Le Grand Dakar -- Clinton Hill, Brooklyn

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: Clinton Hill is on the north end of what's called "South Brooklyn," which is the large chunk of land that sits to the east and south of Manhattan. Clinton Hill is one of those old neighborhoods built up in the mid- to late-19th century by rich folks who wanted to get away from Manhattan -- so it has some lovely architecture. However, it also has a long history of poverty and disrepair, so, while it is gentrifying ever so slightly (mostly because of the Pratt Institute, which is nearby), it's still kind of a sketchy neighborhood. The restaurant we went to was, I think, part of the gentrification.

Queens Fresser: Yes, it seemed caught between those two aspectrs of the neighborhood. I though it also was meant to cater to the growing Black middle class in Brooklyn. The resaturant was on the most inaccesible New York subway line, the “G.” It was drizzly and we were glad to get into Le Grand Dakar's warm surroundings.

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: And they really were quite warm and welcoming. When we walked in the door, there were a couple of folks seated at the bar at the entrance and they seemed like neighborhood regulars -- or at least friends of the owners.

Queens Fresser: Absolutely, The decor was was all rich, earthy colors and artwork with African themes. We were taken to a darker empty back room, where your joke about finding a place to sit was not understood.

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: No, the waitress was not hip to my charming banter. =) But she was nice (I think I heard her tell the people at the other table, who were speaking French to her, that she was not Senegalese as they expected from the name of the restaurant, but Ghanaian.) I should add -- we went on the early side on a Wednesday, so it may be more action-packed on a weekend at NYC-style dinnertime...which is usually around 8-ish.

Queens Fresser: That's true and the dining room filled up as we ate. The menu was a surprising mix of offerings. I had been expecting a totally Senegalese menu and seeing a lot of things of which I had never heard. But, in fact, there were things as familiar as Jerk Wings and Kafta, all labeled with their countries of origin.

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: So while we were kind of expecting a purely Senegalese restaurant (and I think they sort of market themselves that way), it was more "Pan-African."

Queens Fresser: Yes, and Jamaican…so maybe African and the African diaspora…

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: Good point! Let's get to what we ate. First, we had our requisite liquors. You had a Tusker beer from Kenya and I had a red wine from South Africa called a Pinotage.

Queens Fresser: Yes, the beer was a familiar developing-world lager, similar to Taj, Kingfisher, Tsingtao, etc. It could have been a bit colder.

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: The Pinotage wasn't anything special. Dry and kind of namby-pamby. I'm sure there are wine connoisseurs who will disagree. (I just looked up pinotage on Wikipedia and, apparently, the British Masters of Wine in 1976 said it tasted like "rusty nails.")

Queens Fresser: Rusty nails? Mmm... We had the shrimp and potato fritter from North Senegal, Kafta from Morocco, and Plantain Papillote from Ghana.

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: Also the pastel from N. Senegal. Those were our appetizers. What was your favorite and why?

Queens Fresser: I think my favorite was the pastel, if that was the one that was the dough pockets with tuna served with the spicy sauce. I thought they had an interesting texture. I liked their crunch and the brightness of the sauce. How about you?

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: I liked the pastel, too, though I found the tuna to be overshadowed dramatically by the fried dough that encased it. I have nothing against fried dough, but it didn't do a good job of blending with or highlighting the flavor of the tuna. My favorite was the Kafta -- it had a gorgeous blend of cinnamon and maybe something similarly sweet -- in it.

Queens Fresser: Maybe allspice?

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: Or cardamom? As I mentioned to you, it reminded me of the meat in a Sephardic recipe for stuffed green peppers I had once as a child. In that way, it seemed "authentically" North African in flavor. Do you want to mention the strange sauce?

Queens Fresser: Yes. In general, I felt that the food was underseasoned in terms of salt and pepper and there were problems with the temperature. One of the strangest things was the sauce, which was on at least two of the dishes. It was definitely the sweet Thai chili sauce that you get with spring rolls. We guessed that it might approximate an unavailable African sauce, but it was quite jarring and there was so much of it that everything had a bit of a sickly-sweet pall.

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: Especially with the plantain papillote. The plantain was cooked inside the skin and was drenched with that sweet/sour sauce. Then when we actually tasted the plantain, it not only didn't taste like plantain (or much of anything), it didn't even have a caramelized coating like I was expecting with the sugary sauce.

