Omaar and Naom Yemini were born in a tent on the Liberty City land where their parents' restaurant, Naomi's Meals to Go and Sidewalk Café, now stands.

The brothers still have a strong connection to the quirky place. Omaar, 22, works in sales for the Miami Heat but comes by to do the books. Naom, 27, drops in when he's in town from Los Angeles, where he's an engineer.

Their parents, Yaron and Shula, are Israeli -- he of Yemeni descent, she of Urfa Turkish and Syrian -- but met in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. After moving to Miami in 1982, they sold health food from a trailer, then bought the property, camping out on it until Yaron built the restaurant.

As business expanded, he hired three Haitian women from a nearby church (Naom and Omaar still call the women ``grandmother''). And as time went on, he changed the menu from health food to Haitian.

Naomi's is named for Yaron's mother, who was said to cook for four and feed 40 on the kibbutz where he grew up. With its colorful wall murals, the café looks like an outdoor gallery. There are picnic tables and a funky garden courtyard, but many customers (including lots of cabbies) order at the window and leave with a bag of breakfast, lunch or dinner.

In the morning there's boil fish (snapper) with mayi moulen (polenta-like cornmeal cooked with coconut milk), steam pot conch in Creole sauce (the base of most dishes here) and spaghetti with hot dogs.

Most days bring a selection of poul di (hen stew), baked chicken, turkey stew made with drumsticks, legume (veggies with beef) and fried grouper fillet. Specials range from djondjon rice blackened with tiny sun-dried mushrooms to fish head soup with dumplings.

Meals come with rice or cornmeal and a choice of pikliz (spicy slaw), salad or collards. There are sides, too, like patate (fried bonaito wedges), boiled green banana and avocado.

Naomi's provides sustenance to the Yemini brothers and all who are involved in the place of their birth. Good karma.

Linda Bladholm's latest book is Latin and Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified.

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