4 North Texas restaurants celebrating Pan-African cuisine

Anyone whose entertainment queue includes reality TV cooking contests or the recently surfaced Anthony Bourdain-style food documentaries has likely noticed a new spotlight on pan-African cuisine.

The latest example is the Netflix series High on the Hog, based on the book of the same name by the cooking historian Jessica B. Harris. Host Stephen Satterfield begins the documentary series on the coast of Benin, a point of convergence for the West African slave trade. As Satterfield and Harris stroll through the lively, rainbow-colored Dantokpa market, they discuss popular “American” foods that were native to Africa: okra, watermelon, yams, black-eyed peas, rice.

Harris says in the episode that she was inspired to write her magnum opus when she noticed connections to the food of the African diaspora during her tenure as travel editor for Essence magazine in the 1970s. She noted the relationship to food in countries with a history of forced African migration: “As in, I’ve had this before!” And “Oh, it tastes like grandma’s.”

And in Bravo’s current top chef season, the “Cheftestants” received a Pan-African cooking challenge after eating in West African, Jamaican, Guyanese and Haitian restaurants. The winner of this challenge was Houston-based chef Dawn Burrell, who impressed the jury with her goat curry and roti with green pepper sauce.

Burrell seemed in disbelief when he got the challenge on the show, saying, “This is like a dream come true. I am almost moved to tears that pan-African cuisine is presented on such a platform. “

In light of this moment, Burrell, who is currently one of three finalists on the show, the finale of which will air on July 1, told the Dallas Morning News, “Our food – my ancestral food – was featured on a platform like this for a long time to come . … There is no real American food other than what was native to this country before either of us came here. The legacy we now have is linked to the nourishment of my ancestors. “

Burrell will be offering a kitchen – what she calls “Global Comfort Food” – when her new restaurant opens in Houston in late August this September as part of Chef Chris Williams’ new restaurant group, Lucille’s Hospitality Group.

And you can’t talk about Pan-African cuisine without focusing on Gullah Geechee and Lowcountry cuisine. New York Times award-winning chef Amethyst Ganaway was recently announced as the new chef at Taste magazine’s residence. Your own sincere writing includes pieces like No, You Can’t Have My Red Rice Recipe.

Ganaway sees interest in diasporic food as a “fourth or fifth wave to celebrate the culture.” Shows like High on the Hog give people around the world the opportunity to learn about and engage with African culture, which is “not in the sense of unhealthy eating, slave eating, or poor meals,” she says.

“Now you have a moment to pay more attention to our food and culture than to pain. There are also celebrations, family cooking, barbecues and graduation parties, ”she says.

Ganaway advises the curious to explore: “Do it. Just go. Support black companies – literally put your money where your mouth is … you might find yourself in it. “

That brings you to four restaurants in Dallas, Garland and Arlington, serving delicious Pan-African cuisine.

Chef Kev Ashade will host Taste of Africa: Nigerian Edition on March 30th.(Shaban Athuman / staff photographer)

After graduating from culinary school, defeating Bobby Flay, and working at several corporate restaurants, Nigerian-American chef Kevin Ashade opened his first restaurant, Pangea, in January last year, with a menu that features Suya skewers, buttermilk biscuits, and Flintstone-sized jerks. roasted legs of lamb. The menu is “eclectic, a little bit of everything” that he has taken with him from trips around the world, a reference to the original supercontinent after which the restaurant is named.

To experience its pan-African dishes, start with the suya. It’s usually made with beef, but Ashade offers the option of replacing Nigeria’s street food with chicken or shrimp. The meat skewers are rubbed with its own Suya spice made from peanuts in the African style and topped with grilled onions and tomatoes.

Jerk Roasted Leg of Lamb with Mashed Potatoes at Pangea Restaurant in Garland(Brandon Wade / special article)

The jerk lamb shank is an eye-catching, hungry main course that can be seen on many tables in the upscale restaurant. Ashade says he uses leg of lamb instead of chicken for the popular Jamaican dish because it’s difficult to make a plate of jerk chicken look good, and upscale presentation is one of his goals at Pangea.

A meal like this is rounded off with a side dish from Not Your Mama’s Greens, Ashade’s “Nigerian version of Americanized Greens”, with snacks of African-style smoked turkey.

