(This venue is closed.) New York's best thiebou djeun is back in the swim of things.
Thiebou djeun (Cheh-boo Jen; $9), the national dish of Senegal, combines rice (thieb, in Wolof) and fish (djeun) with vegetables that here included spinach, okra, cabbage, carrot, and one fearsome Scotch bonnet. The vegetables (the more, the better) and then the rice are boiled in the fish broth; today they took on the character of barracuda, though red snapper is more common.
On a visit to La Marmite's previous, West Side location, I had at the soupe kandia (Soo-pah Con-dyah; $9), on-bone hunks of lamb in an okra-and-palm-oil sauce, served with rice (and accompanied by a marrow bone lagniappe). Dessert that day was degue (Deh-gway; $2.50), millet couscous in a sweetened yogurt-like base.
As at many of the city's West African restaurants, thiebou djeun, soupe kandia, and the peanut butter stew called mafe (Mah-fay) are reserved for lunch; dinner brings grilled, roasted, and baked meat, fowl, and fish.
La Marmite
2269 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. (133rd-134th Sts.)
212-694-1220
This is easily my favorite Senegalese, let alone one of my favorites in the city. Baobab and Kine are good, too, but, for me, La Marmite's Cheb brings/brought me back again and again. I never even got a chance to sample the Mafe. I'm hoping they actually do re-open some day.
P.
Posted by: Polecat | July 09, 2007 at 05:25 PM