How St. James Reimagines the Cuisine of Trinidad and Tobago, in Seven Dishes
Residents in D.C. know the city to be a true melting pot. As the nation’s capital, it has drawn people from around the country and the world, which is reflected in the city’s culinary scene — a landscape rich in diversity, both in the food being served and those who serve it. The area’s thriving Caribbean food scene is a prime example; the city is packed with small mom-and-pop, order-at-the-counter, grab-and-go Caribbean restaurants.
One area in which the Washington dining scene had lacked, however, was a Caribbean restaurant offering a full-service dining experience, with an innovative, evolving menu and an equally exciting cocktail list. That is, until Jeanine Prime opened St. James in U Street Corridor.
With a PhD in social psychology and an MBA, Prime had a thriving career as a researcher and director in leadership and organizational management. Still, she had maintained a keen interest in the hospitality industry and even wrote a business plan for opening a restaurant when she was in business school. In 2013, she moved from New York to D.C. and decided, with her family’s support, that it was time to bring her dreams to life: to open a Caribbean restaurant that would pay homage to the Trinidadian cooking she grew up with.
Upon conducting thorough research (as they say, old habits die hard), she first launched Cane in 2019 with a vision to build “a neighborhood full-service joint that would be filled with regulars.” From there, she found a space on 14th Street for a second restaurant, but rather than opening another Cane, Prime conceptualized a spot that would fit in with the area, something trendy and fun, that would also satisfy a gap in the D.C. dining scene: a modern Caribbean restaurant with a craft cocktail menu, and dishes that could represent the ingredients and flavors Caribbean cuisine is known for, reimagined for D.C.’s contemporary dining landscape. The result? St. James, where the food is still what Prime grew up eating in her mother’s kitchen, where “food was a love language, and the kitchen table was always full of guests,” but prepared and plated with a fine dining chef’s attention to detail.
We recently sat down with Prime to chat about the dishes that showcase the concept she started out with, the dishes that have been on the menu since the beginning, and newer items that highlight her and executive chef Alfredo Romero Contreras’ undiminished creativity and innovation. Each dish brings to life Prime’s love of her culture and her family’s cooking traditions, celebrate the culinary heritage of Trinidad and Tobago, and embody her vision for St. James.
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Not Your Mother’s Crab & Dumplings
Given these dumplings’ reinventions over the years, they’re a rare restaurant dish that manages to fit the description of a classic while simultaneously feeling fresh. The current version stays true to the original dish, but the goal has always been to get all the flavors and textures in a single bite. “[This] traditional dish from sister island Tobago is made there with whole shell-on crab and large dumplings, where it is usually eaten on the beach,” Prime explains. “Eating it like that is messy work, and you can’t really get the taste of both crab and dumpling in one bite. Our team experimented with different dumpling shapes and sizes, and finally settled on the current gnocchi-shaped iteration that’s about half the size of the Italian name bearer.”
“Now one or two dumplings fit perfectly on a spoon along with a generous helping of crab on top, all draped in the curry sauce, so you get all the pops of flavor in one bite,” she adds. The dish tastes luxurious, not least because of the velvety sauce, which is made in-house from a stock of crab and lobster shells balanced out with curry spices and, of course, some hot peppers. It’s a lavish version of the original beach crab and dumplings that hasn’t lost its taste and essence of the sea.
Aloo and Channa Pies
While the ubiquitous doubles (puffy fried flatbreads sandwiching curried chickpeas) can be found at most Caribbean restaurants, for St. James, Prime wanted to put the spotlight on a different street food snack. Enter the doubles’ cousin, the aloo pie. “The aloo pies have been on the menu since the beginning, and they aren’t going anywhere,” says Prime. “Most people associate Trinidad with doubles as the quintessential street food, which they are, but aloo pies are just as representative of Caribbean culture.”
These hand pies are also fried but consist of a single boat-shaped flatbread that’s a little crispier and much puffier. Each pie is stuffed with jeera (cumin) spiced potatoes and fried, then sliced open and filled with channa (chickpeas) and toppings like tamarind sauce, pineapple chow and scotch bonnet pepper sauce. And, since this is a sit-down restaurant, they’re served by the pair in a little rack so the diner can lift them up — stuffing and all — and bite into them without making a mess. It’s not a fork-and-knife kind of dish, but it’s all the better for it.
Maitake Masala
In developing her menu, Prime strives hard to stay true to her culture, mentioning that much of the culinary scene in “Trinidad and Tobago is naturally vegan or vegetarian without necessarily being defined as such. Doubles for example, that most beloved of street foods, has no meat, just like the aloo pies.” Here, she wanted to make sure that the restaurant had an excellent vegan entrée, utilizing maitake mushrooms for meatiness and great chew, as well as their ability to soak up the flavor of the coconut sauce.
Cassava Fritters
If there’s one dish that you’ll spot on everyone’s table at St. James, it’s the cassava fritters. Although a relatively new addition to the menu, it has already become one of the most coveted. The impetus for the dish was Prime’s desire to show off the versatility of cassava, a starchy root vegetable that is to Trinidad what potatoes are to Idaho. After some testing, the team landed on a recipe for the bite-size, cheesy, fluffy spheres that deserve every bit of their popularity. Prime loves that the “fritters introduce cassava in a way that is both approachable and flavorful.”
Part of her journey to becoming a restaurateur has been, as she puts it, understanding “how to present my culinary heritage in a way that resonates with people from different cultures — making it accessible without losing the essence of my roots.” Pro tip: Stop by between 5:30-7 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday to enjoy an order for only $5; there is no better happy hour snack to pair with your cocktail.
Grilled Octopus
Another newcomer on the menu, the grilled octopus acknowledges “Trinidad’s history of Spanish colonialism and geographic proximity to Venezuela.” There’s a nod to the Iberian way of serving octopus — with chorizo and potatoes — and the flame-charred tentacle would be as at home on any beach along the West African coast. Trinidadians love avocado, hence the generous smear of avocado crema that takes some of the heat out of the scotch bonnet pearls. Grilled octopus is having a moment across the D.C. area, but this one is especially memorable as it combines the best elements from different regional preparations.
Paratha Roti Platter
When Prime worked in the corporate sector, she was known for her inclusive leadership style, and she continues this approach in her new path as a restaurateur. Aware that vegans and vegetarians haven’t always had a variety of choices in restaurants, Prime wanted to make sure they felt welcome at St. James. As such, there is a fully vegan option for the paratha roti platter (which can easily feed two and maybe three) with four flavorful curries and stews. The assortment of dishes includes a spicy potato curry, curried chickpeas, a nutty yellow lentil stew similar to Indian moong dal, and pumpkin choka. The paratha roti is served steaming in its own container, in — as Trinidadians would affectionately say — ‘buss up shut’ style, like a torn, crumpled-up shirt. You’ll see why.
Watermelon Salad
The watermelon salad does exactly what a watermelon salad is supposed to do: it’s refreshing, providing a light intermezzo from heavier fare on the menu, and it brings the best produce summer has to offer together on a plate. Here, the greens are peppery baby arugula, tossed in a light orange dressing, and surrounded by watermelon cut into small discs, an unexpectedly lovely way to eat the melon that concentrates more of the flavor than the typical cubes. Christophine, widely grown and eaten in the Caribbean but more commonly known by its Latin American name chayote here in D.C., has a similar but firmer texture than the melon and adds a subtle pear flavor, while roasted pepita and corn sprinkle add savory crunch over the salad, with a few crumbles of feta to provide the salty notes.
