Under new management, a new executive chef and a just-appointed general manager, the Jamaica Pegasus is a hotel in transition. The storied Knutsford Boulevard-located landmark, recently acquired by Kevin Hendrickson’s Quivin Holdings, has welcomed Mark Cole, assuming executive chef duties, and hotel industry veteran Peter Hilary as general manager.

Significant changes afoot, the Pegasus invited the Jamaica Observer Food Awards judges to its property last Tuesday evening for a familiarisation opportunity with its Tuesdays on the Grill foodie affair.

But before the judges sat down for the poolside grill event, they rode the elevator to the 15th floor to the Princess Royal Suite for a meet-and-greet with the hotel’s new management structure, being led by Special Project Director, Kate Hendrickson.

Nibbling on tasty hors d’oeuvres like the Asian-styled tuna and tomato bruschetta and sipping signature libations such as the Pegasus Tease, the Pegasus Squeeze and The Flying Horse, the judges were formally introduced to the general manager Peter Hilary, a native of Ireland with over 20 years of experience in the hotel industry.

It was then time to relocate to the impressively styled Olympic poolside for Tuesday on the Grill.

The judges — joined for the evening by two special guests, Track Price Plus CEO Xavier Chin, and Vivienne Bayley Hay, group marketing and corporate affairs manager at Victoria Mutual Building Society — were given an informed rundown of the grill’s myriad offerings by the affable Chef Mark Cole. As thick wisps of flavourful smoke trail in the air from the smoked meats on the grill, the judges needed no prompting to venture off to taste what was on show.

An abundance of meat options, attractively presented at varied food stations, were for the taking: grilled baby back ribs dipped in guava barbecue sauce, jerked grilled lamb, plump jerked sausages, roasted suckling pig, traditional jerked chicken, skewered grilled shrimp with Red Stripe barbecue sauce — no shortage of grilled variety was in sight. Also available on the buffet line was a pasta station with spaghetti and penne pasta served with seafood, jerk sausage and chicken; red peas or pepperpot soups; and a cold cut display with veggies and deli meats.

Thursday Food shares moments from Jamaica Pegasus’s weekly Tuesdays on the Grill.