When I told my friend Judy that I wanted to try out a new restaurant, Suya Joint, for lunch a few weeks ago, she was very excited and immediately checked out their website (I love that about her!). For me, I just made sure of the address (350 Westminster St) and that there was parking (two lots, one block further down). When we arrived shortly after noon on a Thursday, we were immediately seated at the big window on Westminster Street. The space is bright and airy, with high ceilings and huge fragile baskets enclosing the ceiling lights. The tables were made of beautifully polished wood, and the chairs were woven leather and very comfy. There is a large well-stocked bar along the wall perpendicular to the street, and shelves near the entrance stocked with foodstuffs you can buy.
The back of the menu was a copious list of cocktails (more on that later…). We ordered the Joint Sampler as a starter to split (wings, samosas — we chose beef — and a little fried plantain), and Judy ordered a fried tofu dish that was not on the printed menu, but that she had seen in her online research. Of course they were happy to oblige! I ordered the veggie samosas as my main course. The Sampler arrived very quickly and was delicious: the wings were very tender and immersed in a lovely tomato “stew” that is a tomato sauce with a lot more complexity (and thankfully not HOT). That stew was wonderful with the samosas as well, which had an unbelievably light crust. We could have used some finger wipes after eating the wings, though. Judy loved her tofu, which was served with fried plantain as well, and in that lovely sauce. My veggie samosas were spicier than the beef, and also came with the stew for dipping. Perfect. From our server, we learned that the chef/owner is Cecelia Lizotte, and that she also has a Suya Joint in Boston (for the past 13 years) but lives in RI and decided to share her native Nigerian cuisine with her home state. This restaurant soft opened in December 2024.
When I returned with two more friends last week (mostly to check out that lovely bar), we had a reservation for 7:30 and were shown to a hightop table in the corner. I had some misgivings about the hightop, since I find them rarely comfortable, but this one had footrests all along the banquette, so it was perfect! I ordered the Joint Sampler with veggie samosas to start (since I knew it would be a hit), and we perused the cocktail menu. I chose the Suya Joint Margarita, my friend Jane the Guava Margarita, and Roz created her own: a vodka martini with a little ginger beer added — a Dark and Stormy vodka Martini! Mine was perfect but Jane’s was a little on the sweet side, although we all admired the flower on it. We decided on the African Dinner: Egusi stew (made with ground pumpkin seeds and spinach) with beef, fried plantains, jollof rice, and fufu (made from ground yam flour). The stew was excellent, as was the rice. It was plenty for the three of us. The fufu was poofy and pure white, with the consistency of a marshmallow (but NOT sweet at all), and we were hoping to use it to sop up the delicious stew juices. But it didn’t “sop,” so we used the rice, which was perfect. Our dinner came with a dessert, a choice of three, and we chose the guava cheesecake which was superb. The perfect end to a lovely evening. •
Further notes: a 20% service charge is added to all checks so that the employees can earn a living wage. And, if you pay by credit card a 4% fee is added — this is waived if you pay cash.
