Yva Chez Vava

Description:

• Directly west of Basse-Pointe, in a low-slung building painted the peachy-orange of a paw-paw fruit, Yva Chez Vava is a combination private home and restaurant. It represents the hard labor of three generations of Creole women. Infused with a simple country-inn style, it was established in 1979 by a well-remembered, long-departed matron, Vava, whose daughter, Yva, is now assisted by her own daughter, Rosy. Family recipes are the mainstay of this modest and very ethnic bistro. A la carte items include Creole soup, lobster, shark steak, and various colombos (curries). Local delicacies include z'habitants (crayfish), vivaneau (red snapper), tazard (kingfish), accras de morue (codfish beignets), roasted or curried goat, and court bouillon of fish. Occasionally available during certain periods are the very ethnic, and not-to-everyone's taste, aceras de titiris, hundreds of tiny des titiris (barely visible fish) which are caught with nets as they swarm in the nearby river. These, heads, skeletons and all, are mixed with flour, herbs, and spices, and deep-fried in oil into aceras (fritters).

  Before or after their meal, clients can bathe in the nearby river or walk to an unnamed strip of sand, the nearest beach, which lies about .4km (1/4 mile) from the restaurant.

• © Frommer's 2013

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Recommended 2010