Krik Krak

This tiny Haitian restaurant sits across from a playground on a dingy stretch of Amsterdam Avenue, but the colorful interior and a friendly "bonjours" quickly put that out of mind.

So does the colorful food. Typically I kick off my meal with akra (below; $2.50), a trio of fritters made from malanga, a root vegetable, and accompanied by an unusually fiery version of the slaw called piklis. Legumes maison (above; $10) a house stew of vegetables with beef or (in this case) pork, is more restrained with the heat than its hue would suggest — provided you treat that green pepper as a garnish and not a nibble. If you like seafood, consider the poisson gros sel (bottom photo; $14.50), red snapper aswim in an herbal broth also flavored with sea salt and sour orange, with a "tailfin" of sliced, fried plantain.

On previous visits, an entrée of tassot griot ($12), deep-fried chunks of goat meat with onions, was filled out by a plateful of rice and beans, ready to be wetted down with a spicy tomato-based sauce and more piklis. Suggested pairing: a glass of fresh limeade ($3). Bouillon Haitien (Saturday-only special; $10), a deep bowl of vegetable soup flavored with fatty beef and tiny bits of crab, featured potatoes, carrots, celery, some leafy greens, and perhaps cassava.

Krik Krak
844 Amsterdam Ave. (101st-102nd Sts.)
212-222-3100