Afrodisiac’s fusion of Jamaican and Creole cuisines has its roots in the bustling Jamaican money city of Kingston, where Shaka Garel’s family members arrives from. It has similarly solid influences from Lafayette, Louisiana, where his wife, chef Caron “Kay” Garel, was born and raised.
A business enterprise that started with a purple foods truck in 2017 has become massively preferred, thanks to the chef’s reliable repertoire of recipes grounded in Louisiana seafood, Jamaican jerk spice and levels of bold flavors.
Kay Garel hadn’t generally meant to be a chef. As an alternative, she arrived to New Orleans to study electrical engineering, a route the couple’s son is pursuing now at UNO. Shaka Garel, who was born in Park Slope, Brooklyn, adopted a zigged-zagged path to New Orleans, landing him in an artist and musician co-op in 1988. The pair achieved at Club Caribbean, the reggae club on Bayou Road, and prior to extensive, they have been cooking jointly.
Kay Garel’s mother taught her to cook common Louisiana dishes, from smothered rooster to crimson beans and rice and creamy white beans. In New Orleans, she felt the city’s ties to the Caribbean strongly, and 8 several years in the past, with Shaka by her aspect, she took the first methods to make a small business about her adore of cooking.
Hurricane Zeta basically crushed their business enterprise when their truck was strike by a fallen tree. But with aid from the community, Afrodisiac was not down for lengthy. In March, the Garels took above the Gentilly cafe area that previously housed JuJu Bag Café and the primary area of Stuph’d.
The menu is informed by the Garels’ time on the highway, and they’ve expanded it now that they have much more area. Caribbean fries are revelatory, swapping out potatoes for batons of fried eco-friendly bananas, served with 3 dipping sauces stuffed with spice and garlic: jerk barbecue sauce, garlic aioli and jerk mustard. The fries also can be topped with wealthy etouffee and melted Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses.
Their residence-manufactured jerk seasoning has layers of spices and herbs developed on Scotch bonnet heat, garlic, onion, sugar, thyme, nutmeg and cumin. It also infuses a new get on New Orleans barbecue shrimp, with Gulf shrimp drenched in jerk butter sauce and served with Leidenheimer French bread for mopping up each fall. That exact jerk infuses a grilled boneless chicken thigh served on a bun, dressed with Caribbean slaw and barbecue sauce. It is just one of the very best hen sandwiches in town.
An entree of jerk rooster options meat smoked in the standard way, in excess of pimento wooden, and finished on the grill. It is served with rice and peas, slaw and a decision of two sides, this sort of as corn maque choux and cucumber, avocado and pineapple salad. A vegan jerk “chicken” is manufactured with a property mix of textured protein, soy, gluten and tapioca. A jerk burger is a hand-formed patty of nearby grass-fed beef seasoned with jerk marinade, smoked and concluded on the grill.

Scott Pierce instructed us about concentrating on katsu, starting up his pop-up and what else is on the menu.
There is also Jamaican-design fried fish with tangy very hot escovitch sauce, obtainable in a sandwich or on a platter with rice and peas, slaw and two sides. Curry shrimp stew incorporates smoked sausage and potatoes, and rasta pasta is penne smothered with onions and peppers in a coconut and butternut squash rundown sauce (utilised in a common Jamaican stew) with either vegan jerk chicken or typical hen on top rated.
For dessert, there are sweet potato and pecan tarts created by Kay’s mother.
The Gentilly cafe is the hottest addition to the small eating strip along the 5300 block of Franklin Avenue shared by the Authentic Fiorella’s Cafe and NOLA Crawfish King. An inviting Creole Cottage opens to a compact dining space, awash in Caribbean colors of yellow, orange, purple and pink. A smiling Bob Marley overlooks the dining room along with an eye-catching mural by Lionel Milton of an African natural beauty encircled by a bounty of Louisiana food.
The again bar, overseen by Turning Tables alumna Ari Nicholas, presents strong tropical cocktails, which include a rum punch bright with clean juices and citrus. In again, there is a massive oasis dotted with umbrella-shaded tables, palms and fragrant ginger. It’s out there for eating, drinking and parties. The Garels program to increase dwell audio and spoken term events.
“We realized this location was a superior suit for us,” Shaka Garel claims. “Once we survive Jazz Fest, we’ll be able to capture up and choose some up coming measures.”

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