Africana Restaurant and Lounge

In a word: Expands culinary horizons.

The specs: #0395
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at Isthmus, Eating the World, Cap Times, WiSJ; interview with the owners at Isthmus; official web site.

JM ate the kedjenou with a lemonade.
Nichole ate the grilled vegetables.
The bill was about $20 plus tip.
JM gave Africana Restaurant and Lounge an A-; Nichole gave Africana Restaurant and Lounge a B.

Taking advantage of a quiet Black Friday, Nichole and JM headed to Africana. Africana's menu has been so thoroughly reviewed (and while it is solid it is not very deep) that we figured we'd delve a little deeper.

JM ordered the kedjenou which held a rich deep flavor that permeated the ample carrots. The sauce was good and the rice on the side helped sop it up. He'd recommend the dish even though he had to wrestle with the bones in his chicken.

Nichole spelunked all the way to a grilled vegetable dish that was, well, a dish of grilled vegetables. A nondescript oil and vinegar dressing came on the side, making this a great plate for calorie counters. The vegetables were of good quality and fresh. Each type was cooked to its most flattering done-ness, but there's only so much you can do to grilled vegetables (unless maybe you're Michel Nischan). An excellent, chunky red hot sauce paired well, its heat front-loaded, leaving no lingering burn. Thank goodness for the delicious fried plantain or Nichole would have left lightheaded.

The service was warm but unpolished, and in the end we're glad we paid lunchtime prices for what turned out to be an unremarkable meal. But maybe that's what you get when you let your review dishes get cherry-picked. We're not sure about the whole nightclub aspect of Africana given that a) we're not night owls and b) we've never gone clubbing (unless you count Sneakers). So, we'll leave that to those who know.

Comments

[monnie]

The food looks so pretty!

[MJ]

A bunch of us did a taste of Africana night and got a great overview of their menu. It was all quite good and/or interesting. Some really quite lovely sauces. We just had little tastes of everything and didn't find out what was what until afterwords. Thus, while there were a good number of dishes I would like to order, I don't have a good grasp of what they might actually be. I'm hoping a perusal of the menu will clarify things. I do recall some terrific fish and a chicken something with peanuts.