Bringing jerk to the Big Apple
IF persons had a yearning for jerked meat in New York City during the 1980s, it is likely they crossed paths with Percival Baxter.
A pioneer of the Big Apple’s jerk industry, the Clarendon-born Baxter and his drums were a fixture throughout Queens.
Today, he operates Percy’s Jerk Hut, a popular eatery with three branches in Queens. One of many jerk outlets in New York City, its menu will be on show July 20 at the Grace Jamaican Jerk Festival, scheduled for Roy Wilkins Park in the West Indian-strong borough.
Baxter shed his drums in 1996 when he opened the first ‘Percy’s’ at Merrick Boulevard. He has seen jerk transcend its Caribbean clientele and attracted a cosmopolitan following who have made it a trendy fare among the Central Park leisure crowd and Wall Street high-rollers.
“When I started out, the customers were predominantly Jamaicans, but over time it caught on with Americans who wanted to get hip to the flavour,” said Baxter. “If you put up a stall with a sign that says ‘Jamaican food’ in either Central Park or Manhattan, it sell off.”
Born in the district of Frankfield, Baxter earned a physical education certification from the Mico Teacher’s College. He credits his mother, a higgler, for spiking his interest in food.
“I used to watch her cook, and there was a pimento farm near our home. When I did chicken I would go over there, get my pimento leaves and season my chicken,” he recalls.
Watching his mother bring home the bacon, so to speak, also influenced his interest in commerce.
“It built an eagerness in me to be a businessman,” he said.
While he had a stint as a coach at Tivoli Gardens Comprehensive High School, Baxter went full-time into the food sector shortly after migrating to the United States in 1985. Response to the flagship Percy’s was so strong he opened a second in 2006, followed by a third in the Jamaica neighbourhood two years later.
Baxter, who functions as Percy’s ‘quality controller’ these days, heads a 25-member staff that mans his ‘huts’. While jerk has grown beyond his expectations, there are still obstacles.
“Because of the Chinese and Indian stores it’s easier to get spices, but it’s still difficult to get the real things from Jamaica, like pimento, peppers, thyme and ginger,” he said. “The demand is so great for the product here, maybe it’s something the (Jamaican) government can look into.”
— Howard Campbell
