During my visit to the Windy City, I decided to create my own “Little Haiti” day, visiting the cultural entities of the Chicago Haitian community. Unbeknownst to many people, Chicago is a city founded by Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, who is recognized as the first non-indigenous settler to the area. Du Sable is of French and African ancestry and originally from Saint-Marc, Haiti (a port city located north of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince). The existing Illinois Haitian community is smaller than its larger counterparts in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut tri-state area, Massachusetts, and Florida (all states combined have a Haitian population of close to 1 million), but is thriving nonetheless.
My first stop was to Kizin Creole, a Haitian restaurant located on 2311 Howard St, along the border of the West Ridge neighborhood. Upon coming to the restaurant, you are greeted by Haitian artwork, from figurines, vases, and paintings (also known as “tableaux”). The main dining room floor is quite spacious, and the staff was in the process of preparing for their seventh annual “Taste of Haiti” event (more about the event - keep on reading!).
Along another wall, are accolades and awards presented to the restaurant and owners, Daniel and Patricia Desir, a husband-wife team of chefs hailing from Haiti (Daniel from Jacmel and Patricia from Port-de-Paix). The features range from the National Black Chef Association to glowing reviews from the popular and largest circulated newspaper in the country, the Chicago Tribune. Another area has small pastries created by Patricia Desir, called “The Chef Pattie Collection”.
Of course, while visiting the restaurant, I ordered a meal. I mean - it’s not like I skipped breakfast just for this meal or anything and planned the meals on my trip just for this moment (which I did...). I made an order consisting of some of my favorite Haitian foods: griot (fried seasoned pork), diri cole (rice and beans), pikliz (pickled cabbage soaked for days in a spicy vinegar mixture), sweet plantain, and macaroni gratin (Haitian-style oven-baked macaroni and cheese).
I had a chance to sit down with Daniel Desir, executive chef of the restaurant (Patricia Desir was cooking and organizing meals in the kitchen for customers) to learn more about the restaurant and his family’s role in the community.
Before Kizin Creole opened its doors in 2012, another Haitian restaurant named Chez Violette had a home at 2311 Howard Street and was one of two thriving Haitian restaurants in the area. Opening a restaurant was not the first thing on the couple’s mind when they first arrived in Chicago. After meeting and getting married in Florida in 2000, they made their way up to the Windy City of Chicago to start a chapter. As established artists (Daniel, a trained performing artist in dance and Patricia, a gospel recording artist), Chicago offered them more opportunity to thrive in the arts. Daniel already had experience in business from his own ventures in Haiti and decided to pursue and completed a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from National Louis University, and Patricia graduated from the prestigious culinary school Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago. Having a world of knowledge of business, the arts, and an established relationship with Chez Violette, when the opportunity came for the torch to be passed along from the former restaurant’s closing, they were eager to keep the fire lit.
While the Haitian community is thriving in numbers in here with an estimated of 40,000 residents of the diaspora in the Chicago metropolitan area (a significant amount in Evanston and a very sizable number in Chicago’s South Side), Daniel admitted that there isn’t much a stronghold in the city in comparison to other areas such as New York City, Miami, and Boston where the authenticity and culture can be more visible and “you can feel it.” This can make it quite difficult for small Haitian businesses to have longevity.
One of their staple events is Taste of Haiti, entering its seventh year on Saturday, Sept. 28th, 2019. The inspiration for the event came from Chicago’s own acceptance of various ethnic groups and their foods (coming from New York City, I was very surprised at how blended the diversity was in the areas of the city I visited). Realizing that there was no representation of Haitian food (especially when the city’s founder is Haitian!), the Desirs’ decided to fill in that gap and provide an experience that has come to be a neighborhood and city favorite for the past six years. For this year’s event, they are anticipating their most massive crowd yet of over 800 patrons throughout the day.
They attribute the growing success of the event to their social media presence (which was very surprising to me to see a Haitian restaurant with old-school vibes fully embrace - they are even on GrubHub! Score!) and the most influential: word of mouth. Daniel shared with me that anytime Haiti is in the spotlight, from natural disasters to the infamous “sh*thole” statements made by the President, local news publications seek out Kizin and the Desirs’ to get a “perspective of the diaspora.” What could be seen as “bad publicity” for the country, the Desirs’ use that visibility to their advantage and showcase the positives of the culture through their restaurant.
Daniel also attributes Kizin’s success to how their restaurant is able to present a welcoming environment for Chicagoans of all demographics in a modern way, something he says that most Haitian restaurants don’t do. Of course, this brings the controversial topic of “catering or pandering” to gain favor with people outside of the Haitian diaspora (also a topic frequently discussed with the growth of black-owned businesses), which the Desirs’ has been criticized for trying to be “too hip”. They take the criticism in stride and again, use it to gain more visibility for their restaurant and showcase the authenticity of the Haitian culture to all. “We just keep it moving […] we have a lot of people behind us,” Daniel says. In Rose’s translation: “haters gonna hate, but they are still invited to the party.”
Outside of the business, the Desirs’ are also parents to four children, are involved in their local community from church to catering for local events, and even philanthropy with local charities and social service programs. The children get involved in the restaurant when time permits, and also serve as great spokespeople for the family business. Daniel says they do a lot of advertising (all on their own!) at school and teachers and their own families come to support the restaurant as well.
Daniel says they aren’t certain about their future in the culinary business, but they do recognize the need for more visibility in the Chicago area. He references to the many requests they have received from Haitians in the South Side to bring their business to the area (something they hope to explore more in the future). “And even possibly, if God-Willing, and things are the way they are supposed to be - maybe we can go to other cities and make Kizin Creole a brand. We can have Kizin Creole in New York, Haiti, Miami, and Boston. I mean - who knows?”
Thank you to Daniel and Patricia Desir for allowing me to interview them and have a great lunch in their restaurant, Kizin Creole. For those who want to support Kizin Creole and the Desirs’, please come out to Taste of Haiti on Saturday, Sept. 29th 2019, from 12pm - 11pm! **
** At the time when this post was originally scheduled to be published this week, the event was already sold out, but I still wanted to get the word about the restaurant!
Taste of Haiti!
Thank you for reading! Part Two of my Little Haiti Day coming soon!
Peace and Blessings,
