Restaurateur's road led from South Sudan to Buffalo - NewYork

Akec Aguer, chef and owner of Nile River, a new South Sudanese restaurant at the West Side Bazaar (Derek Gee)

The Nile River is the longest waterway on the planet, but Akec Aguer’s path to opening his first restaurant was longer yet.

Aguer is the chef and owner of Nile River, a new South Sudanese restaurant at the West Side Bazaar, which he runs with his son, Garang Doar.

His professional cooking journey began in South Sudan, in 1995, feeding Canadian oilfield workers in Khartoum.

Nile River Restaurant adds South Sudanese to West Side Bazaar

Garang Doar delivers freshly prepared orders to the counter at Nile River, a new South Sudanese restaurant at the West Side Bazaar.

In August, his dill-laced beef kebabs, ful fava bean stew and fried beef-and-dill turnovers were available at the bazaar’s 25 Grant St. food court.

In between, Aguer survived a civil war that reached into his restaurant kitchen, and later learned Egyptian ways cooking in Cairo.

Sambusas at Nile River are crispy deep-fried pastries stuffed with beef and dill (Derek Gee)

In the United States, he worked as a security guard and Uber driver while working on the foundations of his restaurant.

“I had to train myself,” he said. “So I went to ECC to learn English, and took an associate's degree in hospitality management.” He also got a degree from SUNY Buffalo State, where he told his adviser he wanted to open a restaurant.

He applied to the Westminster Economic Development Initiative’s West Side Bazaar in 2017.

Kofta kebab at Nile River, a new South Sudanese restaurant at the West Side Bazaar, is a grilled beef-and-dill burger over salad (Derek Gee)

Between the pandemic and other issues, the delays stretched into years. Tired of the delay, Aguer decided to move to Wisconsin, and started working there.

There, the call reached him: His spot was ready. So he came back, and opened his place.

His cooking is not classic South Sudanese, he said, but his versions of some of his favorite dishes. The emphasis on fresh dill – present in kebabs, samosas and the collard greens, beef and dill stew called sukuma wiki – he picked up while working in Cairo.

Sukuma wiki is a collard greens, beef and dill stew at Nile River, a new South Sudanese restaurant at the West Side Bazaar (Derek Gee)

Next year, when the West Side Bazaar moves to its expanded space on Niagara Street, Aguer plans to expand his menu, too, if he can.

“I have a lot of foods that I want to put it all in,” he said. “When we move next year, I will have more than that, because I know so many.”

The name of his restaurant hints at the dream that motivates him.

“The reason I named it Nile River is because it crosses 10 countries in Africa,” he said. “These 10, if I know their food, I can make it the right way.

Ful at Nile River, a new South Sudanese restaurant at the West Side Bazaar, is made of fava beans, tomatoes, garlic and other spices, topped with fresh cheese and hard-boiled egg (Derek Gee)

“It starts from Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Congo, South Sudan, Sudan, Egypt. These are 10 countries that share this, this Nile that is feeding them.”

Perhaps if Nile River catches on in Buffalo, it will give other hoped-for developments a chance, he said.

Garang Doar and his father own Nile River, a new South Sudanese restaurant at the West Side Bazaar. Doar prepares a dish on the stove that is shared by a few restaurants who use the space (Derek Gee)

“If this one is successful, I told my son, I'm thinking we move to make our own bakery,” Aguer said. “It needs to be done because we have our community here, and they do not have a Sudanese bakery.”

When the restaurant is secure, he said, that’s next.

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(West Side Bazaar, 25 Grant St., is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Order online through West Side Bazaar's Facebook page.)

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