Bijou, Caribbean-African-French restaurant, opens in Arlington

by Teresa Gubbins

Bijou Lounge & Restaurant, which opened on Collins Street in Arlington about six weeks ago, specializes in Caribbean, African, and French food -- with an emphasis on African and French, says manager Taboh "Tasie" Sieni.

"You can get Caribbean anywhere -- but French and African, you wouldn't find anywhere the way we present it," he says.

Bijou had a prior life on Mayfield and 360 as more of a bar; but when the space on Collins -- which previously housed a number of bars including Moose & Vinny's, Gladen's, and a glitzy Asian bar-restaurant called Xouba -- opened up, they decided to ramp up the restaurant component.

"My favorite dish is our beefsteak au poivre blanc," Tasie says. "We also will be doing spaghetti provencal, spaghetti Bolognese, beefsteak a la crème fraiche. A lot of the time, when people see African food, they're seeing food that's not well presented. I think it's important to show the American public that African food can be as pleasing to the eye, the nose, and the tastebuds as any other food."

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Billusa99, says:

Hey "Tasie" my man... did you know that Africa is a continent and not a country of defined food cusine (or culinary culture), like France?

There's no such definitive thing as "African food" any more than there is "North American" food or an "Asian" food or "Antarctica" food.

RE: "A lot of the time, when people see African food, they're seeing food that's not well presented. I think it's important to show the American public that African food can be as pleasing to the eye, the nose, and the taste buds as any other food."

What do people see as "African food" Tasie? Roasted wildebeest or hartebeest from Kenya (had it, at Carnivore). Rice from the Islamic Kenyan island of Lamu (had it)? Pork spareribs from Nairobi (yup)? A Big Mac from downtown Mombasa (I avoided it)? Rice from Botswana? Yams from Chad? Plantain from Angola?

The cuisine in Kenya is as different from the cuisine in Namibia as the cuisine in Denmark is from the cuisine in Portugal.

What are you serving, Tasie, and what country in Africa is it from? That way, we can all know whether to eat there or not. Thanks... ;-)

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5 months, 2 weeks ago
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Tasie, says:

Billusa99, First of all, I am flattered that you bothered to comment on this article about our new restaurant. I hope you stop by one of these days to treat your knowledgeable pallets to our food. I beg to differ and re-iterate, very strongly, that there is such a thing as African food. The culinary cultures of sub-Saharan African countries are very similar. You refer to "roasted wildebeest" but what you fail to understand is that what makes the cuisine is not what you cook but how you cook it. For example, a Portuguese would make "roasted wildebeest" very different from a Frenchman. However, a Kenyan would make "roasted wildebeest" very similarly to the way a Gabonese would make it. Generally, African food is rich in spices, irrespective of whether it is cooked in Mombassa, Douala, Luanda or Timbucktu. A Kenyan might call it "Nyamachoma", while a Senegalese calls it "Shukuya" but it still remains well spiced, grilled beef. Africans might speak in many different tongues but we all have very similar tongues (LOL, couldn't resist the pun). You would find yams not only in Tchad, but in Gambia and Ethiopia and everywhere in between. You would find plantains not only in Angola but in Sudan and Zambia and everywhere in between. And they would all be cooked very similarly. The Ivorian would fry plantains and call it "Aloko" while the Cameroonian would fry plantains in similar fashion and call it "Doh-doh." This might be getting too long and I wish I had your obvious intelligence and ability to make a point without rambling. The point I am struggling to make is that there is such a thing as African food and that is what we are serving (besides the French and Carribean dishes). We serve African food and call them by the most popular African names, for example, we call our grilled beef "nyamachoma" as the Kenyans call it as opposed to "shukuya" as the Senegalese call it. From "Ishewu" (Nigerian name) and "Poulet DJ" (Cameroonian name) to "Atieke" (Ivorian name) and "Jollof Rice" (Senegalese name), we serve a variety of dishes that you would find all over the 4 corners of our unique continent. And I would be honored if you chose to eat at Bijou.