In the depths of the pandemic, when many restaurants could barely tread water, Portland's dining community showed up for her West African cooking at the original iteration of her restaurant Akadi, ordering so much takeout that Ouattara became overwhelmed. 'We were trying to figure out how to serve people better and still offer authentic, traditional dishes,' she says. 'When cooking started becoming stressful, I wasn't as creative.'
Back in her groove, she returned stronger to Portland, opening the new Akadi space on SE Division in mid-2022. Since then, the restaurant and chef have soared, with 2024 milestones that already include a James Beard Foundation dinner in Phoenix, a kitchen takeover with the Portland Trail Blazers, an opportunity to speak at Reed College, catering for Wieden+Kennedy, pop-ups, collaborations, and Afrobeat nights at the restaurant.
Ouattara is hopeful that West African culinary and cultural opportunities will continue to bloom thanks to what she's seeding. 'There are so many places that lack West African cuisine,' she says. 'It takes a lot, but we're trying to change that.' Her main challenge now is feeling a sense of being creatively boxed in - a desire to further push her style of cooking beyond what Portlanders may expect.
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