You may recall that back in January the James Beard Foundation announced that 10 Detroit-area chefs and restaurants made the cut as semifinalists for the 2024 James Beard Awards. Now, the James Beard Foundation just announced the finalists for this year’s awards and it seems like now only one of them made the cut!
Which Detroit Chef/Restaurant is a 2024 James Beard Award finalist?
The only remaining representative from Detroit’s food scene is, fortunately, a strong contender, the finalist(s) is none other than Hamissi Mamba and Nadia Nijimbere, the refugee couple behind Detroit’s award-winning Baobab Fare! They are finalists for the 2024 James Beard Award for “Outstanding Restaurateur”, a highly sought-after award that is given to the best restaurant owners/managers in the United States.
What is Baobob Fare and who are Hamissi Mamba and Nadia Nijimbere?
Baobob Fare is an award-winning Detroit restaurant that serves up authentic East African food directly from the refugee couple, Hamissi Mamba and Nadia Nijimbere, who sought political asylum in the U.S. from their home in Burundi, arriving in Detroit around 2015.
Just a few years later, in 2017, Hamissi Mamba entered, competed in, and won a local entrepreneurship program that rewarded him with $50,000 towards opening the business he pitched, a restaurant serving authentic, traditional food from his upbringing in East Africa.
After finally opening Baobob Fare in 2021, during the peak of the pandemic, Hamissi Mamba and Nadia Nijimbere’s restaurant quickly started getting national attention, being considered one of the best new restaurants in the country the same year it opened!
According to Chef and co-owner Hamissi Mamba himself, he likens his story to a true encapsulation of the American Dream.
How to eat at Baobab Fare today
The restaurant’s casual nature is extremely welcoming, so you don’t have to fret about this being an exclusive or stuffy establishment. You can find the restaurant at 6568 Woodward Avenue, where you will want to check out the signature dish: the Nyumbani, a slow-simmered beef dish with a tomato sauce base served with rice, fried plantains, and peanut-stewed spinach.
There is also WAKA Street Food by Baobab Fare, which is their Easter African street food style food truck mobile location that can be found around the Detroit area at times or you can also find a newly established WAKA Street Food available inside of Little Ceasars Arena. This means that if you’re at a Red Wings or Pistons game, you can go ahead and treat yourself to some of the best food in the country and then be back in your seat before the game starts up again!