Yaad Style Jamaican Cuisine is a Portland-based restaurant owned and operated by Jacqueline Das.
“Six or 7 was the very first time I remember cooking,” Das recounted. “My mom is a good cook, and my dad used to work in the restaurant industry as a chef in Jamaica, so I grew up around people who love to cook.”
In 2007, Das migrated from Jamaica to New York. Then in 2015, she moved from New York to Portland. Originally pursuing a career in education and planning to stay in the Pacific Northwest for just six months to accommodate her job at the time, she found herself falling in love with the city and, especially, its food scene. Aside, that is, from a sore lack of Jamaican food.
“When I got here, there was absolutely no Jamaican food. And if you know Jamaicans, we are big on our food,” she said. “It doesn’t matter where we are in the world; it’s just something that grounds us. … I said, ‘You know what, I’m a good cook, and I think I can open a spot here even though I’m working my nine-to-five.’”
With that, Yaad Style was born, opening in 2016 with a small but powerful crew of just Das and her son.
“I don’t know how we did it, but we did it,” she said. “My mom came in 2018, and we got a little bit more help. Then in 2019, my husband came, and we really got some big help there.”
Das experienced health issues in 2019 that led her to the difficult decision to sell the business. She moved back home to Jamaica with her family and eventually recovered from the ailment. In late 2021, the new owner of Yaad Style contacted Das and told her he was going to sell the business. After some careful consideration and talking it over with her family, she repurchased the eatery, moved back to Portland and built a team — including her husband, mom, son and two additional cousins — to help run the enterprise.
“I love to see people enjoy food when I cook,” Das beamed. “It’s a love for me, and I love that our culture is being exposed. I want people to know about Jamaica, so the food for me is a big deal to showcase the culture.”
With a goal of keeping the menu as close to authentic as possible, ingredients are derived from nonlocal sources, including the Land of Wood and Water itself.
“When you taste the food, you will know the difference,” Das explained.
Before we embarked on a culinary escapade full of flavor, however, it was time to medicate.
Magic Number sodas are craft-brewed, Cannabis-infused beverages that come in various flavors and dosages. We selected a 100-milligram can of Magic Number’s Cherry Vanilla Soda to split prior to chowing down. Fueled by Trainwreck live resin, the drink has a tart, cherry fruit taste accented by sweet vanilla reminiscent of soda counter syrups. A perfect gateway to the upcoming gastronomic journey, the edible stimulated the appetite and generated a delightful brain and body buzz.
First up from Yaad Style’s menu was the jerk chicken, a dish that’s synonymous with Jamaican culture and cuisine. The origins of jerk chicken are storied, reaching all the way back to the 17th century, when there was a need to store food for longer amounts of time without spoilage. Enslaved people on plantations in Jamaica would prolong food viability by seasoning meat with natural preservatives — like pimento, Scotch bonnet peppers and bay leaf — and cooking it in a covered, underground pit.
“To know jerk chicken is to know about Jamaica,” Das declared with a smile.
The flavor of the chicken is astonishingly rich, featuring profound layers of seasoning and spice that stain the palate for hours after consumption. With an external char crisping the skin to utter perfection, each bite reveals a plump, juicy interior.
Next up was the oxtail. This famous dish isn’t actually native Jamaican fare. It’s more of a popular misconception that has since been adopted into Jamaican culture and cuisine.
“It’s not something that we grew up eating. I never saw it cooked anywhere. … But the way we cook food is perfect for cooking oxtails. You have to slow cook them to bring out the flavor,” Das explained.
This dish epitomizes slow-roasted excellence in the form of the most tender, succulent, fall-off-the-bone meat imaginable. It’s decadent and delicious, and it practically melts on the tongue like butter, drawing on the salivary glands with an unforgettable blend of savory gravy and spice.
After that, we were fortunate enough to get the opportunity to sample a plate of ackee and saltfish, Jamaica’s national dish.
“Ackee and saltfish has a flavor unlike anything else,” Das explained.
The selection is light and refreshing with a textural and visual consistency similar to scrambled eggs. The taste is rich, creamy and buttery, accented with an underlying umami and salt flavoring from the cod. It truly is a one-of-a-kind experience and a real Jamaican staple.
Main entrees at Yaad Style all come with sides of rice and beans, slaw and fried sweet plantains, cooked with natural ingredients like scallions, thyme and pimento seed.
The restaurant carries additional Jamaican staples, including beef patties, curry goat, chicken wings, fried breadfruit, homemade banana bread from Das’ family recipe, sweet potato pie and in-house drinks like lemonade and Sorrel, a hibiscus-based beverage with fresh ginger and spices. The bar even stocks traditional rum, so visitors from near and far have the opportunity to try a real deal Jamaican rum punch made with liquor directly from the island.
It’s hard to narrow the menu down to specific recommendations when everything we tried was genuinely incredible.
Food is a love language, and getting to nourish oneself with cooking that someone puts their entire heart into is one of the most tangible forms of endearment, especially when it represents a sharing of culture and humanity. This one-of-a-kind, family-run, woman-and-minority-owned business provides a genuine experience, from the sourcing of authentic ingredients to the extra time and effort put into each meal.
“When the food is made with love, you can taste the difference,” Das pointed out. “For me, it’s a blessing that I’m able to showcase that.”
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