LexEat

African/Caribbean

Your Guide to Fine Dining
in Lexington and Kentucky

Lexington only has two restaurants in this exotic category but they're good ones and the cuisine is great. You do, however, have to learn a new vocabulary, accept some new taste ideas and understand a little food history. We tend to think of Africa as very poor with mass starvation and malnutrition. But that is due to media focus on a few nations with overwhelming problems. The truth is the human race began in Africa and the continent is rich in foods. With bright sun and a year round hot, humid climate, many nutritious plants grow there, and thousands of years ago the villagers learned how to prepare them. When African kings began selling off opponents or conquered rivals to European traders as slaves, huge numbers of Africans were transported to the Caribbean en route to North, Central or South America. Enough of those slaves remained on the Caribbean islands to displace original native tribes and create a culture deriving its language, customs and cuisine from Africa. So today, so called Caribbean cuisine is just one variety of classic African cuisine. Both make heavy use of rice, couscous, fufu or plantain as a base. Plaintain is a large green vegetable much like a banana, which can be mashed or dried. Cassava is a favorite plant native to the Ivory Coast but now raised domestically all over Africa and the Caribbean. It is dried and pulverized to produce Attieke, used in salads or as an additive to meats. Goat is an easily raised domestic animal which can graze on less grass than cattle or sheep and produces a meat low in cholesterol and high in protein, very lean, tender and tasty. Conchs are commonly found along the warm coastal waters and their meat is used in soups, salads or as an entree. "Pulling" meat is a favorite African / Caribbean technique. It involves cooking over low heat for a long time so it becomes tender enough to tease apart into shreds. Often the heat involves smoking and in the process some sort of flavoring is rubbed in. You can get an American soft drink, but you really should try some of their exotic coffees, ginger beers, pineapple or lime drinks. If you're into something more alcoholic, they have those, too. Neither African or Caribbean food is expensive; in that regard it is much like Mexican. Some of the desserts are interesting, such as Rum Butter Cake.

Sav's Grill offers a West African menu. It's Lexington's only African restaurant and it's very good. The restaurant is a modest double storefront at the corner of Limestone and Maxwell. You order at one counter, move down to the pickup counter, take your tray and find a table. There are only a dozen tables and in its year of operation owner manager Mamadou Savane has drawn quite a following, so lunch hour can get very crowded. Sav himself serves up the food from a dozen large bowls along the wall. The Lamb Ragout, Cornish Hen and, on weekends, Ribs, are excellent. We really like the Attie'ke' ("Kay Kay") Salad. If you're hungry enough for an appetizer, we recommend the Fried Plantains. They're delicious, but you get a dozen and they're filling enough to be a lunch all by themselves. The bowls are wonderful. The most spectacular is the Peanut Goat with Fufu, but there are various beef, chicken and vegetarian dishes, all made with palm oil. You can choose rice, couscous or fufu as the base of any dish. Cups of Piment (Habanero) Sauce are always optional. Beverages are part of the adventure. The coffee is interesting, there are fruit sodas and Jamaican ginger beer. You can usually park across the street.