BREAKING NEWS:
Nigerian born Naturalized American, TAIWO ADELEYE opens first African Restaurant, Nightclub in Michigan…selling food that represents Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage
*Establishes African bar ‘Tatse’ where people eat various meals, dishes made from spicy recipes
*Ensure ‘Alobosa’, which translate ‘Onion’ in Yoruba language rules the night for English premiership/American soccer fans and party lovers with huge televisions on stand
*Evening hours kicks off every Friday in All Black Afrobeat Music Jam Night and attendees wear black clothing as a sign of black historical empowerment
*Place grandmothers’ pictures on wall above the food for people to see, Maternal grandmother taught him how to cook and Paternal grandmother fostered in him a love for education
*”I watch the English Premier League. When I go around, I find it difficult to find a bar that understands that there are other people that don’t just want to watch American football, but English Premier League or Champions League. As such, I want to ensure the chef and soccer fan set out to create a space where Africans, and some Americans, can watch games while eating my American-infused Nigerian dishes”-ADELEYE
* BY GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU/AMERICAN Senior Investigative Editor
ALL THE WAY IN UNITED STATES, TAIWO ADELEYE, a Nigerian born Naturalized American has become a familiar face in Lansing Michigan after he introduced the first African Restaurant and Nightclub to rule the night life, with rich recipes and spicy meals from Nigeria to reflect the profound culture of Africa’s most populous black nation.
Adeleye has been selling food that represents his Nigerian cultural heritage for the past six months at various farmers markets and through the Allen Neighborhood Center. And by this Friday, he’s opening ‘Tatse’ and at night ‘Alobosa’- a standalone restaurant to dish out his favorites, and offer soccer fans a place to gather.
“I watch the English Premier League and when I go around, I find it difficult to find a bar that understands that there are other people that don’t just want to watch American football, but English Premier League or Champions League,” he said.
So the chef and soccer fan set out to create a space where he and other Africans, and some Americans, can watch games while eating Adeleye’s American-infused Nigerian dishes.
Siso Dhladhla, owner of LanArtBus, a creative design agency, said such a place will provide a space for people in the African community to gather, and perhaps help others in the area realize how large the community is. Even Dhladhla, a first-generation American with Zimbabwean and South African roots, said he didn’t recall many in the community outside his friends and students he worked with in the past.
He said soccer may generate a connection between people as they watch games at Tatse. “We need to get a little more soccer at Lansing, especially after you know you’re still dealing with not having (Lansing) United around anymore,” he said.
Matt Jones, a friend of Adeleye’s and the kitchen and facilities manager at Allen Neighborhood Center, suggested Adeleye move his food business into the empty restaurant space downtown.
“People wanted more when they talked to him at the farmers market,” Jones said. “That really got him thinking ‘Okay, I need to start switching a little bit faster gear from kitchen rental by the hour to having my own location.'”
‘Tatse’, he said, was three times as busy as other food tenants at ANC’s incubator kitchen and once sold $600 worth of food at a farmers market in a three-hour period. Revenue from the farmers markets and other sources gave Adeleye the funding he needed to lease the restaurant for $1,000 a month.
Adeleye toured potential locations in the city, some without kitchens that would have cost $100,000 to add.
Instead, he chose a space that sat empty after For Crêpe Sake moved to East Lansing in May 2021. Owners originally closed the café in April 2020.
The décor of Tatse and Alobosa was hand-picked by Adeleye with textiles on the tables, artwork and other items that remind him of Africa.
He placed images of his grandmothers above the food for people to see. His grandmother on his maternal side taught him how to cook and his paternal grandmother fostered a love of education in him.
“Someone was making a joke that I put them where I’m serving the food so they can tell me, ‘That’s too much,'” he said.
The restaurant becomes the African bar Alobosa at 8 p.m. The name roughly translates to onion in Nigerian, Adeleye said (Albasa is the Hausa word).
The restaurant opens at 11 a.m. Friday at 221 S. Washington Square. Tatse closes at 7 p.m. for staff to transition into Alobosa and reopens at 8 p.m. It kicks off the nightlife Friday with All Black Afrobeat night; they’re asking people to wear black.
Tatse and Alobosa do not have liquor licenses, however, the Michigan Dance & Movement Collective, which Adeleye leads, holds a license and will handle alcohol for three months. According to the state’s Liquor Control Commission, MDMC has an active beer, wine and spirits 24-hour special license for the location every Friday and Saturday in February and every Saturday in March and April.
Regular hours will be 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; and 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
“Our goal is to expose and make Africans feel at home,” he said.
Adeleye’s plans include a weekly evening to eat in an African style. The ANC’s carryout and delivery model didn’t allow patrons to enjoy the atmosphere surrounding African food, Adeleye said, so from 5 to 9 p.m. on Wednesdays, Tatse will become “For the Culture,” where food is African and people eat with bread and their hands.
Down the road, Adeleye hopes to separate Tatse into its own restaurant along the lines of Chipotle and Qdoba and possibly add an American influence in cultural dishes. Alobosa would stand on its own as a fully operational bar. For now, it’s split down the line to offer restaurant seating on one side, bar on the other.
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