Cuisine: Haitian

Hours: Noon to 10 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday; noon to midnight, Friday and Saturday; closed Monday

Telephone: 217-6262

They say the West Indies are one of the most diverse parts of the world, if it weren’t for this country and its promise to the huddled masses yearning to be free.

Populated mostly by people of African descent, the island nations of the Caribbean Ocean are also full of people with South American, East Indian, British and French ancestry.

In many people there, the blood is mixed. In many of the area’s restaurants, the food is, too.

Queen Creole Restaurant, a warm, cozy Haitian restaurant on Hollis Avenue at the corner of 199th Street, is no exception.

The restaurant has a small menu of traditional Haitian dishes, which is much like Jamaican and other West Indian food but with less frying and more stews. The food is also typically more salty. It’s also as spicy as West Indian food, but, owner Nadege Jerome said, the spices are different—it’s less gingery, as south Asians prefer, and more garlicky.

But something interesting happens with the food at Queen Creole. Because of its diverse clientele—it’s a mix of West Indian, American-born black, white and east Asian—Jerome, who minds the restaurant all the time, prepares the food with little salt and spices to start with. When she gets to know a customer, which is not before long at the small 32-seat neighborhood restaurant, she has each dish prepared to taste one by one.

The result is that any particular dish can taste either neutral and American, smoky and Caribbean or spicy and south Asian.

Jerome saw stars and stripes, for some reason, when a recent diner of South Asian descent dropped in for a bite.

She gave him a sample of the Eggplant with Conch ($14), which she said is the restaurant’s signature dish and a traditional Haitian favorite, especially among men (something to do with health, she suggested). Served in a light stew with mixed vegetables, with rice and salad on the side, the conch sounds quite exotic—and is, actually—but has a familiar taste that can be had any time. It has a taste and texture, in fact, that’s somewhere in between fish and squid that should make any seafood lover feel at home. The seasoning is light enough that the nature of the conch isn’t hidden.

The Chicken Creole ($8.50) is another popular dish at Queen Creole. Two giant pieces of chicken in the restaurant’s Creole stew are served with a giant heap of white rice, a big salad and two large plantains. Bring your appetite (or just someone to share with).

Other popular dishes at the restaurant include the goat (curried for $9 or roasted for $10), Codfish Croquettes ($10) and Salted Fish ($14).

To help Queen Creole’s large Haitian clientele feel more at home, the menu is written in both English and French, and Haitian music plays in the background.

To help the restaurant’s other customers feel at home, Jerome keeps a collection of CDs with music from around the world, some of which she gets especially for particular regulars.