Onions to make you cry with joy

I'm always enthusiastic about making Harlem restaurant recommendations, but I sometimes find myself at a slight loss--because, often, the restaurant experience becomes a pretty integral part of the way they experience my neighborhood. So which part of it do I steer them to? For every homely joint with Formica tapletops and honest, unpretentious goodness, there's now a fancy new place that won't let you in if you're wearing jeans--and they're both a representative slice of the neighborhood, for better or for worse.

But that just means that there are many, many reasons to visit my beloved neighborhood. And there's no better place to start than at Patisserie des Ambassades (which, incidentally, is not nearly as fancy-looking as their web page might have you believe).

While the menu at the nearby Africa Kine is a bit more exciting, Les Ambassades (as they also seem to be called) makes a spectacular lemon-onion-mustard yassa sauce that, frankly, I'd like to smear all over my body. A perfect balance of savory and sweet, the yassa sauce jumps starts an otherwise bland (and somewhat dry) roast chicken ($11 for a huge portion), and is a phenomenal accompaniment to their house-made bread (you'll have to ask for it--they might give you a confused look, but it's worth even the worst of glares). Their merguez sandwich ($6.50) is also judiciously spiced, and comes with the French fries on the inside--a nice touch, actually. Also good are their spring rolls ($5) and fataya ($5), which are billed as fish patties but are more like spicy fish empanadas. Please, please, please avoid the quiche and the hamburger. Dear God, definitely avoid the hamburger.

Their service is, well ... European (my euphemism for "slow"), but you might as well linger until you have some room for dessert, since they have a nice selection of homemade pastries at the counter.

Patisserie des Ambassades (map)
2200 Frederick Douglass Avenue