Review: ChòpnBlọk

Bigger isn’t always better. Just ask the person you live with about that couch that takes up a third of your living room. So when beloved West African food hall stall ChòpnBlọk found a second location in a space large enough to fit an actual palm tree, there was a decent chance the move would dilute the restaurant's hits. Fortunately, the brick-and-mortar spot in Montrose feels like an expansion pack of the already-great original.

ChòpnBlọk has always been an homage to West African traditions and artwork, even in their tiny stall. Their new space kicks things up a notch with Architectural Digest-ready corners, djembe drums, and woven fans. At kente-patterned tables, friends split seared suya skewers and deviled scotch eggs. Along the bar, solo diners kick back with plantain old fashioneds and crescent miniature meat pies while Wizkid’s latest single plays. It's polished but still familiar. Glossy but still casual.

Many of our favorite dishes from the original ChòpnBlọk float out of the kitchen dressed with overnight-smoked jollof rice and caramelized plantains, only now the dishes are a bit fancier, as if someone put a little bow tie on each bowl. Menu adds like delicate short rib in a red stew, grilled shrimp with mounds of smoked waakye fried rice, and a rich yassa curry are as fine-tuned as the oldies. But when it comes to dessert, the new ChòpnBlọk underwhelms. This location trades the caramelized popcorn covered in a warming ajebutter for a plantain bread that soaks up too much syrup and ends up more spongy than fluffy.

Sweets aside, the upgrades at ChòpnBlọk improve the original model while maintaining the restaurant's spirit. You won't get the speedy service of the stall, but not having to shovel food under fluorescent lights is worth waiting a bit longer for your first round of drinks. And you won't miss the sounds of clanking metal chairs in a food hall. Not even a little.