(upbeat music) - Today we are in the flagship of FUFU n' Sauce, our first location that's a brick and mortar location for carryout, pickup, and just servicing the community.

- [Veronica] On June 25th, Adjo Honsou, the winner of Season 3 of "The Great American Recipe" on PBS, opened her first restaurant.

- The idea of owning a restaurant was not something of inception, but I feel like I've lived the story to tell this story best.

From migrating from Togo to here, living in the St.

Louis community, not having access to my food and just being the person that I believe in, being the change you want to see.

There is no African restaurant here if you want to change that.

- [Veronica] The FUFU n' Sauce brand started over three years ago as pop-ups.

- St.

Louis has shown us that they really want this food.

And so from the popups, we went into the food truck in 2023.

And so the food truck is about two years old.

And so it's just time.

It's time to, to have roots, you know, because I am frankly tired of getting 12:00 AM calls.

"Where's the food truck?"

So now the location is here.

You don't have to hunt me down in the city anymore.

- [Veronica] The restaurant is located on the corner of Paige and Midland in Vinita Park.

Honsou says everything from the art, to the music, to the walls are meant to transport customers to her native country of Togo.

- So when I got this space, the walls were not like this.

It was just plain white wall and smooth white wall.

And my biggest challenge was texturing it.

I lost so many weeks because I had to find somebody that can texture the walls.

And so, because back home, this things are built out of brick or clay.

So that is literally what the wall looks like.

So that was the biggest challenge.

But once we got that texture, then the vision came to life.

It became, "What do I wanna feel in the space?

What from home bringing into the space will make other people feel like they're of my culture and in my culture?"

- [Veronica] But the food is the star of the show.

- Throughout the journey of the food truck, we've learned all the things that people like, you know?

Of course, our oxtail being our winning one and what everybody's always looking to get.

And egusi being our vegan option.

We're keeping our beefs to the jollof rice.

And of course the star of the show, the fufu, is always here.

- [Veronica] Honsou also plans to introduce a new African dish each month.

- I want to highlight all the different countries, all the food that I've learned growing up that may not be Togolese food per se, but our West African cuisine and our West African food or even Eastern African food as we grow and as we just expand the culture and learn from one another because we're not a monolith.

As much as people think Africa is a country, it's a continent full of different countries and different flavors and different connections.

I think that being on "The Great American Recipe," what it has done was kind of pick people's curiosity.

A customer that came here on Wednesday and said, "I want the cocktail today because I'm gonna eat everything in the order you made it on the show."

And I was like, "I've done my job."

Like, I have done my job, you know?

Somebody that knows nothing about African culture, had no prior experience with African culture, just because they saw "The Great American Recipe," are like, "Okay, this person is making this food, they're here in my community, I'm gonna come and I'm gonna eat every single thing she made on the show."

And it's so healing for me as well.

And that's why the passion really seems, it comes through because I'm like, "Oh wow, I would've loved somebody to have done this for me."

And so I'm glad that I'm doing it for the next generation.

- [Veronica] And don't worry.

You can still find the FUFU n' Sauce food truck all around St.

Louis.

But Honsou says the new brick and mortar space is a dream come true.

- It's a real and authentic manifestation of how hard work, vision, and truly caring about your people can really materialize into something beautiful.

And I just wanna say, I hope I made my people proud.