5. Fouta
1762 Westchester Ave
The interior has a clubhouse feel, and men sit around in robes and skullcaps eating bowls of fluffy white polished rice and sauce de feuilles made with sweet potato leaf, or lamb mafe decorated with a single scotch bonnet pepper.
Make sure you head over to Eater and check out the other 9 West African restaurants across NYC they recommend!!
