Reggae and dancehall singer Tifa to open Caribbean restaurant in Broward County
When the restaurant Dulcies Jamaican and Everything opens — sometime this year somewhere in central Broward County — the one thing we do know is that the eatery will be a tribute to Tifa’s late grandmother.
The Jamaican-born dancehall/reggae singer (real name Latifah Brown) explains, “My grandma, she had a restaurant that was a big thing in Kingston. I remember when I was young we would leave school in the afternoon and we would all meet there.
“So I said to myself, let me re-create and build on to her legacy. I wanted to pay homage to her name, her legacy and her recipes.”
Tifa says that the Miss Dulcies restaurant in downtown Kingston was very popular, especially at lunch time, in the ‘70s and ‘80s, closing in the early ‘90s after its namesake died. For a time, there was also a bar.
Known for her smoky silky voice and precise phrasing as well as songs such as “Crawny Gal,” “Nah Stop Shine/Move Ur Body,” “Bottom of the Barrel,” “Spell It Out” and “Jealous Ova” (with Dexter Daps), Tifa is hesitant to confirm any details about Dulcies, telling her fans on her Instagram page to “coming soon.”
But in an interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel, she did say that while the menu will focus on Caribbean cuisine, it will also embrace Stateside dishes.
“That’s why we call it Dulcies Jamaican and Everything. That’s why ‘everything’ is in there. It’s Jamaican, but we do realize that we are in America, so we have to cater to everyone. So we’ll have fried chicken, oxtail, jerk chicken, but we’ll also have lasagna, chicken and waffles. I’m really excited about having a Jamaican-American brunch — that fusion and harmony and Jamaican food and American food that Floridians love.”
She is partnering on Dulcies Jamaican and Everything with Andrew Ellis, who is the producer behind the Sandz Caribbean Music Festivals (exported to the U.S., Brazil and Canada) as well as a promoter of nightclubs and lounges in Kingston.
He agrees that Dulcies needs to embrace other flavors and dishes outside of the Caribbean, saying, “We are not just focused on exporting the [Jamaican] culture and benefiting from it, but our No. 1 aim is to provide an environment where customers from different backgrounds can come and share in the warmth, good food and music of Dulcies.”
And he adds, “Partnering with Tifa was a no brainer for this venture as she is of like mind with highlighting and bringing the culture to a new market,” Ellis says. “Her appeal as an artist will also add a level of stardom to this project.”
It’s that stardom that Tifa, now in her mid-30s, is trying to parley into a more diversified business profile in South Florida, while the timing is good.
“I was already trying to transition from the stage and being known as only a dancehall or reggae singer when corona hit, you know?” explains Tifa, who has lived in Broward County for almost three years. “I’ve been working behind the scenes more, doing a lot of writing. That’s the part of it I enjoy the most. I moved here with the intention of having other things to occupy my time...other than music. You only have a particular time to shine, you know what I mean?”
For more information, go to Instagram.com/dulciesjamaican or Facebook.com/Dulcies-Jamaican.
