Evanston Lunch Group - [Past Event]

The next meeting of the Evanston lunch group will be at Le Conakry, 2049 W. Howard Street (between Damen and Ridge) at 12:30.
The cuisine is from Guinea, with some dishes from neighboring countries such as Senegal (Yassa, Thiebou Dien) and Cote d'Ivoire (attkieke). This is no doubt the only Guinean restaurant in Chicago; last time I was there I ran into a colleague who had come up with his family all the way from Governor's State!
I am planning to pre-order a selection of dishes, to make sure that they have a wide array of specialties available. Consequently, please let me know ahead of time whether you can make it, and let us know as soon as possible if you cancel.

Le Conakry
French African Restaurant
2049 W. Howard Street
Chicago, IL 60654
773-262-6955

I plan to be there....

The owners are so friendly ... I'll look forward to it - especially since we'll be there with true experts in the cuisine of the region.

I'll be there.

A bump to the top of the events to see if others wish to join.

Don't know why I didn't put in before - I'll be there!

I will try to be there however it depends when call time is that friday at the restaurant. For next month Mondays are best for me since Moto is closed...


I miss you guys!

I would like to add a +1 (a sociological colleague of mine from Nigeria).

I am not going to miss this one. Sign me up.

dave

A bit late, I'd like to RSVP! See you there...

Won't be able to make it today. I have to be at work at 1

Hopefully next month.

Thanks, Chapulines, for setting this one up. I have no basis for comparison of this cuisine, so I can't speak to where it fits in the spectrum, but the place is nice and homey and there were many interesting dishes. In particular, I liked the chicken with the onion-y sauce that reminded me of my mother's escabeche, and the cassava leaves with beef. The empanada-like beef and chicken pockets were also nice, I particularly liked the very simple chicken ones - and the fried ripe plantains were very good. For those of you who are wondering about the spice-o-meter, nothing was particularly highly seasoned, but the accompanying chili sauce was blow-your-head-off hot.

As always, it's a pleasure to explore new foods and new restaurants with friends - and it was fun to have germuska and GAF's colleague join the group for the first time. We also made an exciting discovery: Sweet Nick's Caribbean, across the street, is a full-service Hatian-American restaurant (as opposed to the coffeeshops without a kitchen that formerly occupied that space.)

I have to add my belated thanks to The French Couple for setting this up, and ordering well for the group. And if I've mis-identified any of the dishes, please let me know.

We started off with fataya, in both chicken and beef versions. The easiest way to think about it is as a West African version of empanadas. The crispiness of the dough was a good contrast to the flavorful stuffing.


The plantains were smooth, and only slightly sweet.


Main dishes - served buffet-style - included Yassa Poulet, referenced above as "chicken with the onion-y sauce." (WARNING: many dishes are much tastier than they appear.)


Cassava leaves with beef (Maffé Hacco):


We also had a very tasty beef in a peanut sauce (Maffé Tegga).


As Michele mentioned, none of the dishes themselves was particularly spicy, but the garnishes included a harrisa-like sauce which had quite a kick.


But it was toned down quite a bit when mixed into the couscous.


Thiebou Djen - fish with eggplant, cabbage, and, according to the menu, "French Ingredients." Note the local grain, atieke, at the top.


Other dishes, such as Bouyou Ragout, were portrayed on the menu as "English Description."

Le Conakry, taking its name from the capital of Guinea, doesn't limit itself to the native foods of that country - rather, it offers local foods from all over what used to be French West Africa. It's small, friendly, with impressively good (and cheap) food, and well worth a visit.

Thanks for the photos, Tom! The fish dish was actually the Thiebou Djen rather than the Attieke; Thiebou Djen has a rice base, while attieke is fermented cassava. (We didn't order the attieke this time, but I would recommend it, too.) We also had a plate of couscous with vegetables, which shows up nicely on Tom's photos. I was glad we had GAF's Nigerian colleague Christian, who seemed to like the food a lot and to agree with us about its authenticity. I agree with Michelle that the restaurant's policy of keeping the dishes mild and having a very potent sauce on the side is a good idea; African cuisine can be searinginly spicy for the unwary.
Now that we know t hat Nick's across the street has a real live kitchen, we should try it some day for lunch.
Robert

Hey,

Is Le Conakry still there?

I haven't seen any posts about them for quite a while, and was thinking of having lunch there this weekend -- checking them out re: supplying some of the food for my concert (viewtopic.php?f=14&t=27786)

Alas, Le Conakry is no more! We have to go to Yassa on 79th street for a fix of francophone African food. Yassa is great, but for us in Evanston, Le Conakry was so much more convenient. Will you be serving the food at the Evanston location? Looking forward to the concert and the food,
Robert

Thanks, Robert!

It is sad, but in any case I've decided to go with a very simple presentation at the concert -- nothing that has to be heated or cooked. I'm just getting some fresh-baked pita and making the lasary relishes to put on it. My correspondent even mentioned this way of eating them on his own, so I don't have to feel guilty about it. -- see the latest bit on the thread:

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=27786&p=313839#p313839

In related news, we're having a rehearsal at Alice Millar on Friday afternoon before the concert, and then I have to feed the musicians. Any recommendations for a local place that has good stuff to take out but won't break my piggy bank?