B’stilla (bastilla) is the antidote to Middle Eastern food as fast food, take-out food, street food—gyros, kabobs, hummus. Barbary Fig’s Algerian-born, French-influenced chef-owner, Brahim Hadj-Moussa, coddles each batch for 24 hours.
He’s adapted the dish to Midwestern sensibilities by using chicken in place of the traditional shredded pigeon (sometimes bones and all), but he still envelopes it in the flaky, papery North African pastry called warqa, and he’s true to the practice of seasoning the meat with onion, ginger, saffron, and cinnamon. To the savory egg custard that binds the dish, he adds in-season vegetables and a chutney of fig, pear, and apricot for more moisture and body. For customers with adventurous tastes, he gives it the traditional dessert-like garnish of cinnamon, blanched almonds, and powdered sugar. Each bite is a complexity of textures, aromas, and flavors.
In his homeland, b’stilla is an appetizer. At his converted wooden duplex on Grand Avenue in St. Paul, Hadj-Moussa has made it a not-on-the-menu special entrée that his regulars know to ask for. Call ahead to be sure he has it on hand if you’re making the trip over to try it.
Barbary Fig
720 Grand Ave., St. Paul
651-290-2085
W-M, 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m., 5:30-9:30 p.m.
Dinner entrées $9-15
• Gone is the critically acclaimed Brix in St. Louis Park. Replacing it in March is a Tex-West and Mexican concept called Laredo’s Cantina that is under the same Missouri-based Collins Restaurant Group ownership that also operates McCoy’s Public House next door at Excelsior and Grand.
• Anticipation reached a fever pitch over the just-opened Porter & Frye in the Hotel Ivy in downtown Minneapolis. Veteran chef Steven Brown (Harry’s, Levain, RockStar) has assembled an impressive team of opening chefs, including Mark McGraw (Confluence) and Landon Schoenfeld (Bulldog NE, Barbette). A lot of egos will be on the line—literally and figuratively —P. L.
