turkob and laikom's West African Safari, Sun. 8/12 @ 1PM

We're at it again. After the successful consumption of 15 bowls of pho in 3 days, we've set our sights on the West African offerings of Uptown. There are a cluster of West African restaurants all located near the Wilson Red Line Station, and our plan is to hit as many as we can.

If you'd like to join us, we will be starting at Iyanze at 1PM on Sunday August 12.

Iyanze Restaurant
4623 N Broadway
Chicago, IL 60640
773-944-1417

Other restaurants we hope to hit:

Nigerian Kitchen - 1363 W Wilson
Mama Osa's - 1027 W Wilson
BQ Afro Root - 4701 N Kenmore
Palace Gate - 4548 N Magnolia
Grace's - 4409 N Broadway

Let us know if you'd like to join us for all or part of this adventure so we know to look for you.

attending:
turkob
laikom
snap203
teresa
ymas

turkob wrote:If you'd like to join us, we will be starting at Iyanze at 1PM on Sunday August 12.

I was thinking I'd like to join you, but am going to be kind of busy on August 12th. Windy City Rib Classic

Hi,

I can't, I will be judging at the Iowa State Fair and checking out what a real chocolate moose looks like.

Regards,

Wish I was in Chicago for this, would love to join. Eat a lot of starch and hot peppa sauce and take many pictures and get on the goat (I mean good) foot!

Cathy, Gary, Habibi - Would LOVE for you guys to be there. :'(

I'll be taking way too many pictures. Should be fun!

Cathy2 wrote:... checking out what a real chocolate moose looks like.

Oh, man! What I wouldn't give for a chocolate moose ... especially if I had a walk-in freezer.

pls count me in -- thanks!

I'm in. Looking forward to another turkob/laikom adventure.

Wish I could join you...I will be enjoying a decidedly non-adventurous culinary experience but, hopefully, a most exciting baseball experience at the Cell on Sunday

ENJOY!!! Looking forward to the report!

Terrific idea! I'd be there if I weren't already going to be in Wisconsin for an Outstanding in the Field dinner.

Was out of town for this but looking forward to hearing how it went.

It was awesome! Laikom and I are putting together the report and should have something up in the next day or two.

Here's a tidbit, pending the organizers' report: I found the role of starch in this cuisine to be really interesting.

It seemed that people order the type of starch and then, secondarily, think about the accompanying meat, sauce, or vegetables to be served with it.

Sometimes the starch was served on the side and sometimes it was plunked down in the middle of the plate, absorbing some of the flavors. Aside from Iyanze, it didn't seem they were used to providing silverware to their regular diners. This is really eat with your hands type of food, which I found challenging sometimes when we were served soups.

At least two of the restaurants have hand soap on the table and bring you wash basins so you can clean your hands before eating. Clearly, there is no expectation you'll be eating with a spoon!

To top it all off, the starches really did vary from place to place. While they may share common ingredients (yam, cassava), their were some marked differences in flavor - probably due to fermentation. One fufu smelled and tasted of sourdough or beer.

There is a lot to this cuisine other than starches, but those were some of the observations that stuck with me as the day wore on. You'll be hearing (and seeing) a lot more about other details of our meals, I'm sure.

All in all, this was a pretty fantastic afternoon spent familiarizing myself with foods I had never before tried. We definitely went to some spots that I will be returning to.

The post is now up. We hope to be getting back to some of these restaurants soon to try some more of the cuisine.

turkob wrote:The post is now up. We hope to be getting back to some of these restaurants soon to try some more of the cuisine.

Do you have a link (or am I blind)?

Thanks!

Regards,

Here you go Cathy