Baltimore’s Burkina Faso African restaurant: Delights by Mina [classic article]

A recent bout of jury duty in Baltimore City left me with $15 cash per diem and some long lunch hours. Up the hill from the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, in the 100 N. Charles Street block, is a location that’s seen a few different restaurants in and out of there over the decades. Has it become one of those “haunted” restaurant locations? Time will only tell. In the meantime, an interesting and affordable spot has popped up: Delights by Mina.

The restaurant features the food of Mina’s homeland, Burkina Faso (formerly the Republic of Upper Volta). Probably most people are unfamiliar with this not currently on the political radar nation north of Ghana, so their cuisine’s a mystery, too.

The menu has a mix of more seasoned items and mild items, as well as French influences, like crepes. The area that is now Burkina Faso was a French colony, after all.

I tried the Chicken Yassa, which was a mild dish. It’s chicken marinated for 48 hours in lemon and Dijon mustard, garnished with lime. I also noticed onion flavors in this very tender, flavorful dish. The sauce is a broth sauce with a bit of a salt kick. Even if you normally aren’t a rice eater, you should order rice as one of your sides (I didn’t) to make sense and use of the sauce.The pieces served were drumsticks. Sauteed veggie sides are finely chopped and seasoned with salt and pepper. There are more exotic sides available and that may be the way to go: the veggie portion was on the small side and the chopped presentation seemed like a garnish.

The restaurant just opened this month. Plates and presentation seem to be in the growing pains stage: with the chicken and its sauce, they need plates with deep wells, for example.

They have a number of daily lunch specials, as well as morning breakfast buffets, brunch buffets, cooking classes combined with fitness classes (that’s how you do it!).