New Jamaican Restaurant Opens In Former Subway Location In Enfield

ENFIELD, CT — A native of Jamaica with extensive experience in the food service industry has opened her own restaurant in a high-profile location in Enfield, serving delicacies from her native land.

My Place Jamaica Way is in the midst of a soft opening, with a grand opening forthcoming within a few weeks. It is located at the site of the former Subway shop in the Riverview Plaza on Elm Street, directly across the road from Asnuntuck Community College.

Owner Marcia Dortch told Patch, "I owned my own restaurant and bar in Jamaica, so when I came here, it was with the intention of opening my own. When I was living in New Jersey, most of my work was in restaurants."

Dortch originally moved into the plaza last year at Royal Crown Beauty Bar, adjacent to the vacated sandwich shop and sharing space with Lola's Alterations, a dressmaking and alterations shop run by her mother, Lola Hardwick.

"When Subway moved from here, my mom was like 'it's time for you now to get back to your real roots,'" she said. "I always end up in the kitchen, like when I was young, I cooked for nine people."

Initially, Dortch thought it would be easy taking over an existing restaurant space, but she found herself doing renovations for nearly six months.

"Just make a few changes with them, I thought, but then it turned out to be a lot of changes," she said. "

There are relatively few Jamaican restaurants in the area, but Dortch said she plans to offer delicacies different than the others.

"Most Jamaicans around here, they do curry goats," she said. "Brown stew chicken and all those are the regular Jamaican dishes that everybody looks forward to. It's not as if they're coming for curry goats or they're coming for oxtail brown stew chicken. No, it's more for the grilling on the grilled side, on the jerk side, and barbecue. I put in a little American as well, like zucchini fries."

Once ordered at the counter, customers have a choice to eat in the restaurant or bring their food home. Specialties include both beef and pork ribs, jerk chicken and pork, veggie and jerk burgers and various salads, to which can be added shrimp, salmon, boiled eggs or chicken.

My Place Jamaica Way is currently open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. More information may be obtained by calling 860-924-4209.