Top 10 Food stories of 2023
Published:Thursday | January 4, 2024 | 12:08 AM
What compares to good taste when it comes to food? New tasty offerings. Your top Food stories for 2023 put this adage on display. From a new food truck where you’re sure to ‘Luv Di Taste’ and Kingston’s newest Italian restaurant to Krispy Kreme mania, here are your top 10 stories for 2023.
1. New food truck hits the streets
A new food truck had Street Eatz lovers salivating in 2023. Fronted by Troy Hanson, Kurt Small, and Chef Jovaine Lawrence, Food ushered in the new year with the proprietors of Luv Di Taste. Putting a fresh spin on local favourites, the terrific trio shared a fascinating story of how they came together with this brilliant idea to provide wholesome and heart-warming Jamaican food that will leave your appetite yearning for more.
2. Ricky Wade, the J’can who is McDonald’s franchise king
Ricky Wade’s success is no flash in the pan. The product of St Theresa Prep and Excelsior High schools, who used to race go-carts along Palisades Road before migrating to the United States to pursue his dream of becoming a pilot, told his story of how he came to own 28 McDonald’s franchise stores across three counties in the state of Florida.
3. Buzo Osteria Italiana opens in Jamaica
Kingston’s new Italian restaurant, Buzo Osteria Italiana finally opened its doors in March 2023 to large crowds and much fanfare. Centrally located at the Courtyard by Marriott in New Kingston, it is the third of the Trotters Restaurant Group’s line of Caribbean locations. The earliest opened in Trinidad circa 2011 and the second in Barbados in 2015. In 2023, Jamaica had its turn, and welcomes a wide range of northern Italian dishes, from pasta to artisan pizzas, to seafood, to salads, and much more.
4. M10 dishes flavour at new location on Red Hills Road
Famous for delivering an authentic Jamaican dining experience, M10 Bar and Grill opened its newest location at the 76 RHR Business Centre. With a number of delicious menu selections and known favourites, it has certainly dished flavour on Red Hills Road.
5. Jamaican-Canadian Chef Nicholas Stennett excites taste buds with jerk marinade
Chef Nicholas Stennett’s jerk chicken is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Jerk Festival, Jerk Wars, Celebrity Chef Men Who Cook, and Chef of the Kingdom in Canada awards. His curried goat is just as spectacular. His culinary prowess has given him the opportunity to spread his wings and provide authentic and all-natural taste on an international scale. His secret weapon: his jerk marinade.
6. Danzi Kitchen has tongues wagging in Clarendon
Danzi Kitchen is exciting food enthusiasts across May Pen in Clarendon. The brainchild of owner and restaurateur 28-year-old Shericka Lewinson, it was established in 2017 and helped the media and communication grad to tap into her entrepreneurial skills and pursue her passion for food.
7. Doughnut worry! Krispy Kreme promises more sweet moments on the horizon
Soft, light, and blissfully sweet, Krispy Kreme entered the local market with random pop-ups in Kingston and St Catherine and a camp-out for the official opening on Waterloo Road and told Food of its plans to spread the sweetness with new locations and local flavours.
8. Top Chef Canada winner Tre Sanderson to push Jamaican flavours forward
Tre Sanderson had no doubt in his mind that he would out-cook the competition and climb his way to the top to win Season 10 of ‘Top Chef Canada’. Creating history as the first black man and chef of Jamaican heritage to achieve this magnificent milestone, he hopes to push island flavours forward in the world of fine dining.
9. House of Dutch Pot gambles with rich flavour for global impact
Marinated meats and fresh ingredients sizzle and simmer on the fire as exotic and engaging scents play aromatic notes in the air. This experience is rooted in the island herbs and spices at the Jamaican restaurant, House of Dutch Pot, in Las Vegas, Nevada. No stranger to authentic flavour, what happens in Vegas hasn’t just stayed there as the word has got out that the eatery is a must-try in Sin City, giving it a major boost since opening in 2021.
10. A ‘Woiyoi’ of flavour — Viral food sensation Rameish Desouza opens Rameish Kitchen
Once you hear the word ‘woiyoi’, it can only mean one thing: it’s time to dig into some exotic and mouth-watering dishes boasting rich and unconventional island flavours that are truly out of this world. Viral sensation and chef Rameish Desouza answered the demands of many fans and followers, opening his very own restaurant: Rameish Kitchen – in downtown Kingston in May 2023. While he later closed those doors, sharing fans that he was “relocating”, his star continues to rise and he promises “greater things ahead”.