Family brings the foods and flavors of the Caribbean to new Lewiston restaurant.

The roots of one of Lewiston-Auburn’s newest restaurants reach all the way to the tropical republic of Haiti, offering that Caribbean nation’s unique foods, flavors and cooking processes.

Marie Eliezer is the driving force behind Caribe, located at 81 College St. in Lewiston and offering Caribbean- and American-influenced fare.

Eliezer learned to cook when she was a teenager living in Haiti. “Every summer,” she says, “when school was closed, they sent you to learn things like cooking, baking, sewing.”

Drawn from the poor sections of Haiti, 10- to 18-year-old youths were given the opportunity to learn skills. “There were three years in a row that I did the same the same thing, cooking,” she adds, “because I liked it.”

When Eliezer first arrived in the United States more than 28 years ago, she worked in various burger joints and attended nursing school. She also studied behavioral sciences and worked with disabled populations. Through it all, she practiced and refined her cooking skills.

Fifteen years ago , Eliezer, then living in Brooklyn, N.Y., came to Maine and L-A thanks to a relative who was living in Maine. In October of 2014, she, along with her husband Guems (pronounced James), her brother, Mackendy Thenor, and their mother, Marie Thenor, opened Caribe because “we don’t have anything like it in town.”

“In Portland there are Haitian, Cuban and Puerto Rican restaurants, but there is nothing in Lewiston-Auburn,” she says, adding proudly, “We serve Caribbean style.”

Caribbean style not only includes some of the foods of Haiti, but the spices and peppers that infuse its curries and jerk flavors, and techniques like thrice-washed rice and soaked meats.

The restaurant’s most popular side dish is its Haitian potato salad, made with equal parts boiled potatoes and beets — both of which grow well in Haitian soil — mixed with shredded carrots, mayonnaise and a little bit of garlic. “This is a traditional dish in Haiti, especially on Sundays, Good Friday and Easter,” says Eliezer. “At parties and weddings, it has to be on the menu.”

Another popular side dish at Caribe is “pikliz.” A spicy coleslaw made without mayonnaise, Eliezer says it has quite a kick thanks to habanero peppers.

Yet another popular offering is Caribe’s macaroni au gratin, which, Eliezer says, is different from the mac and cheese most Americans are accustomed to. The eatery’s second most popular offering, the dish — like potato salad — is a tradition at parties and weddings in Haiti.

Of course, the restaurant offers lots of meat dishes, and according to Eliezer, Caribe often uses a blended mixture of garlic, parsley, thyme, green peppers, habanero and jalapeno peppers to make a marinade for many of its meat offerings.

Among those dishes are Caribbean jerk chicken and curry chicken, the latter of which is influenced by the flavors of Barbados, Trinidad and Jamaica, Eliezer says. “All of the skin and fat are removed from the chicken.”

Eliezer says all of Caribe’s meat, before cooking, is washed with water, lemon and white vinegar, as is the tradition in Haiti.

“Goat is the most popular meat (that we serve) here,” she says. Typically, “goat has a strong flavor because people don’t know how to wash it. Even my own family won’t eat it (if it’s not properly prepared).”

The goat served at Caribe “doesn’t have a strong flavor because we soak it for an hour in water, white vinegar and lemon or lime,” Eliezer says, adding that in Haiti, “we also use a sour orange, but you can’t find them in Maine.”

As part of its more American offerings, Caribe serves what it calls “the $100 cheeseburger.” “It’s just to get people talking,” says Eliezer’s brother, Mackendy Thenor.

Thenor, who was born in the United States, created the $100 cheeseburger — yes, that’s the actual cost listed on the menu — and designed it “to melt right in your mouth.” (And it does, if the one that the family served up for this story is an indication. Like the coleslaw and many other dishes at Caribe, when it comes to spices this burger also has got a kick to it.)

“It’s made with 100 percent Kobe ground beef and smoked Gouda cheese,” says Thenor. Potato and red bell pepper are added to the beef mixture, as is jalapeno, garlic, scallion, parsley and thyme, making for a plump, juicy and extremely flavorful burger.

“We use the same meat for our spicy meatballs,” says Eliezer. “People love it because it tastes different” than what they are accustomed to in a burger and a meatball.

Caribe’s rice-and-beans dish is in high demand, according to Eliezer. After boiling 1 pound of pinto beans in a gallon of water, she drains the beans, reserving the liquid. “I add oil to a pan and fry garlic and parsley. . . . I add salt and a chicken bouillon cube (as well as) the water from the beans.”

Eliezer then washes brown rice three times before adding it to the beans. She then cooks the mixture until the water is absorbed. “Then you lower the fire to really low, cover the pan and cook it for 10 minutes . . . and then it’s cooked. You smell it,” she says, “that’s how you know it’s cooked.”

Another staple at Caribe are fried plantains, a member of the banana family. Eliezer’s mother, Marie Thenor, who is also known as “Mama” or “Mantoute” (a maternal character from a popular Haitian play), prepares the plantains by cutting them into 1-inch pieces and frying them once to soften them.

Using a special kitchen tool called a “peze,” made of two triangular wooden paddles, the plantains are pressed into 2- to 3-inch-wide flat disks. Those disks are then fried a second time to make them crisp, and served with a flavorful dipping sauce. “You can also use two small plates to make them flat,” Eliezer explains.

When it comes to beverages, Caribe serves a refreshing Haitian milk shake, similar to a smoothie, made with peaches, a fruit cocktail, milk, nutmeg and a special fragrant vanilla that is available only in Haiti, Eliezer says, noting that in Haiti, “they sell the vanilla in the pharmacies.”

Eliezer emphasizes that at Caribe, “this is homemade with all natural (ingredients). Everything is from scratch.”

The restaurant is open every day but Sunday for lunch and dinner, with takeout and delivery available.

Caribe’s macaroni au gratin

16 ounces of macaroni

1 whole onion, diced

2 Maggi brand chicken broth cubes

2/3 Velveeta cheese block, cut into cubes

1 can carnation milk

1/2 cup butter

1 can tomato sauce

1 cup parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat.

Add the macaroni and cook until soft yet firm.

Drain macaroni and add back to pot.

Add the onions, tomato sauce and chicken broth cubes.

Stir in the Velveeta cheese, until melted.

Stir constantly to keep cheese from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Add butter and parmesan cheese.

Pour in carnation milk and stir.

Remove from heat and pour into a greased baking pan.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Place in oven and bake for an hour and 20 minutes.

Caribe

81 College St., Lewiston

241-2800

Hours: Monday-Tuesday 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.; Wednesday-Thursday 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Friday-Saturday 10 a.m. – 10 p.m.