Dine & Dash: Green and Gold 🍽
Mini reviews of Ówàḿbẹ̀ African Restaurant & Lounge, Evergreen Restaurant and Marigold & Go
Ówàḿbẹ̀ African Restaurant & Lounge
After a significant four-month renovation project, Ówàḿbẹ̀ opened a couple months ago in the former Spice Island Grill location at 10 N. Sierra Madre St., next to the reopened Brakeman’s Burgers. Owner Adetoun Fisher also operates five-year-old Shop & Smile African and International Market at 1741 S. Academy Blvd. She tells me the idea for opening an eatery came from fielding lots of curious culinary questions from patrons at the market, so she figured it would be wise to have a place to showcase typical Nigerian food. (Whereas her industry friends at ArkCleoRich African Kitchen on N. Academy Blvd. serve broader West African fare, including Ghanaian items.)
Ówàḿbẹ̀ translates to “a party or celebration” she says, meaning festive food that would commonly be seen at big gatherings. “There’s no party without Jollof rice,” she adds, laughing. I’m glad we happened to order it prior to me introducing myself and speaking with her post-meal. The menu calls it a “one-pot wonder” and its built around a large mound of long grain rice infused with tomato sauce, chiles and spices, with options for chicken or beef and plantain or coleslaw. We go pollo/plantain and impressed by Fisher’s method of steaming then pan-searing seasoned chicken such that it takes on a nice exterior crisp while retaining a juicy interior — it’s just damn good fried chicken. With the rice and sweet plantain bites it’s highly enjoyable, especially when we make use of some house hot chile oil that’s in a bottle at the table.
Backing up a bit, we’ve order a Nigerian stout beer named Legend that’s pretty Guinness-like by way of texture and malty breadiness with light roast notes. We quickly find it pairs well with the food, as does in a whole different way our non-alcoholic Chapman cocktail. There’s a legend behind its creation and varying recipes for making it, but there’s no questioning its modern popularity in Nigeria by online accounts I later read plus the testimony of our incredibly hospitable and knowledgable server Ernest. As we sip and try to pick out what ingredients we think are in it, he offers validations and corrections and we glean it’s a mix of citrus sodas, bitters, spices and grenadine for color. It makes us think of a virgin sangria in a way, or a wassail.
For our second entrée we choose Ewa Agoyin, which we learn is a dish of native Nigerian honey beans that resemble black eyed peas minus the dark part; they’re similarly flavored but naturally sweeter. The beans come in a mound as big as the Jollof rice, also joined by sappy plantain segments. Then there’s a thick hunk of Nigerian Agege bread, as white as Wonder Bread, dense and lightly sweet, adding a second starch to the meal. The highlight that brings everything together is a seriously spicy-hot Agoyin red chile sauce with lovely deep earthy notes. It’s so spicy you’ll want to go lightly as you incorporate it into the beans, but also pour heavy because the flavor quickly commands you to do so. It’s a culinary conundrum; find your own bliss. All I can say is when you put everything together in a bite you get the fabulous sweet-heat combo of the chiles and plantain enhancing the already likable legume mash. (Side note use any extra Agoyin sauce on the Jollof rice for equally awesome effect.
“This is seriously good food,” I typed into my phone’s notes page, stating it flatly without pretension.
Lastly, we get the Fura Da Nunu as a dessert, a traditional sweet drink or yogurt-like soup (think chia pudding texture) made with spiced millet in milk. We taste hints of clove and ginger. Ówàḿbẹ̀ serves it inside a Calabash gourd. I ask Ernest if Nigerians ever put fruit into it, because I suspect that would be good. Matter-of-factly he says “we don’t do that.” So, indulging in my sometimes rebellious side of my personality, I do just that in the morning with leftovers I take home, adding some blueberries and a couple strawberries. I really like it, convinced I’m onto something. Sorry Ernest.
A brief note on the space: Fisher experienced vandalism during the renovation period and felt boarding up the windows was the only way to prevent it happening again (next to the train tracks). So when driving by, don’t assume it’s closed given you can’t see inside. Posted hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., daily but for Sundays. Once you’re inside, she’s brightened the space beautifully with ornate chandeliers. Though the historic mission-style archways from previous tenants remain, she’s personalized the space with carved African masks and other artworks. Plush, cognac leather colored seating and tan walls lead up to decorative stamped ceiling tiles painted black. All of it amounts to a cozy lounge vibe where you want to relax and not rush a meal. Give yourself time to enjoy it and the cultural culinary experience.
Evergreen Restaurant
You may recall back in October, 2023 that I reported on the return of Chef Noah Siebenaller to the Colorado Springs scene. He was departing work for the restaurant group Quality Branded in Denver, and had just partnered up with the owners of Evergreen, taking an executive chef title as well. At the time, Siebenaller told me he aimed to “compete with Denver,” which is to say level-up overall and introduce features like tableside service with certain menu items.
