Go West: Le Bercail
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
The French influences at Senegalese Le Bercail are written all over the menu.
- 4519 Baltimore Ave., 267-292-5805, lebercail.biz
- hours: 11 a.m.-midnight daily
- recommended dishes: fried fish, dibi viande, ginger juice
The French influences at Senegalese Le Bercail are written all over the menu, with brochettes of viand (lamb) and poulet (chicken) and sides like riz aux haricots (rice and beans), but the flavors are beautifully African.
The whole fish, a menacing-looking tilapia, comes head on with skin fried to a potato chip-like crisp, scored to reveal tender white flesh and topped with a mound of diced onions marinated in vinegar and sugar and a proprietary (i.e. secret) blend of spices. The salad that accompanies the sharable fish dish is dotted with perfectly ripe tomatoes, quarters of hard-boiled eggs and a creamy-sweet dressing that matches the fish almost as well as their delicately vanilla-scented ginger juice.
Le Bercail’s take on dibi features paper-thin slices of lamb — bone and marrow intact — grilled to bring out all the savoriness and gamey chew you could want from lamb. Sides include fries and plantains, but their brown (or really, red) rice is the way to go. Broken grains are cooked to a rusty blush and flavored with spices and palm oil.
