Hot and new can steal the spotlight, but what about longstanding local favorites? Each month, we’ll visit a Richmond-area restaurant that has been in business 15 years or longer.
Jamaica House owner Carena Ives (Photo by Jay Paul)
The airy, gold-lit space at 416 W. Broad St., home to Jamaica House, represents the culmination of 30 years of commitment to high-quality ingredients, like-family staffing and consistently mouthwatering, authentic Caribbean cuisine. Owner Carena Ives moved to Richmond from Brooklyn in 1994, where she was used to discovering diverse island fare on every block — but she didn’t find it here.
“I missed my mother’s cooking and how food brought people together,” Ives says. “I think, subconsciously, I wanted to re-create that community.” So, she decided to embody those feelings in a restaurant. The original Jamaica House was a modest spot practically on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University. She moved to the present location in 2020.
Ives says her success in dishing up Jamaican food through thick and thin for three decades stems from her determination not to fail. Her grit is clearly matched by her deep care for her team, whose development as chefs and line cooks was imbued with a sense of familial attachment.
“Our chef, Lenworth, has been with us the entire 30 years, and line cook Ray-Ray is now going on 15 years,” Ives says. “We know when mothers have birthdays or a grandmother dies — getting to know people on that level; it’s a family, both staff and customers.”
Even seasoned Jamaica House patrons might not know how far Ives and her crew go to perfect their food. She describes the cooking as labor-intensive and notes that they do all the butchering in-house.
“We pride ourselves on not cutting corners,” she says. “When you order oxtails, you’re not getting precut meat. And finding the right spices and peppers, that’s a huge thing for us. We find the best fresh ingredients under every circumstance.”
