If you’ve passed the 100 block of Gay Street lately and caught the scent of jerk chicken or curry drifting from a small counter spot, meet Dulcie’s Cafe. The family-run Jamaican kitchen has a story that winds from Kingston, Jamaica, to Queens, New York, and now to Knoxville.
What began as a three-day-a-week food truck has grown into a thriving business with two brick-and-mortar locations. The first opened at 703 N. Cherry Street in 2020, and the newest has just welcomed customers at 145 S. Gay St. Named in honor of family matriarch Dulcie Sherriah, the restaurant carries forward the spirit of her Kingston kitchen, where her meals and warmth brought people together.
Owners and mother-daughter duo Sandra Allen and Jeneve Blake-Johnson sat down with me to share the story of how their family’s recipes and legacy found a new home in Knoxville.
Sandra was born in Kingston and moved to Chicago as a young teen in the late 1970s. Her family later settled in New York, where an aunt opened a restaurant called J & C Kitchen. Jeneve said, “All of us worked together. I have pictures of me as a baby in the restaurant.”
Jeneve was born in Queens, but grew up in Hixson, Tenn., where her mother raised 11 children—four of her own and seven nieces and nephews—while working three jobs. “We were what you would call latchkey kids,” Jeneve said, “but she made sure, no matter what, family is important. As a Seventh Day Adventist family, Fridays were for worship, Saturdays for church, and Sundays for eating out at Ryan’s. That was our big treat.”
That rhythm of faith, family, and food became the thread that connected their lives. Sandra began cooking for her coworkers while working in childcare. “My mom started to cook oxtail, brown stew, curry chicken,” Jeneve said. “It was a little Southern, a little Jamaican, and people loved it. They would ask, ‘When are you going to cook again?’”
Those plates turned into something more meaningful. Sandra used the money to fund daycare staff trips. “They went to Jamaica, Key West, Las Vegas,” Jeneve said. “It was early 2000s, and it was the most fun way to make memories.”
When Jeneve was 11, Sandra sent her and her siblings to Jamaica for two months to learn more about their roots from (Granny) Dulcie herself. “As soon as you turned the corner to my grandmother’s house on Law Street, you could smell the aroma from her cooking,” Jeneve said. “Our plates were already on the table. That was her love language.”
Dulcie was known for feeding neighbors and volunteering at a Catholic mission to care for children with AIDS. Even as her health declined, her kitchen voice never faded. “Even up to the day before she passed, she would tell us, ‘Put this, put that,’” Sandra remembered. “Then she’d say, ‘Just give me three days and I’ll be cooking for you again.’”
Her story stretches even deeper into Jamaican history. Sandra shared that her grandfather was from the Maroon Tribe, descendants of Africans who escaped enslavement and established free communities in Jamaica’s mountains. “They were the first to rise up in Jamaica,” she said. “They have their own leaders, and the government does not touch them to this day.” Dulcie’s work as an herbalist reflected that lineage and independence.
In 2018, the family decided it was time to honor Dulcie’s legacy. “I still have my graduate school notebook—there’s a page that says ‘Dulcie’s Cafe,’” Jeneve said with a smile. She and her brother, Garfield, found a used food trailer through Facebook Marketplace, pooled their savings and a bit of retirement money, and surprised Sandra with the keys in early 2019.
They opened that April in a gas station lot. “We sold out the first day,” Jeneve said. By late 2019, a landlord approached them about a space on Cherry Street. The family painted, brightened, and opened in early 2020, just as COVID hit. “We had already been serving from the truck, so we pivoted to takeout,” she said. “It actually ramped us up because more people were home but eating out.”
Soon, Orange Hat Brewing and Baker Boys Pizza joined the block, creating a shared community. “We all share customers,” Jeneve said. “People grab a beer, a slice of pizza, or a plate from us and sit wherever. We say, eat it where you want, just come get it.”
Their new counter spot on Gay Street currently serves as a commissary while they work toward a full kitchen buildout. “We’re working on signage, then we’ll schedule a grand opening,” Jeneve said. Collaboration remains at the heart of their approach. “Out of respect for our neighbor, we held off on serving alcohol,” Sandra said. “They sell beer next door, so people just buy one there and bring it over. We all work together.”
The menu stays tight and traditional: oxtail, curry chicken, brown stew chicken, jerk, etc. and a rotation of sides that taste like a Kingston porch. “In Jamaica, certain dishes are on certain days, like Wednesday is soup day,” Sandra said. “At Dulcie’s, you can get your favorites any day.”
Her personal favorite? “The curry chicken and goat and the oxtail,” she said. “You’ll never see me eat just one meat.”
Dulcie’s has grown mostly through patience, full-time paychecks, and Marketplace finds. “We try to stay away from long loans,” Jeneve said. “We want to own what we build. This is my grandmother’s legacy.” Offers have come to buy the business, but the family’s answer is always no. Jeneve still balances her work as a school counselor, her role as a mother of three, and preparing food for Dulcie’s, while Sandra balances her own full-time work with the café.
For Sandra, the cafe is both tribute and gratitude. “This is appreciation,” she said. “My mom lived for her children, food, and helping people. She didn’t get the recognition in life that she deserved. Telling her story gives us joy.”
For now, Dulcie’s Cherry Street kitchen is humming, the Gay Street location is nearing its full launch, and the food truck still hits festivals and events and does catering. Each plate carries the legacy of a woman who fed everyone who came to her door. “Her cooking was how she said, ‘I love you,’” Jeneve said.
Dulcie’s Cafe Downtown is more than a new place to eat. It’s a living memory of a Kingston kitchen and a grandmother’s generous heart, shared with Knoxville, one meal at a time.
Follow their social media pages for updates on the November grand opening and weekly specials.
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Hours:
Tuesday–Thursday: 11 AM – 8 PM
Friday–Saturday: 11 AM – 9 PM
Sunday–Monday: Closed
DoorDash is available
