New 'American'

Radio Kwara is a mission statement masquerading as a neighborhood tavern.

- MATTHEW SCHNEIER

So much of what’s considered American cooking has been influenced by Africa that the debt is omnipresent and often unacknowledged. As the Nigerian American chef Kwame Onwuachi of the still-nighunbookable Tatiana has written, Nigeria’s suya spice blend, prickly with chiles and onion, is “the grandfather of American barbecue.” Yet when many people try to conjure an image of American food, they may picture something like Rochester’s infamous garbage plates: the squidgy pile of meat, hash browns, and macaroni salad that was until recently a specialty of the house at Brooklyn Hots in Clinton Hill. That shop closed in 2022 and was replaced by the Nigerian American Radio Kwara, where dinner might include fiery pepper soup and thick slices of sweet, plush agege bread. No disrespect—my own father is from Rochester—but I know which I’d rather eat.