Though Columbus Ohio has many African Cuisine dining options, until recently, all you could get in Cleveland was Ethiopian. Enter Choukouya Resto-Bar, which took over the old Nazca spot in Warrensville Heights last year, offering what it calls, "Afro-European Cuisine." The dishes come from a variety of regions in West Africa, and there are a lot of European touches folded in. We enjoyed vibrant flavors and a fun atmosphere. Check out their Facebook page for information on live music nights.
After ordering an African red wine that is served refrigerator cold (but it works and went very well with the spicy food), we were served seasoned toast and a delightfully garlicky dipping sauce. The same sauce is served with the Meat Pie appetizer, which we tasted from a dining companion (no picture) and the meat pie was very good, if served a little colder than it wanted to be.
The menu is divided into Appetizers, Salads, "Sauces" (which are like stews), Gourmand, Sea, Land, and Pasta, as well as Vegetables, Sides, and finally Desserts. The signature items are the grilled meats, which we didn't get to on this visit, but we'll be back to try them.
On this chilly night, we were both seduced by the promise of a hearty stew and selected from the "Sauces." My entree (picture above): Egussi (West African melon seed), cooked with fresh cut spinach, spicy broth with oil palm, and choice of protein. The Egussi seeds look like ground turkey in the stew, and tasted almost like ground meat. In fact, at first I thought it WAS meat. Oil palm aka elaeis guineensis, is a species of palm commonly just called oil palm, but also sometimes African oil palm or macaw-fat. It is the principal source of palm oil. It is native to west and southwest Africa.
The diner is offered a heat scale of 1-10, and I asked for 5 hoping it would have medium spice. Well, it remained a very spicy dish, but so tasty! (Another dining companion had Egussi with chicken and asked for it "medium"; he also found it a little too spicy for his palate).
The diner is also offered a choice of meat or aquatic proteins. The lamb was stew meat, with lots of connective tissue and fat, but much of that had melted in the cooking process such that it cut and chewed well, but it had an obvious presence. So, if that's not your thing, be forewarned. I really enjoyed it! I think the chicken meat my friend had was more typical filet cuts.
The diner also gets a choice among 4 different rice preparations or 3 different types of Fufu, the classic African starchy side. I chose the Eba Fufu. The menu says that this Fufu is made with Gari stirred in hot water and slowly cooked. Further research suggests that Gari or Garri is a fermented and roasted food made from Cassava. Our server (who was also the bartender/mixologist and FOH manager that evening) said that their version of Eba combines the Gari with a bit of semolina. This gives it a nice firm texture that is easy to break off in little pieces with your fingers. It was the perfect foil to the spicy stew. Fun to look at, eat, and fun to play with!
Bob opted for N’Dole, a Cameroonian dish made with fresh groundnut and Cameroonian bitter leaves cooked in a sauce and choice of protein (lamb), served with rice or boiled plantain. He asked for "medium" spice, and his was spot on (not too spicy). It had a lighter flavor profile than the Egussi, but still distinctive and bold in its own right.
For his starch, Bob chose "Wake Rice," which is pronounced wake as in "wake up!" Studded with tender black and other beans, and more seasonings, the rice had just the right amount of chew, and accompanied the N’Dole well even though they each had busy flavor profiles that differed a great deal from one another.
Service started out a little slow (hence the slightly imperfect meat pies), but fell into place by the time the entrees rolled out. Our server was very knowledgeable about the food and patient in answering questions and explaining things. Similar to Chinese manners, West Africans do not stand on ceremony when it comes to service - your dish hits the table when it's ready, even if other diners' food is not yet ready. This is totally fine with me, because I prefer to eat hot food from the stove, rather than having my plate sit under a heat lamp (or not), drying out and getting cold. So bravo to the manner of service that honors the food! Just be prepared for it.
I do hope they put a wine list together. The server asked what I liked and recommended a wine I really enjoyed ($9/glass), but I prefer to peruse a menu. At present, they have full liquor and wine service, but no beer permit. Hopefully, that will come to them soon, but there are plenty of satisfying libations as is. One dining companion enjoyed the Chi Chi Watermelon (which is made in a whole small watermelon rind and is easily shared by two), which features rums and watermelon juice right out of the gourd.
A line dancing class took place while we were dining (one of our party stood up and boogied along). It was a little loud but not too off-putting, and the group of ladies was a lot of fun. But the restaurant was way too empty for a place serving food this delicious!
So get yourself out to the intersection of Warrensville Heights and Bedford Heights (same plaza as Brian Doyle's Cafe Avalaun) and try something that is a little different but loaded with lots of food (and other) fun!
Choukouya Resto-Bar
4620 Richmond Road Suite 290
Cleveland, Ohio 44128
(216) 245-6660
Monday -Friday 3pm - 1am
Saturday - Sunday 1pm - 1am
