Bringing Flavors of Haiti to Li’l Rhody

Eve Bontemp’s Story of Resilience and Hope

It has not been an easy journey for Yveline “Eve” Bontemp. Many obstacles have stood in her way, but she’s kept on. From being abused and neglected as a child in Haiti and coming to the U.S. with no English skills to opening Garden of Eve, a Caribbean restaurant in Providence, and becoming a U.S. citizen, Bontemp is a self-proclaimed fighter. Whatever comes her way, she finds the good and figures out how to keep going.

It sounds cliché, but for Bontemp, it’s not. Her story is one worth telling. It’s inspiring, beautiful, heartbreaking.

Before coming to the United States as a Haitian immigrant when she was 12, Bontemp was mistreated by her stepmother who didn’t feed her and wouldn’t allow her to sleep in bed with her siblings. Bontemp’s father paid for her to eat at a food stand where customers ate under a big tree. Bontemp remembers a woman cooking Caribbean food in large pots nearby.

“I close my eyes and go right back to those moments eating that food. I can see the big tree and all the people sitting down, having a meal together,” she said, adding that the food she remembers having there most is légume, a traditional Haitian dish of mixed vegetables, seasonings and meat with rice and beans. “It was so delicious and, in the end, was really what inspired me to dream up Garden of Eve and model it after those experiences.”

In 1992, when Bontemp was 12, she and her family immigrated to the U.S. in pursuit of the “American dream.” They were sent to Guantanamo Bay, where they lived in big tents as they waited to be processed. From there, they moved to Florida before eventually settling down in Rhode Island.

Bontemp attended Park View Middle School in Cranston, where she remembers sitting by herself, listening to a tape recorder and looking at an accompanying book so she could learn English.

“Most of the time I was just listening to these audio tapes that the teacher gave me. I do remember one class that I really clicked with was a cooking class,” she said. “We made muffins once and I remember it being one of the favorite classes I took.”

After high school, Bontemp got a job as a dietary aide at Berkshire Nursing Home in Providence. During her five-plus years there, she worked her way up to being a dietary tech, prep cook, sous cook and eventually head cook.

“I’m good at the whole ‘fake it till you make it’ thing,’” Bontemp said with a generous laugh. “I watch how something is done and then I do it better. Every time I was in the kitchen, I remember never having a bad day—I just loved [cooking] so much.”

In 2004, she was laid off from her job and, in turn, began taking community college classes. Several years later, she was hired at the downtown Providence Marriott, where she worked for nearly 10 years. In 2014, she enrolled in the Rhode Island Food Bank’s Community Kitchen Culinary Job-Training Program.

“I’d wanted to open a restaurant since I was 18,” she said. “But getting funding, figuring out credit and loans, it was all just so confusing to me. My husband and I didn’t have the money and while I was in the training program, my husband was the only one making any money. It was a challenging time and I wasn’t sure I could make it through.”

But Bontemp persisted and not long after she graduated from the culinary program, she and her husband, Goodson Banard, were driving around Providence on their anniversary in November 2016 and ended up at 405 Harris Avenue. Banard surprised her and said he’d put a rental deposit down on the small building so that she could open a restaurant.

“I couldn’t believe it. He said ‘Happy anniversary!’—I was waiting for a band to come out and start playing or something,” she said, with her broad smile beaming. “That’s when we agreed . . . we were going for it. We jumped in and we haven’t looked back.”

In April 2017, and 20 years after she first dreamed up the idea, Bontemp opened her very own restaurant: Garden of Eve. The menu is full of dishes she ate as a child, including légume, curry chickpeas, oxtail, fried plantains and delicious black mushroom rice (djon djon). She loves cooking vegetarian and vegan dishes, too. The restaurant is cozy; there are only a handful of tables and a small counter for eating inside with a larger area to eat outside during the warmer weather.

Bontemp says opening her restaurant has been more amazing than she ever imagined. Sure, she puts in long hours since her husband and two sons, Shamarey, 15, and Rolkens, 18, are her only extra staff—but she has achieved her dream.

And there has been acclaim, too. “Winning an award for best Caribbean food in Rhode Island and being on ‘The Rhode Show’ are all things I never dreamed would happen to me,” she said.

And although she’ll never forget her Haitian heritage, she now considers herself to be a Rhode Islander, evidenced by the Patriots swag in the restaurant. “I’m so grateful that [former Patriots player] Danny Amendola came to eat at Garden of Eve—what a treat!” she said.

Since Garden of Eve first opened, Bontemp has made a point to continue growing her leadership skills and furthering her education. She understands the importance of taking care of herself, too.

“I’m a woman and for me to do what I do every day, I need to be fulfilled as well,” she said. “This year, I went to the R.I.S.E Women’s Leadership Conference and listened to other great women to get inspiration. I take a hit those days when I invest in myself, but it’s worth it.”

Looking ahead to 2020, Garden of Eve will be moving to a new location on Washington Street. The new spot will have a bar and more indoor seating.

Even though it’ll be bigger, Bontemp still wants to keep an intimate atmosphere where she’s able to talk with customers and continue to grow the feeling of community that’s ever-present in her current location.

“Interacting with the guests is so fun,” she said. “I love having a small restaurant where I can cook their food and then come out and ask people how it was and make sure it was good. I always want to know what’s working and what’s not working so we can grow and do better.”

Bontemp is the first to admit that her life hasn’t been easy. But she’s grateful for every struggle and success. One day, Bontemp says, she will write her life story to inspire others. But for now, when she’s able to hire more staff, she hopes to work with women in shelters to empower them to keep pushing through every difficulty.

“I wasn’t born in this country, I was bullied and abused, but I kept striving to become more than those things,” she said. “If I can do it, then so can every other woman facing similar circumstances. I want each woman who is struggling to know that there’s hope. It gets better.”

Garden of Eve
405 Harris Ave., Providence
Open W–Su, 11 am–9 pm
401.688.5166; GardenOfEveRI.com

(Go to Facebook @GardenofEveRestaurantRI for updates on the new location in 2020.)