Awa Sibi opened her catering company, Ava’s Delightsin 2018, serving West African food — then she told me why she doesn’t just focus on food from her native Ivory Coast. “We say Ivory Coast is a center of diversity,” Sibi told me. “We have a little bit of everything, so I do food from Senegal, Mali, Nigeria, Ghana, not just Ivory Coast.”
Now Sibi has opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant on Atwood Avenue. The space, formerly home to Monsoon Siam (which moved across the street to 2326 Atwood), now has more seating; the bar has been removed. The kitchen is still open to the dining room, so diners can see they’re getting a real home-cooked meal from Sibi herself.
A meal at Les Delices de Awa can begin (or end) with ripe fried plantains, which are served warm and sweet. No frills – these show off the best of the basic plantain.
Fried meatballs, called pasteles, are pockets of dough similar to empanadas, made with homemade dough. The filling is ground beef or fish (a mix of salmon and tuna) or shredded chicken. They come three to an order and are quite substantial. They are served with the lightweight tomato sauce that accompanies many dishes here, and if your dish doesn’t have it, ask for it. It looks like tomato paste; it comes in soft (quite zingy) or warm (much hotter). Pastel can be quite arid — although my order was fried a bit too long, which contributed to the dryness. The soft sauce helps and blends the flavors nicely. I find the warm version of the sauce is so warm that it overpowers any other flavors (and honestly, I like zingy food). I wish pasteles were available individually; an order of three is too much for a table of two or even three people to share as an appetizer. If there was a green salad on the menu, one pastel and a salad would make a good lunch.
Pain-brochettes reflect the Ivory Coast’s past as a French colony. These sandwiches are served on a sturdy, gourmet baguette filled with grilled chicken, beef or zingy beef suya, along with a generous layer of mayonnaise and zingy diced onions, tomatoes and cucumbers. The pain-brochette with beef suya is an amazing sandwich, where zingy beef chunks, mayonnaise and baguette combine for a trio of flavors that may bring to mind a gyro, Italian beef or banh-mi, but the pain-brochette has its own character. I would suggest reducing the amount of chopped onion and increasing the cucumber and tomato for a zingy spiciness, but otherwise it’s a classic sandwich.
Peanut butter stew is a broad, nutty sauce of onions, tomatoes, and peanut butter with strands of kale; it’s a deeper, less garish version of the dish than what’s sometimes found on American menus. It’s also available with chicken or beef as a side; according to the kitchen, the basic stew is vegetarian.
You can order a side dish of attiéké, a dish of fermented cassava that has been grated and cooked. It looks like couscous, though it’s a bit more zingy and tart. But it’s grain- and gluten-free, making it an attractive option for those reasons, although it’s unremarkable on its own.
Thiébou guinar is a Senegalese dish of grilled chicken on jollof rice cooked in tomatoes and spices, with peas, onions and green olives. The rice was very salty and the chicken, although well grilled, was a rather miniature combination of thigh and leg. The dish came with a spoonful of zingy tomato sauce, which the already overdone rice did not need.
More grilled proteins are available for dinner; in addition to chicken and beef, there’s lamb, fish and goat. All are served with a choice of sides—jollof rice, fried plantains, fried yucca, attiéké or chips. There are also combo sets that include more than one type of meat for groups.
Vegans have a few options: okra stew or jollof rice with fried plantains and black beans.
There are more nooks and crannies to explore on the menu: kinkeliba tea, an African herbal tea; house-made juices (ginger, sorrel, tamarind); and bofloto, West African spherical doughnuts. Les Delices De Awa is a welcome addition to Madison’s West African and Schenk’s Corners restaurant rows.
Ava’s Delights
2045 Atwood Ave.
608-286-1910; lesdelicesdeawa.com
Wed-Thu 11:00-15:30 and 16:30-20:00, Fri 11:00-15:30 and 16:30-21:00,
Saturday 12:00-21:00, Sunday 11:00-18:00
6-30 dollars
