Hedzole is the rare fast-casual spot that feels slow and intimate. Inside the Brightwood space, chef and owner Candice Mensah weaves between tables, chatting with diners, delivering bowls of jollof rice, and occasionally stepping outside to greet neighbors. The West African restaurant started as a farmers market stand and Tysons pop-up, but is now a full-fledged brick and mortar, dishing out deeply flavorful and fall-apart-tender oxtail and rich spinach-agushi bowls to diners sitting on kente cloth pillows or around a black tin communal table.

Deliciously spicy food inspired by West African cuisine done fast-casual style is truly a gift to DC’s dining scene. Hedzole is led by chef and founder Candice Mensah, a Ghanaian American born in DC and raised in Fairfax County, Va. The flavors of the African continent can be savored in every bite; the oxtail jollof rice and spicy red red and silky groundnut soup are both beloved by diners.

The word “hedzole” (pronounced “hey-joe-lay”) means “freedom” in the Ghanaian language of Ga. For owner Candice Mensah, a second-generation immigrant, it refers to her power to express her combined cultural heritage. “In the United States, there’s a default position on what Black is, and sometimes that overshadows a lot of the nuances that encompass Blackness,” Mensah says.