Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamal Collier
Hi Jamal , thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
To tell this story, I need to start in the middle. I started cooking in college simply because it was the most cost-effective way to eat. It was easy stuff, with the most impressive thing being baked chicken and rice. Through my adult years, I continued to cook new things, but still under the understanding that I just wanted to eat, but with significantly better skill. Plus I could always call my mom or Nana and ask questions.
During the pandemic, I found myself unable to get out and enjoy the many food options Houston offers, which I did every week prior. During the pandemic time, I spent many hours watching cooking channels and working on creating drinks to get into bartending as a hobby. When you watch that many hours of cooking shows, you start to think you can create those dishes yourself, and even if I can’t taste test to confirm what I made is the same, I sure can plate it to make it look like that. I felt confident already that I could cook pretty well, and I entertained people at my house enough that the feedback validated this. At this time, I was posting pictures of the food and drinks to social media, and one day, someone reached out to my wife and asked if I could be a chef for an event they were having. It would be a 4-course dinner featuring wagyu steak and seafood as the main course. I immediately wanted to call and let him know that I was just posting pictures of what I was creating at home. I questioned if he wanted to give me the green light on his expensive steak- that wasn’t my lane of cuisine. After a few months and a couple of meetings, I was on board. He told me to create the menu with no input other than Surf and Turf as the main course. That event was a holiday banquet in December 2021. Prior to that, I did food for a small birthday party, which was nothing in comparison to this dinner.
From that point, I took on jobs by word of mouth or from people close to me who knew I was starting to do this as a business. My friends were really excited to support me and have been extremely encouraging. I was working a full-time job as a Mortgage Banker at Chase, which took up a significant amount of my time so that always posed a challenge to how much time I poured into it.
Over the course of time, I took more time to develop the business, create content, and work on the webpage. The biggest thing I have done is work. I practice cooking all the time. I try dishes I have seen other people make, I work on my own creations, I read cookbooks, and still watch cooking shows. I am non-stop working on the craft. In November 2022, I held an event I planned and called in TapasGiving. This was a “Friendsgiving” type event where I combined Spanish and Jamaican cuisine and made a Thanksgiving-type spread. My family, including my mother, wife, brother, and sister, were the people who assisted with executing the vision, and I was beyond excited about how it turned out. That really was the point where I realized I could create my own unique dishes, and people would like them. I feel like that has been a turning point in my confidence in my ability and being original.
Today, I offer catering, private dinners, spreads for book club meetings, charcurterie and operate pop-up rum flight and tapas pairings. I partner with Pur Noire Urban Wineries for some of their events which is super exciting as well. I am excited to hold my third TapasGiving this November.
Now, the beginning of how I got here is interesting because I didn’t know it was the beginning until later. I was born in Madrid, Spain, to parents who were both in the Air Force. While I left when I was two, my parents still had Spanish influence on foods they enjoyed and cooked over the years. My dad is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and my mom is from Jamaica. They both cooked while growing up and are still cooking now. I’ve lived in Hawaii, South Carolina, Panama (the country), New Mexico, and Texas. Most of these places were pretty great food experiences. If you can follow, so far, I had a pretty wide net of foods I experienced before I was 18. Getting back to family, my dad’s parents lived in South Carolina, and they both cooked. My mom’s parents, who migrated from Jamaica, both cooked. My brother and sister cook. My wife cooks, and although she has happily allowed me to spend as much time cooking as possible, she has dropped a wealth of information to me on the journey. That said, I have been on a path with where I have been and who I’ve been watching for many years. that impact how I feel and what I’ve learned about food. The things I come up with are likely to come from experiences and people in some form that I consciously and unconsciously realize.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
By far, the biggest struggle has been with myself. Some of the ideas I have for food do not always go together traditionally. Or I may go against what is considered normal with a certain dish. Getting comfortable with the idea that this is my art form, and it may not satisfy everyone at any time, was a challenge. Take, for instance, sweet potatoes, which I find culturally that they are always made additionally sweet. I make them a little spicy and hold the sugar. It becomes a sweet, spicy, and savory dish. Or there is an instance where I will sometimes pair my braised oxtails with mashed potatoes over traditional rice.
Honestly, my family tells me all the time when they dislike something, so I am not sure how it took me so long to accept that outside my home.
There is also the challenge of learning the business and the time management. Being able to cook is one thing. Even loving to cook and being able to cook is not enough. The time it takes to plan how to prepare for a dinner or event is way more than I initially understood. There were times early on when I started later than I should have, and it left me literally taking something out of the oven and walking it straight to my car to be on time. I also needed to learn budgeting and spending as I overspent due to inexperience with adequate planning. That change came with each experience. I had to keep records of what I was actually using versus what I projected using. I needed to consider where I was shopping from. I had to start deciding between time and cost. I could travel 20 miles to get fresh seafood at a great cost, but I needed to make sure that it made sense in a timely manner.
Time is an obstacle. I spent 14 years in banking, 12 of them as a Mortgage Banker. The time commitment is a challenge to balance. I have recently changed careers into Project Management for IT. While it provides more stability with my work schedule, it is still a full-time job that, at this time in life, poses as the priority for time.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Everything Irie?
I am still evolving as a business on where I want to take this. I have a vision to partner with someone to have a food truck. My wife and I have thought about the idea of a coffee shop for many years. In the present, and as I see going forward with no change, my vision is to bring the joy of food to a comfortable space. I want to create special experiences for people around food. I try to do this, but the stories behind the history of food and my personal experiences with food. I am happy with where I am now with how the business is developing, with a short-term desire to bring together a team to work with me on a consistent basis for my larger events.
