A visit to the new JR Jamaican Cuisine is almost like eating a home-cooked meal on the Caribbean island.
It’s down-home Jamaican cooking at the family-owned restaurant that opened April 29.
“The whole basis of this is we wanted Jamaican food,” owner Terry Rosenboro said. “We love Jamaican because my wife is Jamaican.”
He first moved to Kinston in 1994 from his native New York, as he has relatives in Craven County. He and his immediate family left and came back in 2006 to stay.
Rosenboro has worked in sales since he was about 18 years old — including working at Furniture Fair and Ashley Furniture in Greenville. But the taste of Jamaican food lured him into the restaurant business.
“We had a love for the food,” he said, “and we thought everyone else would, too.”
His uncle, Ariel “Bull” Thomas, offered to move to Kinston to do the cooking. Thomas has about 45 years of cooking experience, starting in Jamaica and continuing at restaurants he owned in New York.
Customers can watch Thomas at the stovetop cooking up large pots of chicken, beef, oxtails, fish and goat as the steam rises in front of him.
The curried goat is a Jamaican staple that has been selling well, Rosenboro said.
“The No. 1 dish for Jamaican food is the oxtails with rice and peas,” he said.
The island food is full of flavor and spices. Not all of it is spicy hot, though; the jerk chicken has a bit of kick to it, but the other menu items are mild. A variety of hot sauces are available.
Southerners can get their fried chicken with a taste of Jamaica in it.
The daily steamed fish is whiting, but the restaurant has steamed red snapper with onions and peppers on Saturdays.
Meals come in three sizes — a snack box includes one side, a medium box has two sides and the large contains bigger portions of the entrée and two sides.
Sides include rice, cabbage, macaroni and cheese, yams, salad, plantains and rice and peas, or small red beans.
Jamaican sodas include pineapple, ginger beer, cola champagne, cream, and ting, a grapefruit citrus drink. There is coconut water and Irish moss, a healthy sweet drink with cream and peanuts, Rosenboro said.
The restaurant has eat-in, take-out and delivery in the Kinston area. There is a three-plate minimum, or about $30, for deliveries.
People have been coming back, even the same day, Rosenboro said. It’s a good idea to call ahead to place orders.
“The level of service that you get is good,” he said. “We want to make everyone feel at home, so we emphasize service.”
JR Jamaican Cuisine, 300 W. Vernon Ave., will be holding a grand opening at an undetermined date in June. Hours are 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For information, call 252-527-0268.
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Tractor Supply Company, 1030 W. New Bern Road, is now carrying the Jonsered brand of professional grade chainsaws. This marks the first time this international brand of power equipment has been made readily available to U.S. consumers.
Jonsered offers a range of chainsaw products for both professionals and occasional users with standard specialty features that include the Clean Power engine design that offers reduced exhaust emissions by up to 75 percent and an increase in fuel efficiency by up to 20 percent.
In 1954, Jonsered produced the prototype for today’s modern chainsaw when it presented the world’s first lightweight, one-man chainsaw.
For information, call Tractor Supply Company at 252-208-0944.
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.
Have A Suggestion?
Do you have a new retail business or one that’s undergone a significant change? The Free Press would like to hear about it. Contact Margaret Fisher at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com.