It’s past due that Arthur Avenue’s foccacia, City Island’s oysters, the Bronx  Brewery’s Pale Ale and some of the other Bronx culinary mainstays received an event celebrating their deserved hype. Thank you, Bronx Tourism Council, for bringing us Bronx Restaurant Week last month.

However, there were several local restaurants in the northwest Bronx that did not participate for whatever reason. So, in the spirit of good food and good neighbors, we decided to highlight a few of those that did not participate. This is the first in a new series of Bronx restaurant profiles (not necessarily reviews because we’re not sure if we’re qualified for that) we’ll be rolling out periodically. Got a restaurant — restaurant week participant or not — you’d like us to cover? E-mail us at norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org.

Buen Provecho!

Ebe Ye Yie (2364 Jerome Avenue)

The neon “AFRICAN RESTAURANT” sign in the window is a beacon of Ghanaian cuisine on Jerome Avenue, not the first place most people turn to for dining. But, sitting two blocks from the 183rd Street 4-train stop, Ebe Ye Yie, meaning “it will be alright” is a no-frills, plastic-table-cloth-spot that packs in the good, exotic flavor.

Behind the glassed-in counter, the charming chef Fatima greeted me, and upon noticing my confusion at what to order, asked, “You want what all the white people get?”

Um, sure.

She served a heaping plate of four different styles of rice, dried fish and beef and a mound of gari, a flour made from dried cassava and palm oil. The winning elements though, were the two pasty sauces  she brought out; a dollop of each on a styrofoam plate. She left giving me a slight warning of their heat, and after just a bite I was already gunning for the can of Vimto I had thankfully bought. The sauces are made in house from the Jamaican and the black pepper, and are the icing on a starch on starch mound.

Fufu, made from cassava and other root vegetables, ground into a paste and rolled to make a large ball, is another staple dish at Ebe and in Western and Central Africa. Fufu usually accompanies a thick stew, which could be made from anything ranging from Tilapia to lamb, spinach or peanut butter. One of the only ingredients you can’t find on your plate at Ebe though, is pork.

Ebe Yie Ye is located at 2364 Jerome Avenue, and is open for lunch and dinner every day.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.