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African Continental Cuisine (271-4605) has opened at 257 N. Greene St. in downtown Greensboro.

The restaurant, in the old Riva’s Trattoria location, offers a menu of Caribbean and African dishes, with a focus on Nigerian specialties.

Luther Ismaila opened the restaurant with his wife, Maryann. The Ismailas moved to Greensboro from Cleveland, where he owns two other African restaurants.

“This is the first time that we open a restaurant in a downtown area,” Ismaila says.

African Continental Cuisine offers entrees such as curried goat ($12.99), spicy shallow fried fish ($11.99), brown stew chicken ($11.99), steamed tilapia ($13.99) and Spanish Shrimp ($10.99).

Sides include the traditional tomato-infused Jollof Rice ($3), fried bean puffs called Akara ($4), fried plantains and Moi Moi ($4), a traditional dish made from a black-eyed pea pudding that is steamed in a banana leaf, much like a tamale.

“We look at our food as being holistic,” says Maryann Ismaila, who says she learned to cook on her grandmother’s farm in Nigeria.

She and her husband are both in the field of Internet technology. He is between jobs after leaving a cable company in Ohio. She is on staff at N.C. A&T while working on a dissertation.

Traditional West African soups are much different than the broth-based soups most Americans eat with a spoon, Maryann Ismaila says. Nigerian soup tends to be more like a dip that can be eaten with a utensil or in the traditional way with a pinch of fufu, a starchy root paste steamed to the consistency of heavy dough.

African Continental Cuisine offers mixed vegetable, tomato basil and the traditional egusi, made from pureed melon seeds.

Appetizers include grilled spicy shrimp and puff puffs (fried sweet dumplings) with sweet ginger sauce.

African Continental Cuisine soon will have a full bar, and the restaurant is offering a New Year’s Eve special that includes dinner for two and a bottle of Champagne for $65.

Ismaila is planning to open another Greensboro location on Phillips Avenue early next year.

Hours for the downtown location are 10 a.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Artisan bakery opens

Loaf Bakery (227-B S. Elm St., Greensboro) opened last week in an alley off downtown Greensboro’s busy streets.

The opening filled a vacancy — and a void to many — that Simple Kneads left when the bakery closed in August.

“For the past two weeks, when the lights were on, someone would stop in on average of every 10 minutes to ask if we were open,” says Robert Roth, who opened the artisan bakery with business partner Angela Gregory.

“A lot of people have welcomed us into the space that was Simple Kneads,” Gregory says. “We knew we were going to be compared to Simple Kneads, but there is a feeling of warmth.”

Gregory has managed commercial bakeries in the UK. Roth, owner of Rothchild’s Angus Farm, is a familiar vendor at the Greensboro Farmers’ Curb Market.

“That’s how I got into this project,” Roth says. “The farmers at the market asked me to open the bakery.”

Loaf offers artisan breads and pastries and employs three bakers: Mike Fleischman, a former Simple Kneads baker; Grey Bailey, who has baked all over the country; and Julien Vicard, an award-winning French pastry chef.

Roth says the bakery will use as many seasonal ingredients as he can get his hands on from the farmers at the Curb Market.

“We hope to get a jump on tomatoes,” Roth says.

He plans to retail other products from producers at the market, too.

Luke Whitten, who ran Greensborough Coffee on State Street, will man the coffee bar and wait on customers.

Loaf also offers locally produced Tea Hugger teas in black and green flavors.

Sports bar opens

Mark Joyce’s Uptown Charlie’s (644-9447) has opened at 5828 N. Church St. in Greensboro.

The restaurant and sports bar is in a strip center near the intersection of N.C. 150 that also is home to a Lowes Foods store.

Uptown Charlie’s offers appetizers, burgers, sandwiches, soups, salads, daily desserts and entrees such as ribeye steak and grilled chicken.

The Greensboro restaurant is a sister location to Mark Joyce’s Uptown Charlie’s at 1216 E. Dixie Drive in Asheboro.

Lunch with Santa

Have lunch with Santa and Mrs. Claus from noon to 2 p.m. Thursday at The Lunchbox (427-3334) at 110 W. Murphy St. in Madison.

Kids eat for $1 with a paying adult. There will be music and storytelling.

Contact Carl Wilson at 373-7145 or carl.wilson@news-record.com