News
A taste of the Bahamas in Westhope
Alicia Wicklund
05/15/2012
They are bringing the Bahamas to North Dakota with homemade island food and traditional Caribbean music. They are also the only Caribbean restaurant in the state.
“We want you to feel the culture the minute you walk through the door,” said Mike Roy, owner of Bahamas Best Caribbean Kitchen in Westhope, N.D.
They’ve been open for only a few weeks but serve food with a big punch of Caribbean taste. So far, their most popular items have been the jerk chicken and ribs cooked on a flame grill with Jamaican jerk spices.
“People in the islands eat this food all the time,” Roy said. “It’s just their traditional food.”
A move to North Dakota
“When my brother and I came here (North Dakota), we were coming for truck driving jobs in the oil fields,” Roy said. “We were told by some folks in Westhope that there was only one other place in town to eat and they could use something more.”
Roy’s wife, Patricia, (originally from the island of Abaco) had restaurant experience and was planning on moving to North Dakota to sell food in a concession trailer in the oil fields any ways.
“One thing led to the other and soon my wife sent our son up to get the restaurant started,” Roy said. “I am just like the gopher. I wash dishes, take out the trash and mop the floors and my son’s the cook.”
Patricia will soon make the move from their home in Colorado, while their son will go back to Colorado and become to become a head chef for a restaurant.
“It will incorporate more food from other Caribbean islands and will have a big staff,” said Michael Johnson. “The employees will be from different Caribbean islands too.”
The father and son moved to North Dakota on March 28. Prior to this, Roy had been in law enforcement and had just received his CDL in February.
“For me it is going to be a whole career change,” Roy said.
Patricia is going to manage the restaurant and Greggy, one of his daughters currently living in the Bahamas, will be moving to Westhope in August.
“That’s really going to be our core crew and hopefully I will be driving trucks by then,” Roy said.
Authentic Caribbean Cuisine
According to Roy, jerk seasoning comes from the island of Jamaica specifically, but is used all over the world.
“The Maroons that were runaway slaves were fighting a war with the British and they would go up into the Blue Mountains in Jamaica and they needed a way to preserve their meat so they came up with process of jerking meat,” he said. “The main ingredient is the scotch bonnet pepper, but it also has all-spice and scallions. My wife makes her own jerk seasoning, but we use traditional Jamaican jerk seasoning ordered online from a company called Walkers in Jamaica.”
There is also the curry chicken seasoned with curry powder and steam chicken that uses a brown stew seasoning. All meals include peas and rice, Bahamas mac and cheese made with crushed red peppers and cheddar cheese and coleslaw that has been hand-shredded.
“Everything is homemade, we just buy ingredients,” Roy said. “For the coleslaw, we use cabbage, carrots, mayo, a little sugar and some other spices. It’s kind of top secret, but it has a unique flavor. It just tastes different than American-style coleslaw.”
They will eventually have an item called ox tails.
“It’s the tail of the cow but really tender. We trim off all the fat and the meat is cut up and that’s cooked with spices,” Roy said.
“That’s my favorite,” he added. “We just don’t have it yet.”
They most likely will add conch fritters to the menu. Mike explained the conch meat is found inside a larger shell that a person can listen to the ocean in.
“That is like the national delicacy of the Bahamas,” he said. “They take the creature out, clean it, cut it up and beat it into a batter and fry it. There is a sauce to dip it into too. It doesn’t taste fishy or like anything else I’ve ever tasted. There is no way to explain it except that it tastes like conch.”
“But people really like it,” Roy said. “When you go to the Bahamas you will see piles of conch. And it can be prepared many different ways from cracked, grilled, fried and of course fritters.”
Mike’s son Michael has dove for conch in the Caribbean Ocean.
“It’s fun but it’s a workout,” said Johnson. “You put goggles on and dive several feet underwater. There is conch in other places too, but they are known to be the largest in the Bahamas because of the coral reefs and nutrients in the water.”
According to Johnson, the island of Abaco has the smallest coral reef, one of three in the world.
Johnson started to cook at the age of nine and went into the tourism business at 14. He’s worked for four star and even seven and a half star restaurants in the Bahamas.
“I’ve been cooking ever since,” said Johnson. “My stepmother always said the boys in the house had to learn to cook for themselves. I liked doing that instead of mopping the floor. It has assured me that I had a talent so I stuck with it.”
When traveling from island to island in the Bahamas, Roy said the food is very different.
“Trinidad has roti. It’s like a tortilla made out of flour and spices that originally came from India. You could have curry shrimp roti or chicken roti or even jerk chicken roti,” he said.
Seafood is one of the most plentiful sources of food in the Caribbean according to Roy’s son.
“The waters are rich in seafood, especially conch. But there is also barracuda and mahi mahi (dolphin). In Jamaica you will see more pork because the water is a bit fished out. Jamaicans invented the jerk for pork, but it’s popular with chicken too,” Johnson said.
So far, feedback Roy and Johnson have heard has been “this is delicious!”
“In Colorado a lot of people have already been to the islands so they already know what most of the food is. Here, that’s not the case so we have to explain a little more and let them sample it,” said Roy. “So far it’s been a really good reception. We are just glad to be here and would like people to come try our food.”
His son added, “We are just trying to share our culture with the U.S.”
Bahama’s Best Caribbean Kitchen is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and open for take-out from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.
“That 11 p.m. is really flexible. We know there will be farmers coming out of the fields late, so if they call we can stay open for them,” he said.
It usually takes 15 to 20 minutes to prepare an order, but if they are busy, it could take a bit longer.
“For the most part we are pretty fast, but there are only two of us, so we do the best we can,” Roy said.
To place an order at Bahamas Best Caribbean Kitchen call (701) 245-6686 or visit them in Westhope. Bahamas Best Caribbean Kitchen is located in the same building as the Fleetwood Inn.