Rendez-Vous Creole Haitian Restaurant

"A family-owned and operated restaurant that opened recently on the West Bank is serving up beloved Haitian specialties like braised goat, conch, and pikliz (a condiment of pickled vegetables). Rendes-Vous Creole is from New Orleans’s Jolly family, and offers a welcome addition to a city that, despite its many Haitian influences and connections, has a limited number of establishments dedicated to the cuisine. Barthelemy and Yolande Jolly, the restaurant’s Haitian-born founders and co-owners, also help run Radio Gonbo Kreyol, a New Orleans internet radio station that serves Creole speakers. Barthelemy is also vice president of the Haitian Community center of Louisiana. With Rendes-Vous, the family has added to that list of citywide contributions, creating a warm, celebratory space for Haitian food and art. It joins only Fritai, located in St. Roch Market, and Gretna’s Belle Fourchette, among local options for the cuisine. The small menu focuses on traditional offerings of tasso (fried beef or goat), griot (marinated pork shoulder braised then fried), lambi (conch), and stews featuring fish, turkey, or vegetables. All are served alongside rice and pikliz, usually a mixture of pickled cabbage, carrots, shallots, peppers." - Clair Lorell