Many of the usual suspects (@DaveCook@Saregama@SteveR@Ike & @vinouspleasure) trekked uptown to Mama Africa on W. 125th. The staff pushed three tables together, which seemed like an excessive amount of real estate for us - enough for eight. But the plates are big, and we ordered a fair number of them.
The counter person told us what was available from the menu that day - it seemed like about 30%, but a good variety. We put in our order around 1pm and were advised that the thiebou djeun (fish with jollof rice) would take a half hour. No problem, since we figured they would just bring out the other stuff first. Mais non! Everything came more or less together. After about 70 minutes. Long enough to sample all the exotic juices and work up a healthy appetite.
Everyone was very excited to try the juice! Tamarind, baobab (creamy like a yogurt shake), ginger (my fave) and hibiscus.
Chrysanthemum salad — a nice caesar, probably the table favorite
Tonnato vitello — fine but lacking something
Chicken scarpariello — juicy chicken, missing the scarpariello bit
Lasagna — incredibly salty, style over substance. Came with garlic bread.
Broccoli rabe — very good
Tiramisu — excellent, not traditional but very delicious
The salad and tiramisu would have made a good meal on their own!
When I was looking up what we ate, I was wondering whether the couscous-like side was attieke / cassava semolina / cassava couscous, or whether it was thiakry / millet couscous (which was also in its pudding form in the fridge), because I didn’t taste the fermented flavor that is supposed to be distinctive of attieke.
The mix of meats and seafood in the mixed stew with okra / Soup Kandja was interesting, and it was the most intensely flavored and spiced dish offered (also the only saucy one).
My favorite bite was the spiced rice served with the meat platter / Thiebou Yapp (very different in spicing than the one with the fish platter / Thiebou Djeun).
At the end, I realized we never did get the akra / accra / fritters that were ready behind the counter.
The juices we tided ourselves over with were interesting. I liked the ginger and the hibiscus. Even better diluted a bit with plain water or seltzer.
They feature their fresh pastas in a set meal that includes an appetizer, pasta, and dessert. I think we stumbled a bit on the app course but recovered nicely on pasta and dessert.
Very warm service, and not at all rushed even though they warn you about time at the table.
Apps:
Beet salad with ricotta and chickpeas — nice but unremarkable.
Fava bean purée with dandelion greens — this would have been better as a side, gave a nice bitter but creamy note.
Octopus salad with white beans & fennel — my favorite of the apps, nicely cooked and seasoned.
Pastas:
Maccheroncini / burnt wheat pasta with duck confit — quite unusual, and quite tasty. A good foil to the other two.
Tonnarelli with scallops and cherry tomatoes in a lobster reduction — I wasn’t expecting bay scallops here, but they were perfectly cooked, and the pasta shape and sauce was my favorite of the night.
Saffron-seasoned Malloreddus with sausage & tomato — I couldn’t discern the saffron because the tomato sauce was intense, plus sausage, but this was somebody else’s favorite.
Dessert:
Tiramisu — pretty classic
Semifreddo — very nice
Cantucci — this was a silly choice, but they gave us an extra dessert anyway so it didn’t matter
Frozen white chocolate mousse cake — this was the extra, and it was my favorite sweet bite
Banchan – all really good, my favorites were the mung bean jelly (shocker, because I haven’t eaten much of this ever), the stew, the omelette, and the rice cake (which I also don’t usually like much):
The pork was my favorite too, really close to the delicious, spicier version we get from the Korean stall at HMart in Hartsdale. Doesn’t seem like it’d be too hard to replicate at home; I might give it a try.
Meanwhile, our local movie theater in Florida has started offering self-serve popcorn from a large, impressively engineered dispenser. Naturally, I stuck my head under it and asked the 16-year-old attendant if we could try it out. He laughed and said, “Go for it,” but for some reason I couldn’t convince you know who to press the button.
