Ever since cookbook author and food influencer Julia Turshen kvelled about Top Taste in Bon Appetit in 2018, this off-the-beaten-path Jamaican restaurant has been gaining fans as fast as a Caribbean bobsled team. So it’s no surprise that Top Taste’s chef/owners, Albert and Malenda Bartley, were nominated for a James Beard award on February 23.
Top Taste is well known to Chronogram readers, who voted it first-place winner in the Caribbean category in the 2021 Chronogrammies.
It’s far from a fancy place—the Jamaican pantry items lining the shelves and the Ting and Irish Moss in the drinks cooler give off serious tropical bodega vibes. Comprising just three tables—the bulk of Top Taste’s business has always been takeout—this tiny eatery does brisk business, serving classic homestyle Jamaican fare like jerk chicken and pork, curried goat, plantains, ackee fish, and beef patties. There’s also a killer mac and cheese, more loaflike than cheesy-gooey, and all the better for it. (Top Taste is just three blocks from our office, so the Chronogram staff gets lunch from from there twice a week.)
Congrats to Albert and Malenda. And kudos to the James Beard Foundation for recognizing an unassuming establishment like Top Taste in the same list as swankier restaurants in New York City that we normally associate with the James Beard awards.
Other local nominees in this year’s awards include Carla Perez-Gallardo and Hannah Black of Lil’ Deb’s Oasis in Hudson and Gabe McMackin of Troutbeck in Amenia. Here’s the full list of 2022 nominees. Winners will be announced on March 16.
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This article appears in February 2022.
