A Long Way for a Steak

           This past Friday I arrived back in Haiti to spend the bulk of December with my girlfriend, and to avoid the likely coming cold that was approaching New York. On my last visit I only stayed for about four days, which prevented us from really having a chance to explore more of the country. This time we’ll have almost three full weeks to plan with, or at least three full weeks and just sitting inside and watching TV.

           The first night we didn’t go out at all since I was worn out from the flight and was just settling in, but the next night we went to a steak house of sorts called O Brasileiro. Getting there was a little interesting in itself. Other than the tap-tap (4x4 trucks that serve as “public” transportation), the only other way of getting around if you don’t have your own car is by motorcycle, and there’s tons of them beeping around looking to pick up a fare. What’s recommended, and what we did in this case was call up a motorcycle taxi she knows of. The two of us hopped on the back with no helmets and took a breezy four minute ride to the restaurant. It’s a purely outdoor venue with a makeshift rooftop in case there’s any rainfall. There’s also a fully equipped bar and a stage towards the front for live musical performances. While we were there a band was getting their instruments tuned up, but we left before any real show started.

            Although this establishment is known for their imported Belgian beer, I ordered a Prestige, which is the official beer of Haiti, and not ordering it would be an insult (as I was told anyways). For appetizer she ordered snail soup, initially tricking me to thinking it was New England clam chowder, but I knew what it was right away. Less than a month ago we had snail soup in Montreal and I enjoyed it, plus knew what it looked like at that point. For the main course we decided on some steaks, she been to this place a few weeks ago and ordered medallion steaks covered in pepper sauce, so I went with that recommendation while she had a basic filet. Each dish comes with a side of cubed homemade fries and some vegetables; I naturally left the vegetables to collect dust. I ordered the steak to be cooked medium and they probably went a little over than that, but the pepper sauce was quite tasty enough to make up for it. The whole meal with beer and tip came out to $48 US, which is rather modest for two steak dinners.

           The only real problem of the night was finding the men’s room. One area looked like a dressing room for the band, and another area which resembled a bathroom had two women fixing their hair, so I dared not go in. After three attempts to figure it out, I came to realize that it was a unisex bathroom and any of the two stalls in there are fair game for anyone. Like picking the slowest toll booth lane, out of the two stalls I have to pick the one that didn’t want to flush. There was also an opening in the wall, I’m guessing for ventilation, but any peeping-tom can go to the back of the restaurant and have a grand time of them self.

           That bathroom was literally a hole-in-the-wall…