The saga of Bouillabaisse 126, described here last summer, seems to have had a happy ending. The Carroll Gardens restaurant, a French bistro formerly haunted by the ejection of partner Neil Ganic, has quietly become one of the city’s most interesting French-African fusion restaurants. Under former Les Enfants Terribles chef Abdhul Traore, it’s now Korhogo 126, and attempting to convey the flavors of the Ivory Coast via the refinements of French technique. Escargot are pressure-stewed and served with star anis and tomato under puff pastry, African honey sweetens an endive-and-pear salad, and the ratatouille is “served with West African, Wolof-inspired rice infused with tomato, onion, and Senegalese spices and sautéed vegetables.”
Owner Emmanuelle Chiche is laissez-faire about Traore, who used to cook for Kofi Annan at the U.N.“He is developing a new style of ‘nouveau African’ cooking and people are responding to it,” she says. Asked about the nightmare of her relationship with Ganic, Chiche demurred: “I’m so happy to put all that negativity behind us. It’s not something we have to worry about anymore.” Except for the fact that Ganic’s new restaurant, Petite Crevette, is right around the corner and that he appears in the window from time to time. But there’s room for both kitchens in Carroll Gardens.
Korhogo 126, 126 Union St., nr. Columbia St., Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.
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It’s Hard ‘Kor’ [Brooklyn Paper]
