County Winter Farmer’s Market.) A complicating factor is Deacon’s approach to the menu. More than 50 countries make up the African continent. Every week since the restaurant’s opening in November 2015, she has
is the featured attraction, we start with flaky, tender West African hand pies, brilliant little pastries we dunk in tomato-based joloff sauce. Glasses of fresh ginger juice half-drained, we move on to peanut butter stew with chicken,
IRIE ZULU GREW OUT OF THE OWNER’S INTEREST IN SHARING THE CUISINES OF AFRICA IN A CITY WHERE SHE’D STRUGGLED TO FIND INGREDIENTS TO MAKE THE DISHES SHE MISSED FROM HER HOMELAND.
featured the cuisines of particular parts of the continent. On Fridays and Saturdays, the menu is Jamaican, the nationality of Deacon’s husband. The content of the menu isn’t set until the night before it’s served, she says. The cookbook aficionado is a voracious reader who administers several African social media cooking forums, which she uses for feedback and ideas. It’s a provocative menu for diners who like to explore and “open themselves up to be surprised,” Deacon says. And it’s a remarkable menu for people who appreciate flavor. Wisco ingredients and seasonal considerations play their role, too. On a night when West African food
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the creamy, mellow sauce absorbing the delicate grains of coconut rice. Poulet DG (which stands for “Directeur Général”) is sister Fanny’s favorite dish. The dish fuses chicken, plantains, carrots, tomatoes and onions in a mild, soothing stew. Another king of thick sauces – served here with foo foo (a mash made from cassava flour) or jasmine rice – is the West African stew called egusi (melon or pumpkin seeds used as a thickener), with its chunky spinach-tomato sauce masking shrimp and pieces of grass-fed beef. Deacon’s frequent presence in the dining room, chatting amiably with diners, is one of the ways she’s helping cement Irie Zulu’s presence on this melting pot of North Avenue. ◆
DINE OUT 2017
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