A Haitian Coronation—Imperial Caribbean Restaurant In Cromwell

Imperial Caribbean Restaurant in Cromwell is one of the pleasantest surprises I have encountered in years. From a strip mall restaurant specializing in a cuisine that had not exactly wowed me in the past came one of the top ethnic meals of my life. While I had previously tried other Haitian restaurants, those eateries may not have been ideal ambassadors for the cuisine. After dining at Imperial Caribbean Restaurant, I must crown it as not only the best Haitian food I have ever tasted but quite possibly the best Third World food I have eaten in Connecticut since the 1990s, high praise indeed.

I consider myself pretty well versed in Caribbean food. There’s always room for personal growth, of course, but I have enjoyed extended visits to the four largest islands in the Caribbean—Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and yes, Cuba. I have tracked down local specialties like conch fritters and sherried turtle soup in the Bahamas. And for more than a year, I lived with a young Jamaican woman, who was almost as good a cook as she was loony.

My exploration of Hispaniola was limited to extensive travel throughout the Dominican Republic with a friend named Porfirio Guzman, who had emigrated from that hospitable nation. My only contact with Haiti, which is slightly larger in area than Maryland, was seeing it from the air as the visibly brown western third of Hispaniola. If poverty and deforestation have rendered Haiti relatively colorless from the air, the same cannot be said of its cuisine—at least as practiced by Imperial Caribbean Restaurant.

My dining companion and I set off from Hamden for Cromwell on a day that was a complete washout, only to encounter a traffic backup on I-91. We dove for Exit 20, then used Miner Street to cut over to Shunpike Road. As I passed the tiny pull-off above Westfield Falls, which is visible from I-91, I imagined what the cascade must look like after so much rain, knowing that its twin plumes morph into a trident when the water runs high. Here’s a shot of the falls after a good rain.

Moments later, I shot this exterior photo of Imperial Caribbean Restaurant in the rain by maneuvering the car into position and dropping the window for a few seconds.

Thanks to the dismal weather, the restaurant was almost empty. We were waited upon by staff member Karin Barbosa, who invited us to wander around the restaurant and inspect the numerous traditional Haitian paintings for sale on its walls. Most of the artwork was by one of two talented artists: Pierre Sylvain or Joseph Gorneault.

As we awaited our food, we learned the history of Imperial Caribbean Restaurant. This extraordinary island-flavored eatery is owned by nurse Marie P. Jarda with the help of her husband, Dr. J. Carl Jarda. It did not materialize from thin air. The original Imperial Caribbean Restaurant was located in Les Cayes, Haiti, and run by Marie’s mother, Cia Perrin. Many years later, Marie, unable to resist her culinary heritage, opened and operated the next Imperial Caribbean Restaurant, located in Middletown, from 1995 until 2000. The Cromwell edition of the restaurant opened in 2008. Here you see Marie, a gifted cook and classy lady.

When our food arrived, we saw that the portions could feed a small army. A very happy army, I’m sure. I commented to Karin that she might need a forklift to remove us when we were done, and she laughed. She said the restaurant gets that comment a lot, as well as people saying they need a couch upon which to lie down. She observed that “piti,” the Creole word for “small,” is not in Marie’s vocabulary.

But the first bite of Marie’s festival dumplings, addictive corn fritters that we dipped in a wonderfully complex hot sauce, told us that “flavor” was at the very top of her vocabulary list. We washed the fritters down with well-chilled Red Stripe beers.

Firecracker shrimp seasoned in jerk sauce confirmed that we were in the hands of a masterful cook who didn’t believe in taking shortcuts.

A side of spicy cabbage tinged with vinegar was another revelation.

Even a side salad dressed in a balsamic vinaigrette was superior to most.

Lovely, lightly caramelized fried plantains accompanied these sides.

Marie’s entrées were also phenomenal, worth a trip from anywhere in the state. Her griot, Haiti’s national dish, featured cubes of pork with a slightly crunchy exterior that were so soft inside they practically melted.

While less spicy than most, her jerk chicken couldn’t be surpassed in tenderness, juiciness and tastiness.

Both entrées were plated with a great mushroom rice and a nice red beans and rice.

Finally, we tried the two desserts available that night from a rotating selection. Marie’s Bourbon bread pudding was warm, soft and exhilarating.

Her rum cake was not only delicious but intense, reminding us that more recent culinary wisdom holds that not all of the alcohol burns off during cooking.

Imperial Caribbean Restaurant’s food was so full-flavored and sophisticated that, when Marie finally came out of the kitchen, I told her I didn’t know whether to hug her or kiss her hand. (I opted for the latter.) So let me issue a serious challenge to Connecticut’s top chefs to try Marie’s food. Imperial Caribbean Restaurant will remind them what great home cooking is—and that they shouldn’t stray too far from it.

Imperial Caribbean Restaurant, 51 Shunpike Road, Cromwell, 860-613-0005