Janelle's Brings Caribbean Food With Atmosphere to Washington Ave.

Prospect Heights has had a Caribbean flavor for a long time: the West Indian-American Day Parade has been held here since the early 1970s, and jerk chicken take-out joints are a late-night staple.

Now a new restaurant on Washington is taking food from the islands and serving it up in style.

Janelle’s Caribbean American Cuisine and Bar is a colorful storefront on the East side of Washington Ave. between Prospect Pl. and St. Marks Ave. The 50-seat restaurant is owned by the husband and wife team of Junior and Kathy Baptiste.

“What we wanted to do was have a nice West Indian restaurant where you can come and sit down in a nice atmosphere and enjoy the food at a reasonable price,” Kathy said.

On the menu, you can find Caribbean entrees like Jerked Rotisserie Chicken, Oxtail, and Trinidad Style Chinese Fried Chicken served with tamarind dip. Prices are around $8 for lunch specials and $12-$16 for entrees.

Kathy’s current favorite dish is okra and rice. In the mood for something a little different? Try the Roti.

“Roti is more like an Indian dish,” Kathy explained. “It’s flour that you knead and then you roll out, but before you roll it out, you cook split peas and put it in the middle of the ball, and then you roll it out flat and cook it on both sides.

Then you can serve it with whatever meats you want—curry chicken, curry potato, curry goat. A lot of people come and want it vegetarian, so we have the curried channa and potato with pumpkin.”

The restaurant is big, open, and colorful, with a long bar that will serve alcohol once their liquor license comes through in a couple months. In the meantime, you can enjoy a list of tropical beverages, such as sorrel (made with hibiscus flowers) and peanut punch.

The Baptistes were both born in Trinidad, and they moved to the U.S. at a fairly young age. They lived for many years in Queens, where they frequented a now long gone Jamaican restaurant called Janelle’s, their restaurant’s namesake. The two served in the Army Reserves through several deployments, and today they live in Clinton Hill, not far from the restaurant.

Their experiences on kitchen detail were part of the inspiration for opening a place of their own.

“In the military we would have to do details in the kitchen, and sometimes we’d cook or clean or different things. But we always had this idea that we wanted a restaurant,” Kathy said.

The opportunity came when Junior walked down Washington Ave. one day and saw the space.

“He came home and he said, ‘Ooh, I found a great spot!’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘For the restaurant!’ Before I knew it, he talked to the person that owned it and we had it!” Kathy said.

They couple wanted to open their restaurant in Prospect Heights because they see it as a great spot for business. They looked at the growing number of new condominiums and apartments, as well as the building of the Barclays Center, when making their decision.

Since opening on May 27th, the Baptistes have enjoyed introducing Prospect Heights residents to foods from Trinidad, and they’ve been pleasantly surprised how much people without Caribbean ancestry know about the food.

They’ve also come to realize how challenging it is to run a restaurant.

“It is a lot of hard work,” Kathy said. “Either me or my husband have to be here to supervise, because no one is going to take care of your stuff like you, because it’s yours. It’s like a baby—you have to take care of it.”

When you visit Janelle’s, you’ll find the Baptistes supervising, serving, and, on occasion, helping chef Joan Hurst in the kitchen. And don’t worry if you enjoy it so much that you end up staying a while.

“A lot of people come and say, oh my gosh, they love it,” Kathy said. “They will eat, and then they will just sit...and sit...especially if it’s a couple. And then they leave and they say, oh, they loved the atmosphere, because there’s nothing like this restaurant around this area here, so they like it.

“I say thank you very much.”

Janelle’s Caribbean American Cuisine and Bar, 671 Washington Ave. (718) 576-6270
Open Tues-Fri 11am-12pm, Sat-Sun 10:30am-12:00pm.
Closed Mondays, Open Labor Day Monday