Recently I revisited a friend (Hi Dan!) who lives near Washington D.C. Since this area is incredibly diverse, I thought it would be a great opportunity to have some foods I've never had before, and prepared professionally to boot. Fortunately, my friend is also adventurous in this way, so it worked out very well. In fact, I'll be posting about at least one other meal in the future from this trip, and maybe two. Anyway, today's focus concerns Eko House, a Pan-African restaurant, which specializes in Nigerian cuisine, located in Rockville, Maryland. Readers may recall I've posted about Nigerian candies on two occasions, back on July 27, 2016, and October 5, 2019, so it's not my first time about this country.
Eko House (they spell it with more diacritical marks than I have on my basic keyboard) is very new, as an online article I saw noted that it opened in January of 2022. Their website doesn't include any background information about the owner(s), unfortunately. It does mention that the establishment isn't just about the food, it's also about exhibiting the art and entertainment of Lagos, the largest city (and former capital) of Nigeria. (In fact, Lagos is at least the 2nd largest city in all of Africa, with over 15,000,000 people--Kinshasha in the Democratic Republic of Congo may be slightly more populous, but that may be changing soon.) Because of COVID concerns, we got takeout, so I can't really comment on anything but the food. "Eko" is actually the local, Yoruba name for Lagos. Other reviews online were okay or decent, but unspectacular--Google listed a 3.7 out of 5.0 on 66 reviews, while Yelp had it as 3.0 out of 5.0 from 16 reviews. We noted a quirk about Eko House's hours of operation, in that they're only open Thursday through Sunday.
We each got an appetizer, and then lunch entrees. I went with the gizdodo, which is a traditional dish made from gizzards, plantain, onion, peppers, spices, and sometimes carrots and tomatoes. Readers with superb memories may recall that one of my very early posts, on December 16, 2012, was about my initial experience with this organ meat. (SPOILERS--I pretty much hated gizzards that time.) But, I wanted to give gizzards another chance. I think my friend ordered the asun, a spicy goat and pepper concoction. Alas, there was a mishap with our order, and both the appetizers were the same, meaning we either got two gizdodos, or two asuns. Given on what we observed and tasted I think it was two gizdodos, but I'm not 100% on this. For the entrees we each got a suya. This is a traditional Hausa dish involving smoked and spiced meat--usually beef, ram, chicken, or organs like kidneys, liver, or tripe. (I didn't see from which animals these organs are usually gotten--presumably the larger ones to make for a bigger meal.) This meat is typically served on skewers, and then combined with a corn or rice-based cake. What spices are used seems to be up to the chef--there doesn't seem to be an official consensus on any particular ones. The dried, jerky-like form of suya is called kilishi. Suya is considered to be one of Nigeria's most popular, national dishes. Plus, in general, Nigerian food tends to be very spicy.
Gizdodo appetizer: As I mentioned, I'm not absolutely positive that this is what was given to us. But, given that it was in a spicy tomato sauce, and gizdodo traditionally can include tomatoes, I think it was. Plus, asun doesn't usually have tomatoes, apparently, so process of elimination, too. Anyway, it looked like small chunks of meat and peppers and onions, covered in a thick red pasty, spicy sauce. Unlike the other gizzards I'd had before, these pieces weren't overly chewy, and gristle-y. They were more tender. Obviously the spices affected the flavor, in a good way. It was moderately spicy--enough to give a good bite, but not so much as to make the eating painful, and just tasting of heat. The plantain chunks tasted different, too, with spice on them. Still good, as usual. So, I have to amend my earlier conclusion: Breaded and fried gizzards are bad, but made as gizdodo they're pretty good, and I would recommend them.
Suya wrap, with beef as the meat. The Eko House menu said these wraps are made using naan as the bread, which puzzled me, as I thought naan was Indian in origin, not West African. (I looked it up, and apparently naan is consumed across Western, Central, and Southeast Asia as well, but not usually in Western Africa.) Anyway, they looked like regular wraps, with visible pieces of beef, purple onions, and peppers. A few potato wedge "fries" were on the side, with a sauce. The fries were good. The wrap was just okay, at first. It's hard to mess up a steak sandwich, and this didn't. However, unlike the gizdodo it wasn't very spicy, and was actually a bit bland as it was. Thankfully, after I put ketchup on it the results were much improved. Again, kind of like a regular steak sandwich, only with a wrap instead of the usual bread roll. Furthermore, the naan wasn't as thick as I'm used to, but was thinner, like a regular wrap-type bread. Overall then this was good, but a bit disappointing in that it wasn't very distinctive and different to me.
Suya wrap, with chicken as the meat: I have to rely on my memories of what my friend said, but basically I recall he said it was just decent, but not great. He compared it to a chicken shawarma, which is a Middle Eastern dish.
Therefore, to use the Google and Yelp rating systems, I'd probably give my dining experience from Eko House a 4.0 out of 5. Not awesome, but better than average. And to be fair, I only ate there once, so perhaps other dishes are significantly better (or worse). I will say the prices at this restaurant were markedly expensive--I think my appetizer and wrap were a bit over $30. Washington D.C. suburbs like Rockville are known for being pricey, so that's probably to be expected. Also, like I covered before, we got it to go, so I can't comment on Eko House's service, art, entertainment, or overall atmosphere and ambience, which clearly can also affect a dining experience.
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