DeRusha Eats: Afro Deli
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – It is unusual to see a long line outside a locally-owned, ethnic restaurant in downtown St. Paul during lunch. But that's exactly what's happening at Afro Deli.
"A blessing. It is a blessing," Executive Chef Moussa Doulaeh said.
Doulaeh has worked in several Twin Cities kitchens, bringing the food of his homeland to the people of Minnesota.
"I'm from Somalia, slash Djubuti," he said.
Nearly 30 percent of all Somalis who live in the U.S. live in Minnesota. But Chef Moussa designed the Afro Deli menu appeal to everyone, bringing uniquely African flavors to very familiar foods.
For example, Afro Deli's rice is a blend of the ordinary and the special.
"Rice is rice, but all the other ingredients – the cardamom, the curry – it's in there," he said.
Doualeh said he was inspired by the cooking of his father in Djubiti.
"He loved playing with spice. He used food as medicine," he said.
Afro Deli's sambusas are the perfect kind of medicine. Sambusas are an African version of what many knows as a samosa, from India. Beautiful fried pastry on the outside, incredible flavors of beef or lentils inside.
The "chicken fantastic" is appropriately named: a Parmesan and nutmeg cream sauce with saffron rice, marinated chicken and vegetables.
If you love burritos, you have to try to Chapati burritos. Chapati bread is made in the Afro Deli kitchen; it's an unleavened flatbread with a slightly sweet flavor.
"It's an African, eastern, Somalian tortilla. It's more rich. People taste it and say, 'Wow, that's different,'" Doulaeh said.
The restaurant's owner, Abdirahman Kahin, was invited by Senator Al Franken to attend the 2016 State of the Union address as a result of the business' success.
This is truly breaking bread, taking a journey to another land even if that land is just up the street.
"It's the essence of life. How we approach food," Doulaeh said. "People don't mind where you're from or whatever, as long as its good food."
Afro Deli is located at 5 W 7th Place in St. Paul.
