Jamaican Me Hungry
BOSWELL'S ever-expanding menu rushes to meet increased demand for Caribbean
fare.
|
|
|
Owner Boswell Atkinson and waitress Kerdine Charles serve up everything from ox
tail to jerk chicken.
|
WHAT: Boswell's Jamaican Food Store and Grill
CUISINE: Jamaican
WHEN: Lunch and (early) dinner, Tuesday through Saturday
WHERE: 240 Broad St., 822-0040
CARDS: None
In a recent Friday afternoon, about 20 people sit in the small dining area at
Boswell's Jamaican Food Store and Grill on South Broad Street. Some of them are
eating, their faces soft with contentment. A few others wait for their food,
their empty stomachs aching as the strong, titillating scent of curry and other
spices hang in the air.
Yet, the hungry customers are patient. From their tables, they can
see the kitchen. They can see that owner Boswell Atkinson is the only one doing
the cooking. They can see that he is moving skillfully, quickly, that he is
dedicated to satisfying their palates with the food he learned to cook as a boy
in Jamaica.
Ox tail. Vegetarian roti. Curried goat. Steamed fish. Jerk chicken.
Rasta pasta. Callaloo. Shrimp stir fry. Chicken, beef and veggie patties. The
menu keeps growing, as more people discover this restaurant, housed in a small
brick storefront between an animal store and a barber shop.
"I planned to start off small -- some jerk chicken, some curried
chicken," Atkinson says of his restaurant, which he opened about a year and a
half ago. "But every time somebody comes in, they ask me about ox tail or about
this or that and I just keep on going and going.
"I try to listen to the customers and what they want," says
Atkinson, who doesn't have a professional cooking background, but loves to cook
for other people. "I love to see people's faces when they enjoy my food. It
gives me great satisfaction." He also does much of the serving, gingerly
placing Styrofoam plates of piping hot food in front of customers. "This
business lets me do the two things I love most: cooking and meeting people," he
says.
Atkinson's friends and family, who for years have enjoyed his
entrees, encouraged him to develop his passion into a business. "This is my
husband's dream," says his wife, Cheryl Atkinson. "He enjoys experimenting with
food, and he's been perfecting his craft for a long time."
In fact, he began cooking when he was 8 years old in his hometown
of Montego Bay. "When I grew up, it was just my mom and myself, so when she was
at work, I cooked," he recalls. "I was just experimenting to start off, but one
day, there was something I cooked -- I believe it was a chicken stir fry -- and
she told me that it was better than hers. That's when I knew I was good."
Yet he pursued other career paths before finally choosing cooking.
He left Jamaica in 1972 to attend college in New York. In 1978, he moved to New
Orleans to take a job at Martin Marietta as a tool design engineer for space
shuttle equipment. "After the shuttle blew up in 1986, [the company] laid
people off, and I got transferred to Baltimore."
That lasted two years, and an unhappy Atkinson moved his family
back to New Orleans in 1988 and opened up a janitorial services franchise. He
still runs the franchise, which is why, for now, his restaurant closes at 6
p.m. "I've spoken to a Jamaican friend of mine about helping me out so that we
may be able to stay open later, especially on weekends," he says.
While business has picked up, "I'm still not making enough money to
pay the bills," Atkinson says with a quick, sharp laugh. "But at the same time,
I need to get some more people in here." His only marketing has come by word of
mouth.
The most popular dishes are the jerk chicken, ox tails, the patties
(or meat pies) and rice and peas. Actually, the peas are kidney beans, "but in
Jamaica, we call them peas," Atkinson says.
The food is delicious -- well-seasoned, but not too spicy. More
daring souls can order the spicy beef patty instead of the mild beef patty, or
take advantage of a variety of hot sauces on the tables.
Also a big hit: the food is cheap. At $6, the steamed and stewed
fish, the shrimp dishes and the curried goat are the most expensive entrees.
You can get side orders, such as fried plantains, for as little as a buck,
Jamaican Rice and peas for $1.50, and a jerk chicken breast for $2. The entrees
are filling, but the taste is light and fresh; Atkinson says he uses very
little oil.
In this homey space, painted in pale yellow and warm fuschia,
drawings depict rural Jamaican village scenes, and photographs highlight the
enticing waters of the Caribbean. Cheryl Atkinson decorated the store, mostly
with "things from home, things that were dear to us," she says. "I wanted to
give the place a flavor."
In one corner of the room are shelves that carry everything from
plantain chips to olive oil soap. Also available are spices and foods, such as
curry powder, jerk sauce and spicy fish pate, for those who want to experiment
with Jamaican cuisine.
|
