- [Sheldon] West Indian food isn't very
well known in Seattle.
But Pam Jacobs and her kids are here to change that.
So, we're in the town of Wallingford.
Now we'll be going to Pam's Kitchen.
We'll be meeting up with Pam,
who is serving West Indian flavors.
Let's go taste some.
And we're gonna make goat curry?
- [Pam] Goat curry.
In Trinidad, our curry's so different from Indian curry.
Although, we came from there.
However in appearance,
it took whatever they came with
and whatever they found in Trinidad
and made their own curry.
We're gonna put some Jeera, which is cumin.
Our curry goes into this.
Put the garlic in first.
Another onion goes in there. - Another onion.
Some tomatoes.
Now we go in with the goat.
- Whoa, you know it's gonna be flavorful already.
- Oh my gosh.
- And the goat gets in there.
- Yes.
Black pepper.
Salt.
And now we're going with the hot stuff.
Habanero.
- [Sheldon] And this is just habanero
that's been chopped up.
- [Pam] Okay, so this is cilantro and parsley.
- [Sheldon] You know it's not gonna be a bland dish.
Where did you learn to cook?
- My dad passed away, I was nine years old.
My mom, very sickly.
So my dad came one day and he put a sombrero on my head.
And he said, "This is how you learn to help your mom."
He showed me how to do dishes.
It became something I wanted to do.
As a little girl, I put everything into what I was cooking.
- Came from the islands to Seattle, open a restaurant.
- Not right away.
I did housekeeping
for 13 years.
But, while I was doing it, I was feeding people my food.
- Oh, I love it.
- Just trying to see how people would take it.
I love it when I see people talking
when the food gets on their table
and they start eating.
- For that one moment, that somebody can enjoy it.
- Exactly.
It's my passion.
I love cooking.
People would come into my restaurant
and ask for jerk chicken.
- [Sheldon] Jerk chicken.
- And I had never had Jamaican jerk.
This is what I came up with.
So this is ketchup.
- Alright.
- This is another secret of mine.
(laughing)
Soy sauce.
Some brown sugar.
Garlic, habanero.
Black pepper.
Allspice.
- [Sheldon] Paprika.
- [Pam] Jerk seasoning, grounded rosemary.
A little bit of the rough salt.
- A lot of ginger.
- Yeah.
- Cilantro, of course.
Taste.
- Woo.
(laughing)
- [Pam] We're gonna take a chicken,
dunk them in there.
- [Sheldon] Look at that.
- [Pam] Jerk chicken.
This is traditional street food
walking in Trinidad.
- [Sheldon] Going in the center.
- This is blippes season.
Kinda like close it here.
And then that's your roti.
So we have a bunch of different rotis.
So in Trinidad we call this paratha,
that's the Indian name.
And we also call it buss up shut.
(unintelligible)
Oh no, you beating that.
Come on.
Yeah.
When people come out here, they feel
like they in my kitchen.
I make them feel that welcome feeling.
Trinidad is cosmopolitan.
You know, we have all these different cultures.
40% Indians; they came as indentured laborers.
40% blacks, who came as servants.
The other 20% is a mixture.
We have all these different flavors.
- Back in Trinidad, you had a little food shack.
- Was just this little place.
And I fried chicken.
I made chicken sandwich and people were crazy over it.
- So a few years pass and you make your journey
to Seattle. - Straight to Seattle.
Straight to Seattle.
What brought you here?
- My brother lived here.
And my son and daughter, they would,
I mean they loved my food.
This place came open, he told me about it.
- So it was with your kids' encouragement?
- Yes.
So we actually opened up this restaurant without money.
- And how did you do that? (laughing)
- You know, when you come from a third-world country,
you know to do everything.
So everybody get together and did the work.
You know, the plumbing,
- [Sheldon] Wow.
- the electricity, the carpet.
Everything.
- Tell me about those early days.
- Those were not good days.
(laughing)
Five years of those years were terrible.
I think being from Trinidad, nobody knew about this food.
People would look at our sign and walk away
because you don't wanna waste your money
on food you don't know about.
It's just a matter of them coming in and tasting this food.
- Alright, I'm gonna dig in.
Alright.
Mm.
Right off of the bone.
The curry and then those peppers
kind of creep up on you.
The jerk chicken.
So much flavor going on.
It's full-flavored, that's what this is.
And you cook with a vision of, you know,
just representing your cultures.
- It's the only authentic Trinidad restaurant.
And I believe this food,
it would eventually do it's thing.
- It's delicious.
Is there a community of,
- There is a community.
But not, not large.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- So I depend on the Caucasian, the Americans.
- How has Seattle changed in this last 10 years?
- Oh my god, drastically.
Small businesses do not make money like people think.
- And we see less and less of these
neighborhood restaurants.
Either going out of business because it's,
the rent's so high, or...
- The rent's so high, um,
It's hard to get workers. - Difficult to get...
I think has something to do with the minimum wage.
You know, it's a struggle.
- Well, why stay in Seattle for years?
- Seattle is home.
- [Sheldon] Yeah.
- Yeah.
I feel at home here.
- [Man With Glasses] A lot of pork here.
So here we go chef.
This is our signature Puerco Asado,
which is a Dominican roast pig.