Cuisine:

• Cajun
• Creole
• Caribbean
• Ribs
• Cuban

Boogaloo Description:
The first destination bar on Maplewood's burgeoning nightlife row remains a steady draw. But if it's a bar, why is the food so good? Actually, the bar is secondary, despite its row of swings---yes, swings, which hang from the ceiling---instead of bar stools. They're a great place to linger over mojitos and martinis. (For those already slightly unstable, standard bar stools can be found in the other room.) The point of Boogaloo, of course, is the food; the menu begins around New Orleans and heads south, presumably via banana boat, to cover the Caribbean and a little of South America as well. Thus, it's all Cuban sandwiches, a paella-esque seafood and rice dish and jerk chicken wings, which, by the by, are topnotch. The dining room with its pressed-tin ceiling and casual feel draws both the youngish and the hippish---neither group represents its extremes, to the relief of everyone else---and those in search of yet more of Mike Johnson's menu ideas. The fact that Johnson is overseeing the kitchens of four other local restaurants and consulting in more in St. Louis and elsewhere hasn't dimmed his ability to create and teach others to re-create interesting, often remarkably tasty, dishes.


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