Neighborhood Deals: Getting in the groove of Nigerian food
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Seattle doesn't boast many African eateries and most of them are Ethiopian.
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Eager for a taste of such exotic-sounding fare as fufu and moy-moy, an equally curious pal and I drop by Wazobia for lunch one Tuesday. We step out of the cold, gray drizzle into a boiling cauldron of color. Burnt-orange walls hung with vibrant African art and fabrics can't quite overcome the morning-after mood suggested by dozens of rainbow-hued balloons, their energy spent after a weekend of bobbing till the wee hours to African and reggae rhythms. Tethered to ribbons, they float languidly above the heads of the few patrons - more office escapees like us, judging from their skirts and ties.
Our table, adjacent to a couple of giant amplifiers pushed to the side of the parquet dance floor, is one of about a dozen in the narrow room set with boldly patterned batik cloths, graceful water goblets, candles and jaunty little dolls dressed in native costumes. On weekends, Wazobia rocks with live entertainment, but at midday, a West African dance troupe entertains via videotape while customers graze at the all-you-can-eat lunch buffet ($7.99).
Watching dozens of lean, muscular dancers effortlessly leap and shake on the TV screen does not in the least stop us from heaping our plates high - not once, but twice - with fried fish, chicken, two kinds of rice and numerous warm vegetable sides.
Go for dinner to sample moy-moy, a mash made with black-eyed peas ($3.50), or Egusi soup, made from African Egusi melon seeds, greens, tomato and fish ($12). Fufu turns out to be pounded yam tubers mixed with palm oil and it comes with several of the "soups" that are really more like sauces moistening chicken, fish or goat. The hot and spicy pepper soup ($6.50) may be the Nigerian equivalent of the Bloody Mary. "Reputed to help ease the pains of the morning after the night before" according to the menu, it's the preferred remedy for those who overdo it on sweet palm wine or beer.
Lunch Buffet: This array of homey, comfort foods would fit right in at a neighborhood potluck. Whole tilapia makes compulsive eating when cut horizontally into steaks, well-seasoned and deep-fried. Pick it up with your fingers and watch the small bones. Chicken drumsticks are simmered in a red pepper-spiked tomato sauce, the same sauce that lends oomph to black-eyed peas. We ladled extra sauce over Jollof rice, much like Spanish rice with diced vegetables added. Other sides include fried slices of plantain, collard greens, corn cooked with slivered cabbage, and a mélange of steamed vegetables that include broccoli, green beans and huge coins of yellow carrot.
Itemized bill, meal for two
All you can eat lunch buffet for two (tax included): $15.99