Cafe Sababa only has one Restaurant Week special: Aaron’s Famous Sweet Potato Cakes ($6) — and my goodness, it was special. I ordered, waited fifteen minutes, but the dish was worth the wait. Three sweet potato croquettes sat on a bed of spring greens tossed in a lemon vinaigrette with mango salsa and and squiggles of lime aioli. The presentation was beautiful, and it tasted so, so good. The sweet potato balls had a great crispy edge, and the salsa was refreshing and sweet. I especially loved the contrast of temperature between the hot crosquettes and the cold diced mango and red bell peppers.
This dish is hard to catch. It’s only available at lunchtime from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. this week. There’s nothing else like it on small cafe’s regular kosher menu, so if it sounds delicious, you need to try it today, Wednesday, or Thursday.
Find Cafe Sababa inside the Cohen Center on the U of I campus near the corner of Fifth and John Street. There’s metered street parking nearby, but if you live or work on campus, you should walk over to Cafe Sababa to try this special. Be sure to check out all the Restaurant Week menus here, and read recommendations of what other food to eat this Restaurant Week here and here.
Cafe Sababa
503 E John St
Champaign
M-Th 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
