At a time when people are uncertain about where their next meal is coming from Rosalie Genus says that variety is the key to keeping the tables full at Rosalie's Caribbean Cuisines in Inglewood, a mid-sized city just south of Los Angeles.
Genus is confident that a mix of her Brown Stew Chicken and the rest of the island flavors on her menu can provide just that sort of variety, too, offering a successful combination to beat the economic slow-down by keeping longtime customers coming and turning newcomers into regulars.
The restaurant is surely vulnerable to the unstable economy and tight household budgets that have kept some customers away lately. So Genus — a native of Belize born to Jamaican and East Indian parents — is counting on creativity to hold on to her "slice of the pie."
"Changing different aspects of the business during difficult economic times is a must to survive," she says.
Business had been booming through most of 2008, but just about every restaurant began feeling the pinch in recent months, as Wall Street has gyrated and companies large and small began cut payrolls. Add rising food prices and high unemployment rates locally, and Genus and fellow restaurateurs face a menu full of challenges.
(achiote seeds), oregano, ground cumin,
ground cloves.
Genus has worked on both ends of the challenges, cutting her overhead where possible, including moving staffers from full-time to part time. The lean-and-mean approach on expenses hasn't touched the star of the menu, though. The richly flavored, spicy Brown Chicken Stew remains a widely popular dish among customers going back several generations. It's served over traditional rice and beans with fried ripe plantain and coleslaw. The small cuts of chicken are cooked in a fusion of special spices rich in culinary heritage — achiote seeds are one of many ingredients in the marinade, just to give you an idea. Carrots and potatoes round out the stew.
It's the spices that make the magic that is unique to Caribbean cuisine, and you find them in Genus other dishes, from fried fish and curry shrimp to vegetarian meals. Favorite ingredients from around the world come together here, including curries and chutney from India, fruits and jerk meats from Africa, garlicky sauces and escoveitch from Spain, dumplings from China and jams from England.
Customers at Rosalie's Caribbean Cuisine prefer the Brown Chicken Stew by 3 to 1, according to Genus. And she hopes the star dish will bring Rosalie's Caribbean Cuisine through hard times.
Rosalie's Caribbean Cuisine is at 446 South Market Street in Inglewood. Dine in or take out for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Tuesday to Saturday, 8a.m. to 9 p.m.
Sheannette Virtue is a writer for Carib Press.
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