The chef, along with Evergreen owners Alex and Lera, remain in a delicate transition period as of this writing, moving deliberately with menu revamps and slowly introducing new items. Expect more to change relatively soon. But as a snapshot in time, at least, we visit a couple evenings after Christmas and perch at the bar counter adjacent to Lera’s always-alluring pastry case. Inside, she’s created elaborate sweets, some of which take three days of procedures to make. This night, one resembles an oversized coffee bean. Another, which we buy and eat at home later, looks exactly like a lemon, with a textured, bright yellow rind, layer of dense white chocolate mimicking the pith underlying that, and a gelatinous lemon custard-like filling as the core, or pulp. Brilliant. Beautiful.
But back to our in-house experience, we sample a batch of new starters and entrées Siebenaller has brought on. Roasted carrots atop a feta and goat cheese whip, with garnishing harissa honey drizzle and espelette-pistachio crumble are delightful with balanced touches of sweet/heat. There’s no other word for his rendition of crispy Brussels sprouts than sensational. Given how relatively simple they are, this is a show of technique and smart flavor curation. The menu lists smoked paprika vinaigrette, goat cheese aioli and espelette again, creating a tethering harmony between it and the carrots. Pepita seeds add the crunch texture and the aioli the rounding richness. Good as several others are in town, we can’t think of better Brussels we’ve had — like, ever.
From there we move to an elegant, browned Branzino (European sea bass), headless, filleted and stuffed with roasted vegetables like tomato, red peppers and garlic, and topped in a thick dill salsa verde garnish. Again, everything’s on-point, with flaky skin and soft, naturally unctuous meat (or flesh, or just call it fish; it’s always awkward calling it meat, but you get what I mean). It’s a perfect picture of the fad Mediterranean diet’s high points, healthy and hearty.
Lastly, a play on Hungarian chicken Paprikash, subbing pork belly in place of the poultry to outstanding effect. Fat rigatoni noodles swim in a paprika cream sauce flecked with mushrooms, peppers and shallot, and a generous dollop of dill crème fraîche acts as the keystone to the architecture, tying everything together at the apex with a stabilizing and tone-setting herbaceousness. Trust me, this is the winter dish you are seeking.
With all these flavors lingering on my palate, I can earnestly say I’m excited to see where Evergreen goes from here, as it elbows its way toward the top of the local fine dining scene, if by no other force than inspiration and determination. Siebenaller — once running a butchery program at Beast & Brews in its early days — tells me he hasn’t cooked as much in the Eastern European pantry before in his career (as Alex and Lera are from Russia and encouraging those flavors). So the challenge to broaden his horizons at Evergreen has clearly lit a fire in him. And as a vested partner, there’s more incentive to create something special versus clock in for a paycheck.
Marigold & Go
If you’re a townie, you know Marigold’s name well after their more than quarter century in business. If you’re a newbie, let’s catch up: The OG Marigold Cafe & Bakery at 4605 Centennial Blvd. is home base, where Baker/Chef Jose Aguilar has held down the fort for the past 26 years — originally under owners Elaine and Dominique Chavanon. Then, in mid 2017, the Nehme family took over, continuing to win annual awards by local media outlets for their wide, fine pastry array. In early 2023, the family acquired the longtime fine dining spot Walter’s Bistro from Walter Iser, converting it into Marigold Bistro. And just six months ago, Marigold & Go was born, in the former, short-lived Just Love Cafe space that I wrote about here in fall, 2023.
I stop in one recent afternoon and meet manager Cailee Nehme (daughter to Ghassan and Julie), who graciously reminds me of the timeline of all this history, sharing other footnotes, such as how pretty much all the current kitchen staff at the main cafe have been there since the prior owners’ time and how Elaine trained Jose. With her brother helping too, at the bistro, she says there’s a strong family component to the overall business trio, and that “all the staff is like family — and that’s how we treat our guests, like being home away from home.”
I ask how all three locations compare, offerings wise, and she says the south bistro offers more upscale fine dining, dinner only with limited desserts, while as the name implies, Marigold & Go is meant for quick pastry grab-and-go plus breakfast and lunch service. The north cafe is essentially a combo of the two, serving all three meals and the most robust pastry case of cakes, muffins, tarts, breads and more. Lastly, she says the menu here at the Go spot will continue to grow in time, with some new items like soups coming on the first week of January.
During my visit, I order a simple Americano coffee made with a Café Marigold Blend roasted for the company by Serranos out of Monument. It’s a darker roast (Cailee’s not sure what bean origins) which I think plays well with the neighborhood Creekwalk patrons. My avocado toast ($10 for those of you still tracking this as a trend metric) arrives beautifully presented on housemade sourdough, garnished with crumbled feta, pickled red onions, microgreens, sesame seeds, a little sea salt and a balsamic drizzle. (You can do add-ons like bacon, chicken or a hard-boiled egg but I’m not craving any at the moment.) It’s a bougie enough bite at the price point, layered with flavor contrasts from sweet to acidic to creamy fattiness (in the healthier way, I mean).
Having proudly resisted the sweets cabinet, I start to head out, but Cailee insists on handing me a bag with a puff pastry cinnamon twist and palmier (elephant ears), noting they are longtime bestsellers up north. I’d be lying if I said my car didn’t end up with some crumbs on the floorboard on the way home, and I didn’t mind.