Photography by Patrik Matheson
Celebrating the diverse foodways of the African diaspora, this joyous chef-driven restaurant is poised to take Downtown by storm.
Located in Heritage Square across from Pizzeria Bianco, Latha takes a modern approach to African cuisine, illuminating the historic culinary connections between Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean and the American South in deliciously innovative ways. Essentially, owner Evelia Davis and chef-partner Digby Stridiron are retracing the African diaspora via food, and I’m crazy about the place (its name means “flavor” in Swahili).
Judging from the lively crowd on a mid-summer evening, the love is contagious. Awash in positive energy, Afrobeats music and fun cocktails (the handiwork of GM and barman Will Brazil), it seems an instant hit.
I could happily make a meal of small plates alone, beginning with piri-piri chicken wings, Stridiron’s riff on a Mozambican specialty. Served sizzling hot and generously sprinkled with sesame seeds and spices, they’re crispy, tangy, salty, spicy and faintly sweet – in other words, sauceless and perfect as is, needing only a spritz of chile-dusted lemon.
Most of us associate the herb and spice blend za’atar with Middle Eastern cooking, but it’s also a North African staple, generously sprinkled here over fava bean hummus, a cooling dish chunky with tomato, cucumber and watermelon radish. Chapati – puffy flatbread popular in both East Africa and India – makes the perfect pita-like scoop. And then there’s good old creamy pimento cheese, a Southern staple made, in this instance, with sharp cheddar and served with faintly sweet, wonderfully light coconut bread rolls from Jamaica.
Watermelon, avocado and jicama salad, strewn with fresh mint and given a tangy underpinning of goat cheese, hits the spot on a hot day. Even better, an elegant rendition of shrimp escabeche (akin to ceviche), the savory shrimp heaped with red onion and bell pepper and served on a plate smoothed with avocado. Served with fantastically crispy tostones, this might be my favorite dish.
Shrimp moqueca, a playful spin on Brazil’s shrimp stew and the South’s shrimp and grits, is outstanding, as is a spicy jerk pork chop, nestled in a coconut milk-enriched butternut squash rundown (think purée) with roasted turnips, carrots and fennel.
Admittedly, temperatures on both entrées were too low, and service on both visits has been agonizingly slow, but I love Latha wholeheartedly. Every visit feels like a celebration.
Latha Restaurant and Bar
Cuisine: Modern African
Contact: 628 E. Adams St., Phoenix, 480-640-6183, lathaphx.com
Hours: Tu-Th 4-9 p.m., F 4-11 p.m., Sa 5-11 p.m., Su 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Highlights: Pimento cheese with coconut bread ($15); piri-piri wings ($16); shrimp escabeche ($19); shrimp moqueca ($32)
