Haitian Food Draws a Crowd in Brooklyn
By Imtyiaz Shariff
Kombít is a Haitian restaurant located in the midst of a cluster of restaurants, from trendy to obscure, on St. Marks Avenue in Flatbush, Brooklyn a popular destination for both members of the Haitian immigrant community and diners who want to try something new.
Late in the day, the eight-year-old restaurant is empty, 19 tables waiting for the evening rush. The Haitian chef, Benjamin, and Haitian sous-chef, Nante, are in the kitchen — a short hallway down from the long wooden bar. There are a few prep people and a dishwasher.
Certain details in the room betray Kombít’s previous life as a sports bar: Beat-up wood floors and a bar that looks like it was built to serve ice-cold beer, not cocktails. But there’s an overlay of Haitian influence, including Haitian gourds taped to the left side of the bar, some decorated with drawings of the 18th century revolutionary Toussaint L’Ouverture, and pieces of Haitian artwork.
Maryse Felix, one of the owners of the family-run restaurant, strides in.
“Welcome to Kombít,” she says in her slight creole accent, a dramatic figure with shorn hair, full lips, and a sharp bone structure. “Kombít means gathering of the harvesting of the community.”
Hours later, Kombít comes to life, as it always does on Friday and Saturday evenings, when the Haitian band Alegba plays, and servers have to navigate the packed room. Maryse is zipping back and forth, not wasting a moment. Most tables order fritai as an appetizer, and for dinner a red snapper, legume lambi, which is conch, or goat tosso, pieces of comfit goat that has been cut up into small slices and marinated, then typically fried or grilled and served with vegetables.
Maryse who recently became a mother to a baby girl named Mona-Rey, has witnessed the expansion of the Haitian community, and a major push for opening Kombít was to bring the ever-growing population together.
“The community has developed a lot with people coming from Haiti and American-born Haitians,” says Maryse. “We think of Kombít as a place you can relax and feel Haitian. Here you can get food as close to your mother’s Haitian cooking.”
New York City is home to the second largest Haitian diaspora; the largest population of Haitians immigrants resides in Florida. According to the Census, 700,000 Haitians live in NYC and about 200,000 live in Brooklyn — a spike in population since the 1980s when the population was around 52,000, with the majority living in Flatbush. Newspaper stands in the neighborhood carry Haitian publications like, the “Haiti Progres,” and the “Haitian Times.”
Maryse is in her mid-30s, and oversees the restaurant with her sister Pascale, and while the family has lived in both Port-au-Prince and St Marc, in Haiti, the family has been in the U.S. for more than two decades.
“We have lived for more than 25 years in America. But our traditions and culture play a big part of our daily lives,” says Maryse.
Five other siblings take turns running the restaurant, which Maryse’s parents are retired and live between New York and Haiti. All the siblings have jobs outside of running Kombít, which is the family’s second restaurant; a previous one closed.
“As for the scheduling, we all work whichever days that we are available. One of us is always at the restaurant to cover the staff,” says Maryse, who works in finance. “We have kept our regular work load. That’s why we are only open in the late afternoon.”
Haitian cuisine centers on marinated meats and vegetables. Starches are a staple in this cuisine too. What is popular in Haitian cooking today was known as poor food in Haiti — dishes that depend on marinades make cheaper meats tender and flavorful, and starches are economical.
A common staple is fritai, which can be purchased from street vendors all over Haiti, and is served at Kombit.
“The Haitian palate is the same wherever you go,” says Maryse. “It’s that texture and yearning for your mother’s cuisine.”
Fritai has a sweet smoky aroma. The plate is not exquisite or attractive. It’s straight from the fryer to the plate. Fritai consists akra — a carrot-like version of the taro root — plantains, sweet potato, and griot, which is fried pork, served with pikliz, a spicy vegetable medley that can be dolloped on top. The common way to eat fritai is to layer the bits – a piece of plantain topped with griot and pikliz, eaten in one bite.
The typical marinade includes thyme, garlic, parsley, chives, leeks, onions, scallions, hot pepper, and peppercorn, all mashed up with lime juice. For a spicier version, Scotch bonnet pepper is added. The peppers have to be requested. But most Haitian dishes have a spice to them. All the ingredients come from a local Caribbean market, and some specialty items are purchased at the Haitian market near Canarsie.
“There are about twenty possibly more Haitian restaurants in Brooklyn alone,” says Maryse. “Most of the places are only take-out places. When you go to Flatbush there are many huddled together.”
Customers remain loyal to Kombít.
“I can pick up Haitian food closer to where I live, but Kombít feels like home. It is not pretentious or fancy, it’s relaxed. And most of the people I’ve noticed that come here are Haitian mostly from Haiti,” says Chantale Peck, who goes to Kombít often and was born in Port-au-Prince.
“I love it here when it’s noisy and crowded. The music reminds me of home. I love seeing all my Haitian friends when I come here. The energy is powerful and of course the food is delicious,” says Elise Miot. “If you want a quiet experience come Monday to Thursday.”
Kombit’s menu reflects Haiti’s convoluted history. As Maryse says, “Haitian food is inspired by African cuisine and the French combination of that, also whoever else passed by. Remember that passing cultures instill their cuisine and pattern of eating on any society. Foodwise it is creole, which is a combination of French and small amounts of Spanish, English, German, Lebanese, and Syrian.”
Haiti was the first free black nation, and one of the first democracies in the western hemisphere. Ten years ago was the 200-year anniversary of Haiti’s independence, and Brooklyn’s Nostrand Avenue was co-named Toussaint L’Ouverture Boulevard to commemorate the day.
Every Sunday Kombít serves soup joumou which is a pumpkin soup, a symbolic dish in the Haitian community. “The slaves were not allowed to eat what the colonizers were eating,” said Maryse, which included pumpkin. After the successful salve revolt on January 1, 1804, pumpkin became a symbol of freedom.
“At Kombít you always have a resting place. One can always come in and be themselves, and eat food as close as it can get to their mother’s,” says Maryse.
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