Michele StuevenThere’s been a brisk influx of African fare in Los Angeles recently, and perhaps the most elegant of them all is Cameroonian cuisine from singer, actress, and chef Andy Allo, who popped up in the cozy Deux Bistro in Woodland Hills last week.
Allo, the star of Prime Video’s sci-fi comedy UPLOAD and the upcoming martial arts film Absolute Dominion, returned to the Ventura Blvd. restaurant where she trained to become a chef. There, she presented a tasting menu inspired by her Central African roots to a packed house.
The Akone By Chef Allo evening started with a pillowy amuse-bouche of puff puff donuts with dabs of bean puree and avocado crema, followed by a show-stopping lamb pepper soup with a delicate potato rose. The second course was Allo’s polished take on koki duo, a traditional Cameroonian tamale, where she combined both corn and black eyed pea fillings with spinach in a sophisticated version wrapped up in a bow inside a banana leaf.
Lamb pepper soup with a potato rose (Meagan Shuptar)
Rounding out the menu was Guinness braised short ribs over huckleberry greens topped with pickled onions and fennel and lemon cake with passion fruit ice cream.
“Finding the ingredients can be a challenge,” Allo told LA Weekly as she went from table to table greeting guests in the charming French bistro. “Huckleberry greens are only grown between April and September, mostly in Texas. I get them from a supplier in Maryland, which is like little Cameroon. And there’s a special spice in the lamb pepper soup called njangsa, which is very specific to Cameroon. Whenever somebody I know is going back to Cameroon, I put in my order or load up whenever I visit.”
Despite having a full plate between singing and acting gigs, Allo plans on monthly pop-ups with hopes of a fine dining brick and mortar down the road, highlighting childhood memories of road trips with her dad sampling puff puffs along the way and her grandmother piling dozens of tamales to steam in a pot over an open fire.
Guinness braised short ribs over huckleberry greens (Meagan Shuptar)
“I’ve lived many different lives and certainly don’t lack ambition,” says Allo, who emigrated from Cameroon to Sacramento when she was 13 years old and credits her father for her motivation.
“But I’ve always dreamed of being a chef and loved researching culinary schools,” she says. “Between filming and going on tour, there was never the time until the writers and actors strike, and I found there was space. It was divine timing to pursue this passion. I took the plunge and ended up staging at Alinea in Chicago. The creativity I saw inspired me. I think my background in music and acting have shaped me and prepared me for this. It’s all storytelling in a different medium. Writing songs and getting on stage and seeing how my music affects people or how they relate to the characters I’ve played is personal, but cooking food is the most personal. Music and acting are nourishing, but there’s something about nourishing people’s bodies that is just a hair deeper. Food just hits every one of the senses and cooking is the ultimate experience of connection.”
Akone By Chef Allo (Meagan Shuptar)
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