The way I do this starts with the food. I put so much thought into the menus I create, even at the client’s requested menu. With my main influence being Caribbean cuisine, I usually find a way to incorporate that part of my culture into the menu. I have a high emphasis on fresh ingredients and the best ingredients. I make a chimichurri and know the difference in whether I take this from a jar, blend it, or get the molcajete and mash it myself. The levels of taste get exponentially better with each version.
I enjoy people in the kitchen. There is a meme that jokes about cooking with someone being romantic. And then it turns on you and states yeah, right, everyone, get out of the kitchen. I enjoy standing around in the kitchen, talking over wine, and creating dishes in that space. If I am at an event, I am excited by people wanting to watch and ask questions. This is part of what I think is a new and unique experience for people. If I am in a restaurant or bakery, and I can see the food being prepared by experience, it is leveled up immediately. By the way, I love coffee, and that experience with a barista making your order in front of you is great. I do not need coffee, but I thrive off the experience of getting coffee for that experience.
I specialize in creating 3-4 course menus for experiences for date nights for couples and up to 20 people. I enjoy this space very much because of the smaller, intimate experience. While it is definitely easier to manage that group size, I feel that I can give the right amount of attention and detail to the community with me at the time. It is such a great experience for me.
In 2024, I ventured into catering for parties of up to 50-60 people. It is a different type of service, where the intimate piece of it changes significantly. Honestly, the food is really the only part of the experience, and my personal stories to share are moved to the side. I have still been able to create a good connection with these parties, mostly through understanding the purpose behind the event and creating menus that speak to the theme of the event. It really becomes one with their event.
What sets me apart from others is that I have my story. How I grew up, where I grew up, and the influences I have are only mine. My family is very involved in my larger events, and their personalities are part of the experience. I am creating spaces for people to go out, be comfortable in what they want to wear, and have an elevated food experience that is not a typical restaurant experience. I almost want the event to develop organically based on the people and the discussion we have on food, drinks, and cultural experiences.
For my specialties, I would consider jerk chicken my most well-received specialty. I follow the traditional rules as much as possible with creating this chicken and it is always a hit. Spanish Searborioafood paella is the prettiest presentation dish, and it is a good story dish because many people have not had it before and sometimes never heard of it. It originates from Spain, and depending on the region, there are different ways in which it should be prepared authentically. Mine is most often made with Chorizo, chicken, shrimp, and mussels, along with arborio rice. The flavor profile is directed by saffron seasoning. My favorite way to make it is straight-up seafood, so throw in some clams, scallops, and fish, and it’s an amazing dish. I love to make empanadas because their fillings are limitless. Beef is such a big thing in Texas, and my best version of this is through my Peppapot Braised Oxtail, which combines ingredients and cooking methods from birria, which is very popular in Texas, as well as Guyanese peppapot, and traditional Jamaican braised oxtail.
My current project is focused on rum and food flights. You may have heard of a wine flight, where there are several small portions of wine you taste. Sometimes, it may come with a pairing with food. I am doing Rum Flights, where I will have 3 different rums to sip, along with 3 dishes. I will do this with Whiskey Flights on occasion, but I still offer different food options as part of the experience. My first event following this theme was a pop-up event Downtown called 9pm Flights in Houston. I hosted in a creative space in Downtown Houston and made four dishes: Curry Short-Rib Ramen, Curry Lentil and Potato Empanadas, Shrimp Ceviche, and Ube Pound Cake. I had a flight of rums from Jamaica, Barbados/Guyana/Spain, and the Philippines. I also made a cocktail with rum from the local rum distillery Cluth Distilling.
Some things people may not catch in what I do is that I always want there to be something for everyone to eat. I try to include a vegan dish anytime I am offering multiple options. I think cheese is amazing, but also think sometimes it takes over the other flavors of a dish. Along with the fact such a high percentage of people are lactose intolerant, I avoid dairy in many of the dishes I offer whenever possible. The biggest obstacle is butter, but even with that, it is used fairly lightly.
I use lots of flavor in my food. Because I try to limit salt usage, I focus heavily on herbs to provide combinations that enhance the flavor of what I am cooking.
As far as spice, as in pepper spice, that is always a tough balance. Peppers are spicy, especially Scotch bonnet, which I often use, but pepper is also a flavor. I try to focus on allowing the flavor of the pepper to show up without making the dish overly spicy so that most of my community can enjoy the food without leaving with heartburn.
Mission:
To create memorable experiences and share my passion for food, culture, and family.
Vision:
Bringing the joy of food to a comfortable space.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
I know so many great restaurants. I know so many excellent cooks who only cook in their homes. I know there are people who can do the same thing I do, and it may be better. I have learned that it has nothing to do with what I am doing. I want to be great, and working on my art every day is great for me. My biggest lesson is trusting that the product and service I show up with is special because it is genuine and with love.
I have also learned that my family loves what I do. They enjoy being part of it whenever they can. I watch my three kids turn into these food creatives, and it inspires me to keep doing it at a high level. When I say I do not know where this is ultimately going to take me, I also understand it may be something that gives my kids an idea later in life, and we will never know if I don’t do this.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.everythingiriecuisine.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everything_irie81
Image Credits
Austism Speaks Chef Gala
Kahlil B. Martin -Kahlab Social
