James Beard semi-finalist Baobab Fare closes on new east side location

The owners of New Center restaurant sensation Baobab Fare closed Thursday on the $145,000 purchase of their second brick-and-mortar location on the city’s east side. 

Baobab co-owner Hamissi Mamba told BridgeDetroit renovation work at the former video store-turned-tax office at 16900 E. Warren Avenue is expected to begin in July. He expects to offer Burundi-inspired cuisine at the new Baobab Fare East in late December. 

“There’s a lot of emotion in this building for me. For the first time, I feel like I’m giving back to Detroit,” said Mamba, a refugee who came to the United States with his wife, Nadia Nijimbere, seeking asylum more than a decade ago.

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The couple started Baobab Fare as a pop-up in 2017 before opening their New Center restaurant at Woodward and E. Grand Boulevard in 2021. The eatery – a three-time semi-finalist for the prestigious James Beard Award – specializes in dishes like flash-fried fish, eggplant stew, and slow-roasted goat shank alongside plantains and rice.

The Food Network Chopped winner said he’d been contemplating a second location in Ann Arbor until he was encouraged last year by East Warren Development Corporation Executive Director Joe Rashid to consider the east side. 

“He asked, ‘Do you want to buy a building,’” Mamba said of Rashid, adding he was hesitant at first. But after visiting the area, Mamba said he quickly changed his mind.

“I drove there. There’s nothing here. I thought ‘there’s no food here, there’s nothing,’” he said. “We have always claimed that Detroit is home. It doesn’t make sense I would run away from this tough situation and open in Ann Arbor because it’s easy. I was like, ‘OK, I’m opening here. Joe, I’m ready, what do I do?’”

Mamba said there’s potential grant funding in the pipeline for the $1.3 million renovation project. He’s seeking support from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and is working with Rashid’s organization and Invest Detroit.

Rashid said Baobab’s new building, on E. Warren Avenue at Grayton and Cadieux, will serve as a “transformative piece” of the community poised for $75 million in development, including 100 new housing units, 35,000 square feet of retail as well as the anticipated groundbreaking this year of the East Warren Public Market, which will feature a commercial kitchen, he said. 

Rashid said his group’s developer assistance program has worked hand-in-hand with Mamba and other local businesses to acquire properties and “make things like this happen.”

The area near E. Warren and Cadieux is emerging as a Black-owned economic center with the addition of establishments like Savoy restaurant, which opened in January, as well as Detroit Pepper Co., Next Chapter Books, MorningSide Cafe, Flamz Pizzeria and The J Spot. 

“There’s a lot of really great momentum,” Rashid said. “The neighborhood has been craving sit-down places. East Warren was once a thriving economic business corridor that historically met everyone’s needs. Over the last 20 years, it’s lost pretty much all of its sit-down options. Having an option like this (Baobab) coming back to the neighborhood is really incredible.”

Rashid said it really clicked for Mamba last year during an event that drew 10,000 people to thoroughfare. 

Baobab’s new 3,000-square-foot space has been vacant for about six years. Mamba said that the building is twice the size of his existing restaurant and will offer comfortable seating and larger tables. The new spot will offer much of Baobab’s current menu items as well as some new dishes and a mocktail bar, Mamba told Bridge.

“Black people like to sit for a long time. We want to give that to the people. We want people to feel that even if you don’t live there, you’ll feel proud to invite people to drive there,” he said. “East siders, even if they don’t live around there, they can always bring friends there.”

MorningSide Cafe owner Jeffrey D. Lewis II said Baobab’s expansion in the corridor will boost traffic and awareness of the district that recently celebrated the completion of a streetscape project from Three Mile Drive to Cadieux.

“To have Baobab come in, that’s a plus. That’s a win for us. It’s another sit-down place where people can come and enjoy good food, something different that our area hasn’t been accustomed to,” said Lewis, who opened his shop about seven months ago. “This award-winning establishment, I know the community will definitely embrace it. 

Ron Otto, president of the East English Village Association, said the restaurant is something different and reflective of the diverse community.

“It’s super important that it’s a family-run business that is unique, that has cultural significance and that isn’t a chain restaurant,” he said. “There’s hope that the neighborhood, East Warren, becomes a little foodie center on the east side.”

Resident Sarah Reid said she’s seen major revitalization and Black business ownership growth in the community. About a year ago, she noted, the food options were mainly limited to a few corner stores. 

“It (Baobab) offers diversity in our food choices,” said Reid, who has lived a couple blocks away from the corridor for about 15 years. “It’s something new and different that our area definitely needs.

“It is bringing more diversity to the neighborhood in terms of restaurants, eating choices – even with the bookstore, like Next Chapter books. It’s like a refresh to the neighborhood.”