“You think you”™ve tried it all?” asks affable Ghanaian-born chef Lawrence Ofori at his new restaurant in Peekskill. The question is of course rhetorical, as Ofori, a finalist on the 36th season of the Food Network”™s “Chopped” series, makes clear by deed as much as by word at Ofori”™s World Cuisine in Peekskill. There, inspired by his grandmother”™s cooking, he unashamedly plunders the world”™s larders to bring exciting new tastes to the table. While many of his dishes are ”“ at least to Peekskill palates ”“ unfamiliar, even exotic, his watchwords nevertheless are “simple, fresh and flavorful.”
The concept of global cuisine is reinforced on the restaurant”™s rather charming logo, a world map that on closer inspection is a miniature collage of vegetables.
Alongside staples like Caesar salad, chicken Parmigiana and a solid burger ”“ you might call this the American section of the global menu ”“ sit snacks and lighter bites like guacamole, tacos and tortillas. They are fine and more than dandy ”“ as is a gimmicky-sounding, but actually delicious, coconut-crusted shrimp in piña colada sauce.
The experience for making these quick and easy crowd-pleasers was garnered no doubt from the food truck Ofori ran in Jefferson Valley before hitting the big time, so to speak, with a real, full- size restaurant kitchen of his own. (He saw the “For Rent” sign outside what was to become Ofori”™s, as he walked to church in Peekskill one Sunday morning and knew that was where the future lay.) It was something he could only have dreamed of when he came to this country in 2008 and took his first job as a dishwasher in New York City.
But it”™s in the genuinely unusual and esoteric that Ofori”™s menu really comes to life, and where it best succeeds. Of the two soups offered, a really tangy, carefully made goat soup with peanuts and rice won out over a slightly chalky lobster bisque, which came with a side of grilled cheese, a riff I imagine on a classic thermidor. (I can see its appeal, although for me the pairing didn”™t work ”“ just call me a “snobster.”) In the dish called Mama G Oxtail, a slow braised African stew, in which I detected a touch of curry powder or possibly berbere, the rich meat fell from the bone. And I loved Adabraka kenkey, a ball of ever so slightly funky-tasting, fermented white corn, served with a beautiful, fried red snapper along with more than a dash of hot sauce ”“ Adabraka being a district of Accra, Ghana, from where I imagine the dish, or at least the recipe, originated.
As for a side of jollof rice, that West African staple consisting of long-grain rice cooked with vegetables, it had me right back in Senegal, where I spent time many years ago. It was indeed a nice Proustian “madeleine” moment, which let me speak for its authenticity.
An opportunity may have been missed on the kids”™ menu to introduce the next generation to something more unusual than grilled cheese with French fries, quesadilla with fries and chicken fingers with fries, but perhaps that is me, the romantic critic speaking, while chef-patron Ofori believes he knows his market better.
What chef Ofori does know is that man cannot live by kenkey or jollof alone, so along with all the culinary treats there”™s also live, very loud entertainment some weeknights and on weekends, with the bar staying open until 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.
The bar, by the way, offers a good though not extensive range of premium spirits, as well as national and international beers and ales, served using the Bottoms Up draft beer system. If you haven”™t yet seen Bottoms Up in action ”“ spoiler alert, the beer is pulled from the bottom up ”“ it is reason enough alone to visit.
A great believer in diversity and bringing people together, chef Ofori sees his new enterprise as just that ”“ somewhere where people of all backgrounds can meet over truly global cooking. Well, you can please all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time (to rework poet John Lydgate”™s famous saying, as taken up by former President Abraham Lincoln,) and my sense is that this is what the restaurant is going to do. You also have to praise him ”“ at the risk of making Ofori sound like a Bond villain ”“ for his global ambition.
A hero rather than a villain, he”™s a super-nice guy and a great chef with an infectious joie de vivre to boot. Go give this unique restaurant a try.
For more, visit www.oforisrestaurants.com.
