Ena's Caribbean Kitchen

Ena Hayles has been serving authentic dishes from her native Jamaica since 1999 at Ena’s Caribbean Kitchen in the Linden neighborhood. Her husband, Lloyd, and their five children all help at the restaurant. Ena has appeared on the Food Network to demonstrate making her jerk chicken and her red snapper with escabeche sauce. Here, she talks about her approach to cooking.

Q: How long have you been cooking?

All my life. It’s a cultural thing. You see, the thing is, with our food, we cook with our whole bodies, we cook with love. You understand what I mean? When we’re cooking, we just block everything out and focus on what we’re doing. You’re just in the moment, and it’s what you love to do, and you just do it.

Q: What would you say makes Jamaican food authentic?

You have to be a Jamaican to cook Jamaican food. That’s the truth, because everything starts from scratch. We use, might be seasoning salt and regular salt, but most of our seasoning is regular onion, regular hot pepper, regular garlic and thyme—everything fresh.

Q: Which cooking methods do you use?

Jerk chicken, barbecue jerk, beef ribs and lamb—all those got to go on the grill. We marinate it, especially the chicken [which we] marinate at least a day or two before. We put it on the grill and then put it in the oven for a couple minutes for it to get really tender.

Q: What sets Ena’s Caribbean Kitchen apart from other Jamaican restaurants?

We cook different. I’m from the old school, making the dishes the exact same way I grew up. I cannot even make pancakes (laughs). I can’t. If I do it, it’s either too soft, or it’s going to burn, so I just don’t do it. [When] I try, it don’t come out right, so I just leave it alone. I can boil you an egg, but if you say you need an egg sandwich, O Lord! I’ll try it, but you’ve got to take it the way I give it to you. It’s the truth I’m telling you! But if you said to me now, “I need some curry chicken or some steamed snapper or some fried fish,” now you’re getting the food. Don’t ask me how to do spaghetti … I cannot do it (laughs).

Q: Ena’s Caribbean Kitchen has been going for 20 years. What do you hope for its future?

I don’t want to move from right here; this is where I started. I would like the kids to move along with it in the right way, cooking with love, cooking with their whole bodies, and treating the customer right. Because of the customer—it’s why we survive.