Brian Slattery Photos
Damien Clarke sauteeing vegetables at Jammin Jamaican.
Salmon and chicken, en route to being served.
Damian Clarke, chef and owner of Jammin Jamaican Cuisine at 611 Washington Ave. in the Hill, set to work preparing a salmon entree that has become one of the restaurant’s more popular dishes.
First, he chopped peppers and onions into neat strips. He folded a bunch of scallions in half before dicing them, using both onions and salmon to maximize the flavor. Then he sliced some thyme for extra seasoning.
Next, Clarke heated a pan full of olive oil and added the vegetables, seasoning, and a splash of water. He also added his secret ingredient: special Jammin Sauce.
Clarke placed the pre-cooked and seasoned slabs of salmon into the mixture, and cooked it all together. Salmon, like many seafoods, is a staple of the Jamaican diet. He topped off the dish by pouring more Jammin Sauce over everything, then served the salmon with vegetables, rice, and plantains.
The end result was delicious: sweet and tangy salmon, with vegetables adding texture and rice to balance out the flavors in the dish. The plantains were honeyed but not mushy, and every piece of the meal complemented the others perfectly.
The fried chicken, another popular dish, was equally good during a Monday lunchtime visit. The chicken felt crunchy but not tough, with a moist inside. The breading wasn’t too heavy, and it had a pepperiness that added kick but not sting. The dish was light and not too greasy, a difficult feat to achieve with fried chicken.
Taneisha Young and Wesley Clarke.
Jammin Jamaican Cuisine is one of a growing number of Jamaican spots in the Elm City, which has seen an increase in immigrants from the Caribbean country arriving in the past few years, joining the existing community. “We use our seasoning directly from Jamaica, so that’s why we get the authentic taste,” said Taneisha Young, Clarke’s partner and fiancé, who is also a nurse at Yale New Haven Hospital. “The way we grew up, that’s how we make it.”
Clarke grew up in Jamaica; Young’s parents are from Jamaica, but she grew up in New Haven. They both learned to cook growing up, as a part of their cultural heritage. “That’s a big thing in the Jamaican culture, when you’re younger, you have to be in the kitchen,” said Young.
The first thing most children learn to make is rice. “You don’t want it too soggy, you don’t want it too burnt, it has to be perfect,” Young said. “It takes time.” The main pitfalls to avoid: too much water, or too much salt.
The couple opened Jammin Jamaican Cuisine on Oct. 1, 2020, during the pandemic. “Damian was actually walking by, and saw this place,” said Young. “We had no intentions of opening a restaurant. It just basically fell in our laps at that time.”
They both loved to cook, but Young was concerned about the difficulty of opening a restaurant during a pandemic. “It was the hardest time ever,” she said. But Clarke was committed to the idea. “It was his dream,” Young said. “His passion is cooking, so I just went along with it. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Fortunately, whatever the worst was, it didn’t happen. Clarke and Young got Jammin Jamaican Cuisine up and running. They filled their kitchen with relatives from both of their families. “We’re all family,” Young said. Everyone in the restaurant cooks, and everyone has a different specialty.
Occasionally, the different family members have disagreements about how to cook the food. When that happens, they settle it by preparing it both ways — “You do it your way, I’ll do mine,” said Young — and they have a “taste off” to settle the point. Whoever’s food is declared better, that’s the chosen recipe for the menu.
Young and Clarke prioritize fresh and healthy food. “Everything is made at least two to three times daily,” said Young. “We don’t believe in storing food overnight.” At the end of the night, they give leftovers away. “Before we throw it in the trash, I’d rather give it to someone who doesn’t have that. We get maybe six or seven consistent less fortunate or homeless people that come here, and we give it to them. Bless somebody else.” They even make an effort to have extra leftovers, so everyone who shows up gets fed.
The most popular recipe at Jammin Jamaican Cuisine is the oxtail. “You want a nice, slow-cooked, tender oxtail,” said Young. “The key to Jamaican food is you have to let it marinate, you have to season it.”
The food at Jammin Jamaican Cuisine is healthy, delicious, and made with love and respect for Jamaican culture. When you come to Jammin Jamaican Cuisine, “nobody’s a stranger,” Young said. “Everyone who walks through these doors, everyone’s our family.”
See below for other recent articles about New Haven’s Jamaican restaurants.
• Daughter Honors Mom’s (Island) Spicy Legacy
• Sunday Dinner Served For Weekday Lunch