Dawn Skeete does what it takes to keep her Red Hook restaurant alive

Walking into Jam’It Bistro in Red Hook on a Monday morning, owner Dawn Skeete is heads-down on a major catering order for the Brooklyn Gardens Elementary School in East New York. She races against the clock to 2:30 p.m., working to prepare cocktail beef patties, chicken dumplings, wings, salmon bites and chickpea walnut salad.
We spoke with Skeete that same day at her restaurant, lined with plant decorations and warm orange walls evoking earth tones, as she found a sliver of downtime amidst the demanding morning.

From the descriptions, it might be hard to pinpoint Jam’It Bistro’s cuisine. While it identifies as a Jamaican restaurant, Skeete blends the flavors of her home country with those from around the world, paying homage to New York City’s diverse population.

“I grew up eating all these different types of food. Caribbean food, American food, Chinese food, Italian food,” said Skeete, who came to the United States at age 10. “So, in opening this restaurant, especially here in Red Hook, Brooklyn, I wanted to have a flavor that people are familiar with in terms of the traditional items.”

At Jam’It Bistro, spring rolls are on the menu and can be served with honey jerk or jerk mayo sauce, instead of teriyaki, a traditional Asian flavor.

“There’s a lot of fusion in what we do,” said Skeete, whose restaurant boasts a menu from pasta marinara with oxtail to jerk shrimp and grits.

When the Star-Revue last spoke with Skeete in 2023, catering accounted for 80% of her business. Now she says, catering has almost fully taken over.

“Now it’s probably 99% but we’ll go with the 80-20 rule,” Skeete said playfully, mentioning that she started catering as a result of the pandemic.

While the restaurant’s regular menu items are available for catering, she’s flexible with options that satisfy her customers’ tastes and needs. Skeete showed us an upcoming

Mother’s Day order requesting vegan options, in which she swapped heavy cream in pasta primavera for coconut milk.

“It’s not so much about the type of food, but giving them flavor and substance,” said Skeete, whose catering customers range from public schools to corporate offices.

She also goes big with weddings, at present fulfilling an order for a multicultural union and helping them create a menu reflective of both cultures. Additionally, Skeete has built relationships with many customers providing repeat business and keeps a running menu for frequent customers.

“It changes the nature of how we do business, especially if you have a relationship with these customers, you can preempt what their needs are,” said Skeete.

Catering, Skeete said, is a science. For her, the big three metrics are quantity, taste and consistency, which all tie together. (Quantity is related to ensuring that there are enough ingredients to fulfill the order.)

“Sometimes that’s one of the hardest things to train somebody—you’ve got to have that eye to see when something looks good from when it doesn’t look good,” said Skeete.

Aside from catering, Jam’It Bistro also has a pop-up location inside the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Staten Island. Skeete said that so far, feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

“They sent me a report the other day and they said most restaurants get a 7.9 rating, but so far we have been getting 10,” said Skeete, adding that the score is based on quality, taste and presentation.

While she’s seen success with catering and at the pop-up location, foot traffic into the restaurant still lags. To note, Red Hook sits far from the bastions of Caribbean enclaves in Central Brooklyn.

“In retrospect, I did not do enough research to see if Red Hook was a viable option to successfully run a Caribbean restaurant,” said Skeete, who was able to set up a shop there in 2019 thanks to a mutual connection she had with her landlord.

Located on Columbia Street between the Red Hook Houses and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, Jam’It Bistro is one of the few Caribbean eateries in the area. Skeete plans to remain active in the community, restoring a partnership with the Red Hook Initiative providing work for interns. She is hoping for one who’s tech-savvy and can help with digital outreach.

“Business on a whole has changed—now you have social media, which is a heavy component in getting the word out there,” said Skeete.

She’s also working beyond the restaurant to assist with Hurricane Melissa recovery efforts in Jamaica, sending money for lost school supplies. She also hopes to introduce a special needs program for children in her home country.

“We’re trying to raise money now and find somebody who will sponsor us to do this work in Jamaica,” said Skeete, who said her original plans for this were disrupted after the pandemic and the recent hurricane.

The island native also has her hands in raising money for an elementary school that needs $12,000 in roof repair following the storm. When asked how she manages it all, she said,

“I don’t know how we do it, but we pray and we have faith.”

Jam’It Bistro, 367 Columbia Street, (347) 599-0941  jamitbistro.com