Queens Fresser: No it was blackened but there was no bitter caramel taste or anything, just plain starch. The croquettes were just fried lumps with some shrimp flavor, but again it was muted and underseasoned.

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: You mentioned a moment ago that everything was a bit inconsistent with flavors and temperature. I think that's right. The meal gave me the sense that we were eating in someone's kitchen -- but someone who both wasn't familiar with cooking for a lot of people and wasn't confident enough to encourage the food to make a statement.

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: Case in point, our entree: the Thieboujen from Senegal.

Queens Fresser: Blue fish in a tomato sauce, with what was called red rice, but we both agreed was couscous. I felt that the tomato paste in the sauce, with its strong rich intensity completely drowned out all other flavors in the dish.

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: Absolutely. Bluefish can be so flavorful, but I really only tasted a hint of fish and an avalanche of tomato...and not much else, I should add. It wasn't like there were any subtle flavors hiding amongst the tomato and fish. Well, I did really like the couscous.

Queens Fresser: Yes, the couscous was pretty good. I think we likened the dish to chicken cacciatore.

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: That's so sad.

Queens Fresser: For me, other than the problems we already mentioned. I got the feeling that the place just wasn't really trying that hard to create authentic and interesting cuisine. I think it really was just trying to cash in on the "novelty" of African food and just assumed that people, ignorant of the real thing will just lap it up and congratulate themselves for being so adventurous. I guess it just seemed cynical to me.

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: I didn't get that impression. I don't think they'd last long anywhere, even in comparatively low-cost Clinton Hill, unless they had something to back up their restaurant. Competition for well-constructed menus and hip restaurants is just too intense -- especially in Brooklyn these days -- to be that aloof. But I do think they've underestimated what it takes to compete in NYC. They just seem to need some help and more confidence.

Queens Fresser: I guess it is hard to say whether its cynicism or just not really knowing what they are doing.

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: True. Well, suffice to say we did not stick around for dessert. We didn't want to be disappointed again by something that sounded unusual and tasted run-of-the-mill. So we went for cocktails instead. To a different neighborhood -- Carroll Gardens -- which is closer to Downtown Brooklyn and has a history as an Italian-American enclave. In the past, oh, 8 years, though, it's been enormously gentrified and one of its main drags, Smith Street, has had something of a renaissance in terms of fine dining. They actually have a Bastille Day celebration on Smith every year (complete with a petanque tournament in the street) because of the glut of French restaurants there. With that in mind, a fancy cocktail lounge like the one we patronized, The Clover Club, is not unusual in that neighborhood anymore. Just to remind you, you had the Bermuda Swizzle and I had the Poor Knight's Fuddle.

Queens Fresser: Yes. The Bermuda Swizzle. I remember it well. It was a Tiki rum drink and that's exactly what it tasted like. It was a good dessert. The Clover Club was hopping.

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: That was kind of surprising for a Wednesday night! But it was nice outside and it's a young neighborhood. I think we saw people on actual dates, which is a bit out of the ordinary for early 21st century mating practices, if I do say so myself. By the way, your drink had dark rum, Velvet falernum, pineapple, lime, bitters, and sugar in it. Mine had cognac, Maraschino, lemon, mint, and blackberries. It was refreshing, but also had a nice deep flavor with the cognac.

Queens Fresser: It was the highlight of the evening!

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: I concur, sir! Okay, final thoughts?
Queens Fresser: I think disappointing food makes me grumpy What about you?

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: I'm looking forward to eating something good someday. Maybe we should preview some potential picks for the future?

Queens Fresser: Ok, we can go by type of cuisine, neighborhood, or specific restaurant. I've never checked out Sunset Park.

Brooklyn Kibbitzer: Sunset Park encompasses quite a few smaller neighborhoods defined by cuisine -- it has a large Mexican population (making for some new, more authentic food establishments and street food) and Brooklyn's own Chinatown. I'd also like to try some of the Roumanian places in Woodside, Queens -- I've heard of one or two, I believe. And also the West Indian fare in Flatbush. Until then, let's wish our readers happy holidays, shall we?

Queens Fresser: Yes we should, and to all a good night.

**Pics of the food to follow.**

Thanks for another great post. I'd be interested to hear how Brooklyn's Chinatown stack up to Lower Manhattan?