Cafe Rue Dix & Marché Rue Dix — Black-Owned Brooklyn

Back in 2012, two years after Nilea Alexander married her husband Lamine Diagne, the couple took stock of the new businesses popping around their Crown Heights neighborhood. “We wanted to be a part of the change and not just be bystanders to it,” says Nilea, an Atlanta native and longtime Brooklynite.

This desire — and the fact that Lamine, who’d worked in the restaurant industry for nearly two decades, was riding his scooter to Harlem’s Little Senegal every weekend for a taste of food from his home country — inspired their French-Senegalese restaurant, Cafe Rue Dix. “We wanted a place you could walk to on a Saturday morning for a fresh baguette,” Nilea says of the neighborhood vibe of the cosmopolitan cafe, which serves equally delicious brunch and dinner. “That, and the willingness to want to create something of our own, is what fueled us.”

“Senegalese food, okay,” Nilea begins when asked to describe it for those unfamiliar. “It’s a lot of meat, a lot of fish and rice, and spicy vegetables. It’s not a quick-cooking cuisine. It takes a lot of time and a lot of love.” While Cafe Rue Dix offers beautiful French classics like salmon provençal and moules frites, the deeply savory Senegalese side of its menu excites us even more. We devoured thiebou jen, slow-cooked fish and a medley of carrots, cabbage and cassava over jollof; yassa guninar, braised chicken smothered with onion confit over rice; and mafe, spicy stewed beef in peanut butter sauce, served over couscous. Oh, and a small mountain of perfect sweet plantains.

The food’s great at Cafe Rue Dix, and we’re just as enamored with its design. Nilea describes the welcoming decor as a mix of her love for all things vintage and found with her husband’s modern aesthetic. The breezy French bistro feel is elevated by an array of colorful personal touches: indigo batik textiles, lamps made from gourd drums, a collection of wooden masks, photos from the family’s travels to Dakar, and geometric patterns inspired by the Senegalese capital.

“We’re not big names in the business; we’re just regular people. It didn’t come easy, but we worked together to create something beautiful that we’re both really proud of,” says Nilea, who worked in retail for 12 years before opening Cafe Rue Dix. “My great uncle bought property in Crown Heights in the ‘50s. For us to still be here, as a Black-owned business providing a service in a Black neighborhood that’s changing, I think is important.”

Nilea and Lamine had been running Cafe Rue Dix, for about a year when the space next door became available. “Opening a vintage store had always been my dream,” said Nilea, who’d worked in corporate retail since she was a teenager. “So we jumped on it.”

In December of 2014, the couple opened Marché Rue Dix, a shop packed with unique discoveries old and new, including fantastically wearable vintage clothing for adults and kids, jewelry and sunglasses sourced from local designers, natural apothecary products, small-batch indie cosmetics, artisanal home goods, and imported incense and spices. The bright, contemporary bazaar also happens to be a floor-to-ceilings design dream.

“We wanted to be a part of the change and not just be bystanders to it”.

“It’s not stuff that you can see everywhere,” Nilea says. “We want to provide a well curated selection that really excites you when you walk in.”

Marché Rue Dix is where you’ll find your new favorite ring, the perfect vintage coat for fall, a bold lipstick, your next go-to fragrance, woven handbags, a Senegalese incense called thiouraye, Kenyan tea and whole coffee beans, natural haircare products for kinks and curls, and a trendy new nail color. For your Black-owned nail salon needs, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, you can get your nails done in Marché’s new in-store D.I.D. nail salon. “It’s a curated concept store where you feel happy to buy an item, because you know that it’s been made with love and is one-of-a-kind,” Nilea says.