Many restaurants that closed during the pandemic struggled to convince customers to embrace their new takeout menus.
Akadi was the opposite.
“People were very supportive of Akadi during the pandemic, so we did get more traffic,” chef Fatou Ouattara said in a phone interview last week. “But that was very difficult on the kitchen, which was literally falling apart. The stove stopped working. The gas line. The electrical. It was a nightmare.”
Ouattara closed Akadi’s original location at 3601 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in December 2020, traveling back to Ivory Coast to learn more about the ingredients and recipes of her homeland. She studied dishes from her own Bambara tribe, as well as the Baoulé and Bété, and those from neighboring Ghana and Burkina Faso, where her mother was born. Back in Portland, fans of Ouattara’s cooking feasted on her “Top Chef” appearance and leaned hard on Akadi’s namesake sauces at home.
“I was in Africa for most of that time, trying to get more information about our food, our traditions, so I can have a better understanding of this culture and tradition I grew up in, and how the recipes came about,” Ouattara said.
Now Akadi, one of The Oregonian/OregonLive’s best new restaurants of 2019, is almost back. A year and a half after closing, Ouattara and husband George Faux have returned with two businesses: House of Flavor, a North Portland market focused on introducing previously hard-to-find African ingredients to the city, and a new-and-improved Akadi, relocated to a larger space on Southeast Division Street.
House of Flavor opened first, debuting Friday in a former flower shop next to Crisp Salads, 3901 N. Williams, Suite C. The market carries Akadi sauces, house-blended spices, legumes, soursop and other fruits, African eggplant grown at Portland’s Happiness Family Farm, honey wine and Nigeria’s cold-filtered Star Beer. Eventually, videos on the wall will demonstrate cooking methods for many of the ingredients.
Attieke poisson braisé (grilled fish with fermented cassava) at Akadi's original Northeast Portland location.Michael Russell | The Oregonian
The restaurant follows Sunday — Mother’s Day — in the wood-lined space briefly home to Grixsen Brewing, 1001 S.E. Division St. “We turned it African, obviously,” Ouattara said of the wood-lined room, now brightened up with sunset colors, African artwork and new trees and plants from Arium Botanicals. Reservations are already filling up for next week.
Akadi favorites including fried plantains, crispy samusas and goat stew with fufu (pounded cassava) will be joined by new dishes researched during Ouattara’s travels, including an African eggplant stew and stir-fried sweet potato greens. Ouattara is also excited to add desserts, including a cheesecake and her “all time favorite” rice pudding with a fruit selection based on availability, possibly starting with passionfruit.
“It’s been almost two years off,” Ouattara said. I’m definitely anxious, a little scared. But I feel like if we get back now it will be easier to adapt. And I don’t want to wait any longer.”
House of Flavor market is open at 3901 N. Williams Ave., Suite C from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily; Akadi will reopen at its new home, 1001 S.E. Division St., from 5 to 10 p.m. daily starting on May 8. For more information, visit akadipdx.com.
— Michael Russell, mrussell@oregonian.com @tdmrussell