One of the most delicious ways to learn about a culture is through food. Take jerk chicken, brought to us by Jamaican Americans. In Westchester, almost 13,000 people in Mount Vernon, or 17.7 percent, share Jamaican heritage, ranking 12th in the nation for communities with the most Jamaican Americans, according to the 2022 Census Reporter data. We recently visited a few jerk chicken spots to learn more about the business owners and chefs sharing their culture with Westchester’s hungry public.
The origin of jerk-style cooking dates back to 17th-century Jamaica, when the indigenous Taíno people intermingled with enslaved Africans who had escaped, known as Maroons. The word “maroon” means mountaineer, and it’s used to describe the enslaved West Africans who fled to mountains of the island in 1655, during Jamaica’s transition from Spanish to English rule. In those mountains, the indigenous Taíno and Arawak tribes taught the Africans how to cook using dying embers buried beneath the ground. It was a smokeless cooking method that avoided detection by English colonists while creating a preserved, jerky-like, shelf-stable meat.
Today, jerk refers to the way meat is seasoned, smoked, and grilled. Modern recipes may include Scotch bonnet peppers, scallions, garlic, ginger, pimento, thyme, and cinnamon, according to Smithsonian Magazine. In some recipes, chicken, pork, or fish is smothered in a paste-like marinade consisting of Scotch bonnet peppers, fresh thyme, pimento, brown sugar, and ginger. The meat is then slow-smoked over pimento wood, cut with a cleaver when ordered, and served over rice and red kidney beans, called rice and peas by many Jamaicans. Jerk is more than the sum of its parts. It’s a dish that represents a chapter in the history of a people and their fight for freedom.
Poppy’s Deli
420 Sandford Blvd E, Mount Vernon; 914.699.0145
At the Colonial Plaza strip mall, white smoke billows from a barrel of charred steel that sits out in the open at the front of the parking lot. This is the smoking jerk pan, where meat, fish, and corn are prepared for Poppy’s Deli. The storefront is only a few steps from the smoldering grill, and it serves some of the best jerk chicken in the county. Its half chicken is chopped into meaty bites and paired with yellow rice, peas, and a sweet-spicy jerk sauce that is outright addictive.
The chicken here has a kick from the hot peppers in the marinade, and the smoky, hickory wood gives the fall-apart-tender meat an earthy, flame-kissed essence that will thrill any lover of jerk. Also, Poppy’s offers a glowing vermillion fruit punch dispensed from an enormous, self-serve tank. It is cold and sweet, with a fruity tang that pairs wonderfully with the warm, savory chicken.
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CB Jerk Center
150 W 3rd St, Mount Vernon; 914.363.3909
In the heart of Mount Vernon, behind an auto body shop on the busy corner of West 3rd and Mundy Lane, is the glittering roadside stand known as CB Jerk Center. You can’t miss the 30-foot-long trailer decked out in the green, black, and yellow of the Jamaican flag, with a sprawling emerald awning. There’s a New York-meets-Caribbean vibe here, where the cooks are all business, pumping out Jamaican classics like ackee and saltfish (Jamaica’s national dish), tripe and beans, and curry goat to a crowd of delivery drivers, tradespeople, and neighborhood kids.
The jerk chicken at CB is a local favorite that’s tender and smoky, with a hint of warm aromatics like pimento and cinnamon, served with a thick and tangy jerk sauce. The eatery does classic sides like rice and peas, fried plantains, and roasted vegetables, but we would opt for a side of mac and cheese, which is topped with a thick layer of cheddar and generously piled into a takeout container.
Fully Flavored Jerk
Corner of Bullard and Nereid avenues, Bronx
Eleven short blocks west and four long blocks south of CB, I met with a man named Devan who runs a small roadside jerk stand on the corner of Bullard and Nereid Avenues, just steps from the Yonkers border. Devan is a native Jamaican, and he’s keeping the tradition alive by masterfully grilling jerk pork and chicken in two massive barrel smokers beside his tent that overlooks the Bronx River Parkway. Devan serves a traditional jerk made with the precision of a long-standing grill man. He knows what perfect jerk chicken looks like. He knows by the smoke, the low flame, and the scent of charring skin that creeps into the evening sky and lures hungry rush-hour travelers to his stand in search of a true culinary delight.
Devan isn’t big on the internet, though he told me he’s working on an Instagram account. For now, you’ll have to head over to Bullard and Nereid and follow the smoke from there. You’ll find Devan and his friends stoking the flames, cleaving up chicken, and cracking jokes. If you’re as lucky as we are, you might even find a superhero lurking in the shadows.
Related: Where to Get Tender, Slow-Smoked Barbecue in Westchester