6309 N. President George Bush Highway, # 8101, Garland. pangeadallas.com.

Princess Wreh reopened the Monrovia Lounge on Memorial Day.(Nitashia Johnson / (Special Article / Nitashia Jo)

Like Ashade, Princess Wreh is a French-trained chef who represents West African culture with her first restaurant, the Monrovia Lounge, which opened in December 2019.

Wreh is a native Liberian who came to the United States through the United Nations resettlement program. She attended Le Cordon Bleu and joined Steven Pyles at Stampede 66 after serving in the Air Force and leaving medical school to pursue a career that would make people smile.

She says she struggled to keep the restaurant open without federal funding during the pandemic but “still held out” when the winter storm in February 2021 blew up 30 pipes, causing around $ 40,000 in damage. After Wreh repaired the restaurant with savings and the help of family and friends, Wreh opened the Monrovia Lounge on May 29 with the decision to “bring African food to market”.

“I’ll serve you history,” she says. “It’s not for a specific race. I want everyone to come, try the food and enjoy the culture. “

Wreh excludes beef and pork for religious customers, but there is halal goat pepper soup served with fufu, a must-have Nigerian batter used to soak up flavorful stews. The steamed dough balls are made by boiling sweet potatoes, plantains, or cassava until they become fluffy and then pounding them, and they have become a viral TikTok theme too.

Wreh combines traditional Senegalese jollof rice with Cajun jambalaya to make their own calming version of chicken sausage and shrimp. She also serves kala (sometimes called puff-puff) with pepper sauce. Wreh says it’s the original fritters. The hearty donuts only need a touch of the fiery pepper sauce made from dried herring.

9220 Skillman Street, # 227, Dallas. monrovialounge.com.

Contrary to the first two recommendations, Jamaica Gates Caribbean Cuisine has covered a few miles in Arlington: The owners Errol and Michelle Byles celebrated the 13th anniversary of the restaurant on May 30th.

Errol moved from Jamaica in 1992 after receiving a full scholarship from UT-Arlington, but noticed that there were no Caribbean restaurants in the Arlington area when he arrived. His mother, Barbara Allen, had always dreamed of having her own restaurant. After 15 years as Regional Vice President of Operations at La Quinta, Errol set up the restaurant with his wife Michelle, leaving his mother in charge of the kitchen.

In the first few months after opening in 2008, the Byles were approached by Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives for an episode that aired in 2009. Since then, says Errol, her customer base has grown by “more people, not just Jamaicans” to get a taste of Jamaican food. “

The Kingston Trio offers its guests a taste of three island dishes on one plate. For $ 22 a to-go box is filled to the brim with items like jerk chicken, oxtail and delicious curry goat.

Heat hungry will enjoy the “rahtid hot” Boston Jerk Pork Shoulder, and those who need to stifle this spice should try one of the 20 cocktails. Juices for the Jamaican rum punch are made in-house, and Errol tells us that another customer favorite is the Bungo Natty, which is made with a rum mixture. “It’s very refreshing and very sneaky,” he says.

1020 W. Arkansas Lane, Arlington. jamaicagates.com.

Chubby Lee and Althea “Shelease” Forbes opened their storefront Jamaican restaurant in Mesquite in 2016 after a Thanksgiving dinner guest suggested opening a restaurant.

“We had a meeting in the garage,” says Althea, “and I told them about it [Chubby Lee], ‘I think you should go to this.’ “

Now the to-go-friendly place sells some of the most authentic Jamaican dishes in D-FW, with weekend specials like red pea soup, oxtail soup, and mannish water (goat soup).

The national fruit of Jamaica, ackee, brought to the Caribbean by enslaved West Africans, is available in dishes such as ackee and saltfish. Other typical Jamaican dishes that have their origins in Africa include callaloo, a leafy green that resembles spinach and is made from amaranth or taro leaves.

Anyone who says they don’t like oxtail has never eaten it from the Jamaican Cook Shop’s kitchen. It’s neither dry nor greasy, just calming and flavorful and wonderfully balanced with sweet grilled plantains and tart cabbage. The restaurant also serves goat curry in a way that reflects the sometimes strong taste, and their rich and smooth mac and cheese makes you wonder if Jamaicans are the best version of a dish that almost no one can deny.

As Althea says, “Caribbean people are gourmets. If it has no taste, we won’t do it. “

2033 Military Parkway, # 104a, Mesquite. facebook.com/jamaicancookshoptogo.

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