Celebrate the flavors of the islands –with a twist — at Irie Jamaican Kitchen: Cleveland’s Best Caribbean Restaurants

Previous BROOKLYN, Ohio – If you are hunting for authentic Jamaican fare, a basic Google research for “Jamaican places to eat in Cleveland” will pull up a checklist of about 20 institutions.

You’ll find the requisite jerk chicken, rice and plantains on each of their menus – reliable fare located on the island itself. But if you are on the lookout for a taste of Jamaica with a excellent twist, you’ll want to test out a person of the 3 locations of Irie Jamaican Kitchen area.

To rejoice Nationwide Caribbean-American Heritage Month, we asked our visitors exactly where to uncover the finest Caribbean food items in Northeast Ohio. Nominations immediately crammed our inbox, with Irie Jamaican Kitchen area acquiring an overpowering quantity of nods.

“Irie” – according to the City Dictionary – is Rastafarian for “a condition of peacefulness and harmony with one’s self or the earth.”

For Omar McKay – operator and executive chef of Irie Jamaican Kitchen – getting genuine to one’s self is what drove him to build Irie Jamaican Kitchen and to set his own spin on his residence country’s delicacies.

McKay arrived to Cleveland as a teen, when his mother immigrated from Jackson Town, Jamaica, for a career prospect.

McKay realized to cook in his mother’s kitchen area, fueling his need to make his personal recipes and open up a cafe. Whilst he required to share the flavors of his heritage, he didn’t want to blend in.

Making use of the skills he developed at Tri-C’s Culinary Arts Faculty, he fashioned a menu that was all his personal. And Better Clevelanders have responded, in a massive way.

McKay started out in an old White Castle location on 621 E 185th St. on the border involving Cleveland and Euclid. He has considering that extra locations at 4162 Pearl Rd. in Old Brooklyn and 837 W. Industry St., Akron. The Akron cafe characteristics a patio and provides live audio on the weekends, where McKay claims “people go for the Jamaican ambiance.” A fourth location is “coming soon” to Shaker Heights at Chagrin and Lee Streets.

What’s distinctive on the menu?

The flavors of McKay’s foods are real to his heritage – large on the meats, rice, cabbage, and plantains – as effectively as the spices — that indigenous Jamaicans take in daily.

“There is not a big marketplace for indigenous Caribbean folks in Northeast Ohio,” McKay explained. “Most of the Caribbean people who live below, do this variety of cooking at property, so we do not entice a large amount of islanders. We experienced to understand to cater to the surroundings. We catch the attention of folks from all walks and nationalities in Cleveland, which is not a thing you see in all Jamaican restaurants in Ohio.”

In addition to entire meals, Irie attributes homemade lemonades created with tropical fruit blends and meat pies created with beef or hen and baked to perfection.

Whilst most Caribbean eateries provide their meats bone-in, McKay serves his proteins off-the-bone. And while there are the common sides, consumers can also choose to complement their major dish with mac n’ cheese or salads.

Most Jamaican dining places deliver total plates to your desk. Irie Jamaican Kitchen stands apart because of its toppings bar, with new veggies and housemade salsas.

“Just explain to us what you want, you pick for your self,” McKay stated. “I assume that makes us a small far more helpful, much more entertaining, generating us a minor various – just a small style of the island.”

McKay employs all the traditional spices of the island, but his food stuff is major on new herbs, garlic and thyme. “I make new foodstuff, that I really don’t assume is heading to taste like everything else,” he explained, “but I go about points a small in another way, fusing the standard flavors of Jamaica with my individual twist.”

McKay’s largest sellers are his jerk chicken and oxtail – each classic dishes. “That’s what persons know and appear in for, but we are hoping they will appear again to check out anything just a minor distinct,” McKay explained.

The jerk hen carries the best degree of warmth, though the oxtail is a deep savory dish – the two with wealthy flavors. Seeking for a little something with a kick, but not around-the-leading, buy the curry chicken.

Seafood is typical to the Caribbean diet. Those people trying to find a style of the sea with a kick have to have to approach a several further times given that the fast-everyday cafe cooks its shrimp dishes to buy to assure the optimal flavor and texture.

“People are not dining-in substantially anymore these days,” McKay mentioned, “so we are producing confident our restaurants are clear and welcoming and targeted on delivering the very best traditional flavors they are looking for for when they come through the door – fresh and flavorful is the hallmark of our food.”