Jamaican Yard Vibes offers a taste of the Caribbean
Mar. 12—Sometimes good things happen when you least expect them.
That's the way it happened for Jamaican Yard Vibes, a Jamaican restaurant that opened recently in Audubon Plaza shopping center at 2845 W. Parrish Ave.
Dwayne Whyte was living in his native Jamaica when he met his future wife, Shenetha, an Owensboro resident who was vacationing there.
After a few visits, he moved to Owensboro in June 2019 and they got married.
It was love that brought him here, Whyte said with a laugh, because Jamaican people don't like cold weather.
At their wedding, the couple served guests with Jamaican dishes.
"People started asking us when we were going to start a business," Whyte said.
They thought about it, he said, "and we started operating out of our house. We wanted to get a restaurant, but COVID slowed us down. It was a challenging time. We finally made it happen, but it wasn't easy."
On Saturdays, Whyte said, "People would line up down the street for our jerk chicken, jerk pork, cabbage, curry goat, curry chicken and oxtail soup."
"Jerk" is a style of cooking where the main ingredient is coated in spices and slow-cooked over a fire or grill.
Since the restaurant opened last month, Whyte said, "It's been overwhelming. People are enjoying our food."
The restaurant is painted in the vivid colors of the Jamaican flag.
The country's website says, "Black depicts the strength and creativity of the people; gold, the natural wealth and beauty of sunlight; and green, hope and agricultural resources."
When he was a child, Whyte said, "My mother worked and I started cooking for my siblings when I was 8. I usually cooked for eight or 10 people at a time."
So he's been cooking for most of his life.
"Oxtail soup, jerk chicken and curry goat are our biggest sellers," Whyte said.
With few oxen around these days, the tail is often from a cow.
"They're difficult to find," Whyte said said of the tails. "Sometimes we have to go all the way to Tennessee to get them."
His favorite dish, he said, is curry goat with rice and beans.
"But I like them all," Whyte said.
The restaurant employs three people beside him and his wife.
"There aren't a lot of Jamaicans in Owensboro," Whyte said. "But there are quite a few from the Caribbean islands and they support us."
The daily menu is posted on the restaurant's Facebook page.
Thursday, it included jerk chicken, jerk pork, curry chicken, curry goat, jerk lasagna, beef patties, chicken patties, rice and beans, cabbage, rotti, coco bread and rum cake.
Hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday
Food historians say Jamaican cooking is a blend of Amerindian, African, Irish, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Indian, Chinese and Middle Eastern styles.
270-691-7301 klawrence@messenger-inquirer.com
