Zanmi
Photos by Curt Saunders
It’s not that Wesly Jean Simon *disliked* his job as executive sous chef for the Hard Rock Cafe Times Square. “We actually switched things up once in a while, and I won a few of our international burger competitions that would put new burgers on the menu,” he says diplomatically about his 15 years working for the chain restaurant. “But it wasn’t what I really wanted to do. I wanted to grow.”
When setting out to open his own place, Wesly, who was born and raised in Haiti before moving to the U.S. at 14, turned to his culture. “I could have opened a different type of restaurant that would sell more, something that catered to the rest of the world,” says Wesly, 42.
“But I wanted to do something for my community and present Haitian cuisine in a better light.” First, the chef returned to Haiti for six weeks to better understand the food. “Because I left at such a young age, I wanted to learn what’s really behind our cooking. Why does it taste so different from food anywhere else in the world?”
After working with butchers and rural cooks in his home country, unlocking their secrets (“Respect the timing. Respect the ingredients. And there’s got to be love in it.”), in February of 2020 he opened Zanmi, an excellent, authentic Haitian restaurant in Flatbush.
“Respect the timing. Respect the ingredients. And there’s got to be love in it.”
Every culture’s got their own five-star restaurant, something high-end,” Wesly says. “The idea was to create that for Haitian food.” While he walked back this formal white tablecloth concept a bit, recasting the restaurant as a BYOB, at Zanmi the chef and his team have nonetheless built an elegant atmosphere with big sunny front windows, cultural art and artifacts, paper lanterns and a canopy of green vines.
Inspired by the regalia of Crown Heights’ West Indian Day Parade, Zanmi also bears a stunning mural by artist Damien Mitchell, depicting a woman adorned with a bejeweled headpiece, gold bangles and nose chain, and colorful feathers. “It’s actually a real person,” Wesly explains — Rhea Smith, vice president of the West Indian American Day Carnival Association, who agreed to model for the massive work.
Named for the Kreyol word for “friends,” Zanmi accordingly hosts weekly events to bring people (safely) together. There are Monday movie nights for films on Haitian history and culture, karaoke Tuesdays and live music every Thursday through Sunday. “I had to serve my community,” says Wesly, who moved to Flatbush five years ago for the express purpose of being around more Haitians. “These are things we do to help people feel at home.”
Wesly describes Haitian cooking as a chemistry that cannot be rushed. “You’ve got to cook the spices to a certain degree and reach a particular golden brown,” he says. “Then you gradually build up the ingredients. This got to boil. That got to simmer. This got to sauté. It’s all about the timing.”
For example, one of the most popular items at Zanmi is the whole branzino, which is marinated for three days. The same time intensiveness goes into the hearty and complex soup joumou, traditionally served for Haitian Independence Day (Jan. 1) but available at Zanmi daily. The BYOB’s vegan version is made of pumpkin, potato, pasta and other vegetables, all cooked separately for varying times to avoid mushiness and added together in stages to extract the flavor of each element.
Other menu standouts are the flavorful pork griot served with fried plantain, sausages and pikliz; kabrit en sauce, a thick broiled goat stew cooked with okra and served over djondjon rice; and the voodoo pasta with a Creole-seasoned Alfredo sauce, tomato, peppers and mushrooms (we added chicken and shrimp). “As an executive chef at the Hard Rock Cafe, I was limited,” Wesly says. “Now I’m doing what I love best.”
1206 Nostrand Ave., 718-676-1047, zanminyc.com
