Turning the corner onto Park Place in Brooklyn on Tuesday afternoon, you could hear the cheers and applause even a block away.
Café Rue Dix, a Senegalese-French restaurant in Crown Heights, was hosting a screening party for the FIFA World Cup’s France vs. Senegal match, ahead of which one big question hung in the air: Could Senegal repeat its shocking upset in 2002 and beat France again?
Minutes after the 3 p.m. kickoff, a crowd had gathered on the corner. Some fans wore jerseys; others showed their allegiance with more creative outfits, sporting the colors of their respective countries. (More still simply showed up to watch in their work clothes.) Cars honked their horns and cyclists pulled over to tune in as flags fluttered in the wind, fans clambered to see the screen, and people hugged and shouted. All the while, orders poured in for thiebou jen, yassa guinar, dibi, mafe, and cold Ethiopian and Moroccan beers.
“They got the big screen out,” I heard a passerby say. “Everybody’s out here.”
Photographed by Poupay Jutharat
Next door at Marché Rue Dix, owner Nilea Alexander was running the store, greeting customers by name as they floated in to browse clothing, jewelry, decor, records, and more. Two women bought football jerseys by the brand Art Comes First, wearing them as they headed out to watch the match in the café. “Now the vibes are where they need to be,” one of them said.
More than a restaurant, a store, a salon, or a brand (and it is all of those things), Rue Dix is a community hub. Alexander and her husband, Lamine Diagne, opened the restaurant in 2013 and the store in 2014. Diagne is Senegalese, and the business name—Rue Dix Brooklyn—is a nod to the street where he grew up in Pikine.
Though the café is not a sports bar, it shows the Africa Cup of Nations games, and this year the couple couldn’t resist screening the thrilling NBA Finals. “If it’s a game that’s important to us, or that speaks to our narrative, diaspora, anything that’s big, we try to show it,” Alexander said of their approach. “I think everyone’s always rooting for Africa. I think a lot of the scene today, it’s like, no matter who wins—because there’s so many African players that play for France—we win.”
Photographed by Poupay Jutharat
Photographed by Poupay Jutharat
Dining and Cooking