Immaculee II Haitian

HAITI 🇭🇹

In this part of Brooklyn, most of the Haitian joints have a pretty familiar theme: Very modest yet respectable environment, a woman who seems not to like you but will later warm up, an owner that shows up midway with a wide smile and wishes everything is just fine for you, and food that is incredible. If you do not speak French, you will be the only one there.

They like to do things as meals or sets here, so it is difficult to get anything that is not gigantic. At first we were offered a two person set for $25 that we thought would be too much. As it was, our two individual portions could have fed at least three.

Each platter we ended up with came with plantains, salad, beets, and a small portion of macaroni and cheese. The meats we selected were then doused with gravy that we actually asked for more of after discovering how tasty it was.

The single (cough!) serving portions run just $10 and guarantee some leftovers. There are usually around four or five meat selections on the steam table here, as well as your choice of two different styles of rices and some different sides. The place is a bakery but by nighttime the baked goods case is empty.

I decided to let a fellow customer who had come in for takeout guide my selections and do the translations with the still grumpy server. She asked if we liked this or that, and came up with a good plan. I recall this happening at other Haitian restaurants as well, as the people of this small country are very proud of their cuisine and always want to make sure their guests are receiving a proper explanation.

This inevitably leads to over ordering and plenty of leftovers as stated, but that is half of the fun and great for interactions. No matter where you are in the world, walking into a new situation or one with a language barrier can always be made better with a simple smile. Prospect Lefferts Gardens is no different than Papua New Guinea in this regard.

A short walk away, or one subway stop south is the other Immaculee, the original I suppose. Considering the constant stream of takeout business happening at both, I would say this is the go to franchise of the neighborhood for Haitians.

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PROSPECT LEFFERTS GARDENS Brooklyn

1227 Nostrand Avenue