West Africans living in New York. Guineans, Malians, Ghanaians, Nigerians, and Ivory Coasters being the main groups. Gradually the eating establishments of these people have grown.
Cooking from this restaurants includes okra and black-eyed-pea-based dishes. Senegalese cheb (a national dish of fish and vegetables over flavored rice), mafe (peanut sauce with lamb or chicken), and yassa (fish or chicken with a mustard-onion relish).
Here Is The Top Five
1. Maima's -- Liberian, south of downtown Jamaica.106-47 Guy R. Brewer Boulevard, Queens, 718-206-3538
2. Fatima -- Guinean, Crown Heights establishment. 789 Franklin Avenue, Brooklyn, no phone
3. Accra -- Ghanaian, (named after the capital). 2041 Davidson Avenue, Bronx, 718-584-8300
4. Dibiterie Cheikh -- Senegalese is named after the founder of the Sufi-based Marabout branch of Islam. "Dibiterie," refers to a place specializing in charcoal-grilled lamb chops. 231 West 116th Street, 212-663-0717
5. La Galette -- Senegalese. 177 East 100th Street, 212-410-6361
You Are Looking For The Best West African Restaurant In New York
You live or are visiting Harlem, Clinton Hill, University Heights, Flatbush, and Hollis, and White Plains Road in the Bronx. You want a restaurant that serves fried plantain with dipping sauce, fish turnovers, dry rice" (cooked with okra and bitter ball -- a type of eggplant) and shito.
You are looking for cassava-leaf or potato-leaf sauces, with lamb or beef, and pima the scotch-bonnet sauce. There are more restaurants.
Completing The Top Ten List
6. Buka -- Nigerian, located Clinton Hill and Bed-Stuy. 946 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, 347-763-0619
7. Le Grand Dakar -- Senegalese. 285 Grand Avenue, Brooklyn, 718-398-8900
8. Papaye -- Ghanaian. 2300 Grand Concourse, Bronx, 718-676-0771
9. B.B. African-American -- Guinea and Sierra Leone, south of the Bronx Expressway, B.B. 1715 Webster Avenue, Bronx, 718-731-7992
10. Joloff -- Senegalese Clinton Hill. 930 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, 718-636-4011
West Africa Cooks
Editor
Source
Robert Sietsema
Food critic for the Village Voice