My only nit with Kisa was their self-serve coffee machine was way too small for the same kind of dispensing mischief. I’m sure you and @DaveCook would’ve had a blast operating those buttons
Okay, first of all — now I really want that spicy pork from HMart. I swear the best food always comes from those unassuming stalls tucked in the corner. Definitely let me know how your home version turns out — if you nail it, I’m gonna need that recipe.
Also, the image of you trying to popcorn-shower yourself at a movie theater is elite behavior. I’m surprised “you know who” didn’t cave — that feels like peak chaos you’d both normally be on board for. Maybe the coffee machine at Kisa just lacked the same level of engineering drama?
If Dave had been there, I have zero doubt buttons would’ve been pressed and boundaries thoroughly tested.
San Carlo Osteria Piemonte in Soho. Much more impressive than my lunch there 10 years ago. To me Piedmont is the best food region in Italy, and this place might be the best representative we have even though it feels very touristy. This is the most Piedmontese menu I’ve seen in NYC.
Out of the 4 dishes we tried, 75% success rate. The lone miss, the Fassona beef tartare, wasnt much of a miss really. Its just not quite as Piedmont quality as the other dishes. It was a little sloppy, and I didnt care for the sweetness from the black garlic puree mixed in. But overall not bad.
The Vitello Tonnato, Tajarin with rabbit ragu and Agnolotti del Plin were outstanding and not very far from what we had in Piedmont many times.
The only thing that doesnt do it for me in this region is the desserts. Found around the corner an excellent newish gelato place called Rivareno. Looks like a Milan based chain. Good selection of flavors hard to find here including coincidentally Piedmontese
Danny & Coop’s Cheesesteaks (East Village) - Thankfully Bradley Cooper wasnt there to make mine. I think he quit after 10 minutes. The hype is indeed real. Best I’ve had in NYC and fairly close to half sister Angelo’s Pizzeria in Philly, tho its been a few years since I’ve been. At Angelo’s you can customize, not so much here. Solid sesame Hoagie, Cooper Sharp Cheese (no relations), and fried onions blends in very nicely with the meat. The only decision I had to make was whether to add hot or sweet peppers on the side, and whether to share it (I did). It’s a good size, fully loaded beast. Recommend!
@Saregama not on point but I just purchased some pressed ginger/lemon/pineapple juice called Suja Ginger Love which is really intense and excellent (I am drinking it diluted with water, one small bottle makes 4 big glasses of drink) at Costco, which is selling it by the 6 10.5 oz bottle case for $10 or so(on sale). A great deal and i was pleased to find it was available from Costco online delivery by instacart. I think this delivery service is a new thing here and I wound up ordering $100 worth of stuff including a chicken, beer and canned beans that I would have otherwise had to drive for in a car. I guess I should link this to the Costco thread, but the juice is great and the Instacart thing is super.
yes we like the costco chicken. at $5 a terrific deal for a perfectly cooked meaty bird that gives the 2 of us several meals. We have not used food delivery services (fresh direct etc) in the past, so I am a little leery about buying a cooked chicken in hot weather this way, but we will see how it arrives this morning.
My cousin was in town and wanted to go to Corner Bistro, a place I have never been ‘cause I don’t eat burgers. I got an egg, cheese and avocado sandwich, which was $10 but is really two sandwiches, so kind of a bargain, actually. Standard issue fries, super nice service.
The bottom of the open half in the pic got a little soggy. I solved the issue by giving my daughter that half. The handing was so emotional that I forgot to give her the hot peppers side
not to geek out, but there’s a healthy debate around almoroso (squidgier) vs sarcone (more like Italian bread). I believe Danny and Coops, like Angelo’s, are baking their own bread.
Over the years, we only had two clients in Philly, so my cheesesteak research was limited. Eventually, I discovered I could actually stay awake after lunch if I had a DiNic’s roast pork with broccoli rabe, so that became my go-to during work hours. Still, I always picked up a cheesesteak for the Amtrak ride back to New York, pretty much guaranteed me a seat to myself
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