Le Toukouleur
"It's all about tasteful African chic in this mud-red painted, patio-adorned restaurant de classe," says Lonely Planet. Bed-Stuy Bites spoke to owner Jeannette Diop about how Le Toukouleur got its name: "Jeannette is from Dakar, the capital of Senegal, and she explained that when the French colonized her country, they encountered a group of African people who were of many different hues. Some of these Africans had dark skin, some had fair skin and many were shades that fell somewhere in-between. The French noted this and began to call these people 'all colors' or in French, 'toutes couleurs.' Le Toukouleur refers to this African group."
Citysearch notes that Le Toukouleur is BYOB and recommends their French-African specialties, such as "escargot pot pie, butternut squash soup, grilled chicken and stuffed fish." Yelper Whitney K. reports: "We had the Fufu (okra gumbo) and Tieboujeun (stuffed fish with vegetables) and the appetizer was a pastry shell with curry vegetables. All of it was delicious especially the Fufu." What's your take on this place?
Reviews (12)
Prodigal_Son wrote a review on January 8, 2009 12:09 PM
Whoah! A restaurant of the day I've never been to! I'm gonna check it out. Sounds tasty!
BrooklynButler wrote a review on January 8, 2009 12:40 PM
This place sounds great. I'm going.
cthecat wrote a review on January 8, 2009 1:21 PM
Lousy service!! Waited 45 minutes for average-tasting appetizers. Will never visit again!!
cthecat wrote a review on January 8, 2009 1:22 PM
Lousy service!! Waited 45 minutes for average-tasting appetizers. Will never visit again!!
superstooper wrote a review on January 8, 2009 1:49 PM
I love this place. I may be a bit biased because my daughter is a friend of the owner's daughter who is a really fantastic kid. I have never eaten in the restaurant. The fantastic kid brought a feast to me late one night. It was delicious.
Amzi Hill wrote a review on January 8, 2009 2:41 PM
Food is good. People are always friendly... Just wish it was in another location in Bedford Stuyvesant.
hans wrote a review on January 8, 2009 4:37 PM
The food is excellent, the restaurant is clean and the service is good with extremely pleasant waitstaff. The food is pan-African with a refined French sensibility. The ambiance could be better (the space is a bit stark).
On a side note, I'm not sure why people feel they need to write snarky "hit" reviews - if your experience was horrible, I could understand writing something negative like that, but if the food was only "average" why write something scathing (and post it twice) as if it has no affect on people's livelihood?
amybnyc wrote a review on January 8, 2009 5:10 PM
I've been to this restaurant a number of times, but always for brunch - I would love to try their dinner, but with a toddler we just don't make it out much at night. Brunch has been great, and contrary to above snarky poster, I was suprised at how attentive and friendly the service was. That is not a strong suit of some of the Bed-Stuy restaurants I've been to so I was braced for bad service and instead got fantastic and interesting food, and a knowledgable and downright nice waitperson.
I would like to also add that the mom's group I'm part of collected presents for a local women's shelter this Christmas and La Toukouleur heard about it and contacted us to see if they could donate some fresh baked goodies for the moms to enjoy during the gift party!! Now please, how often does that happen?? When I went to pick up the pastries and cake I found out they had been up VERY early, when not open, in order to make the food that day so it would be fresh. AND they had added some items they collected from regular customers and candy canes. I was truly blown away.
Hats off to them for so many reasons. I'm so happy to see this listed as Restaurant of the Day, and hope more people go. It would be very very sad to see it shut for lack of business.
KPantin wrote a review on January 8, 2009 6:36 PM
I've passed by for take out or for a nice quiet dinner with my wife on several occassions. The waitstaff was always attentive and the food was always good. Even while I waited for food, the waitstaff would usually ask if I wanted some wine or juice. The entertainment they have (jazz, spoken word, etc) makes for a nice evening out.
dwarbi wrote a review on January 9, 2009 1:13 PM
A couple of my friends live just down the block from this place, and we've been meaning go... now we really have to!
BrooklynButler wrote a review on January 25, 2009 1:40 PM
We finally got here last night. The food was good, excellent flavors and good ingredients. The service was fair--I think that asking one person to wait and bus tables, host, and schlep drinks is a bit much, and even though there were only four tables occupied, the service was still spotty.
The space, however, was FREEZING! It could not have been more than 65F in there, and every time the door opened a cold draft blew through the dining room. It was probably comfortable for the cooks, but not for anyone else. If I had not needed to go outside after eating (and thus walk in even colder air) I would have kept my coat, scarf, and hat on while I ate. I gave the "ambience" a two-star rating because of the temperature.
I will return--but only when the weather is warmer.
blgc wrote a review on January 30, 2009 5:43 PM
This is a great place to eat enjoy music some nights and lounge in the chair over a glass of wine.
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