Saudat Lawal makes sure her guest has a drink at the ready and nearly apologizes — albeit with a giggle — for the gustatory sensations he’s about to experience.
She’s made a plate of beef suya, a dish from her Nigerian homeland. Thin cuts of steak are coated with a powdered orange seasoning made from ata wewe, a tiny dried Nigerian pepper similar to a habanero. It elicits a delicious rich flavor and a slow, ear-throbbing, eye sweat-inducing and sinus-loosening fiery burn that’s cooled and complemented by fresh cut cucumber, tomato and red onion.
“Don’t joke with it,” she said. “It will make you sneeze. The peppers will clean out the sinuses and you blow all the junk out, and you’ll breathe freely.”
Mrs. Lawal hails from the Nigerian capital and mega-city Lagos. She and her husband, Luke, migrated in 1997 to Rhode Island, where she was an accountant. They started a family and ultimately relocated to Pittsburgh in 2011 after a visit, attracted by the low cost of living and quality of life.
Hermann Meledje came to America from his native Ivory Coast 16 years ago to study in Georgia; he’d go on to a career as a petroleum engineer, which ultimately brought him here to work in the gas industry. After long-distance commuting, he and his Nigerian-born wife, Tobi, moved here full time in 2018.
Immigrant stories like theirs are the threads that bind the fabric of this country. They’ve made their lives here, but sought a taste of home. Not finding it in Western Pennsylvania, they took it upon themselves to provide it and created a space for Pittsburgh’s small but vibrant West African community.
For Mrs. Lawal, it was a calling that sprang from a phone call.
“I was getting ready to go to work and one day my sister-in-law called me from New Jersey. A friend of hers from Nigeria came to Pitt to study and was homesick and needed to eat home food and I felt so bad for him. She said, ‘Sister, where do you get that?’ I said, ‘No luck.’”
Lagos is more than 5,500 miles and an entire day’s worth of flights away, but food transcends distance.
“So since then I've been having sleepless nights and I lay there thinking: You have the resources, you have the manpower, just go for it. That’s what prompted me.
“I was born into the restaurant business back in Nigeria — my grandparents, my dad, my mom — so it's in me,” she said.
So, Mrs. Lawal bought the former location of Chaya, a longstanding Japanese restaurant in Squirrel Hill that closed last year. In February, she opened African Eats Cuisine along with her sister and mother.
“It's mainly because of my community and to add to the diversity of Pittsburgh, because when people come from out of state to visit us, there is no African restaurant we can go to,” she said. “My people love life, they love to enjoy, so I said, ‘OK, I'll take that upon myself and just take the bull by the horn and do something.’”
Mr. Meledje had grown tired of driving to Columbus, Ohio, or Maryland to find West African fare, and in 2019 bought a defunct pizza shop in a little strip mall on Campbell's Run Road in Robinson.
“This spot was needed for our community and I was fortunate enough to open it up,” he said while preparing his take on chicken suya.
His seasoning combines curry, red pepper, onion powder and ginger. It is more fragrant than hot and blends well with the crispy and smoky grilled chicken.
“When we purchased this place it was a pizzeria. We heard about how African cuisine was a challenge to go over here because it's something new. So I figured I could continue the pizza dishes and then introduce those African dishes little by little and bring it to my customers and that's what we did, and here we are.
“We thought it would be important to share with everybody what we have,” he said.
Regular customers who come for pizza have taken to the African dishes offered like asun, a spicy goat served with sweet plantains, or jollof rice, a staple made with spices, peppers, meats and tomato.
Many African dishes are eaten with the hands, like ogbono, a meat and fish stew which is sopped up with fufu, a dense, starchy dish made from cassava that looks like mashed potatoes.
At African Eats in Squirrel Hill, Mrs. Lawal has found many non-Africans interested in trying something different.
“Ninety-five percent of our customers are Caucasians, some that have never even traveled out of Pittsburgh and if you see the way they eat our food,” she gushed. “They are free to explore and they love the food, especially those people that love spicy stuff.
“You feel that texture and consistency. The tactile pleasure creates a connection with the food,” she said. “It makes your brain prepared to enjoy it.”
The brain, by the way, is another of her specialties. Now a registered nurse, Mrs. Lawal is finishing a doctoral program in psychiatric nursing at Robert Morris University. While opening and running a restaurant. During a pandemic. And putting her three kids through college at the University of Pittsburgh and Carlow University.
“If there's no test, you can never have a testimony,” she said, sounding a bit like Mike Tomlin.
“The pandemic put a challenge before me and I love challenges and I love conquering them. If Chick-fil-A can do it, so can I.”
Mrs. Lawal is planning an expansion in the coming months and adding a full bar.
Mr. Meledje hosts a regular Saturday night BYOB party featuring deejays spinning Afrobeats music.
“Ultimately I am looking to make this place a main spot for our culture,” he said. “My goal is to make this place to be like home. I’m excited to see where it goes.”
True Pizzeria & Lounge: 5747 Campbells Run Road, Robinson; 412-747-4949 or www.truepizzeria.com.
African Eats Cuisine: 2032 Murray Ave., Squirrel Hill; 412-307-0295 or www.africaneatscuisine.com.
Dan Gigler: dgigler@post-gazette.com.
First Published: June 9, 2021, 10:00 a.m.
Updated: June 9, 2021, 3:52 p.m.