Vincentian chef to open new location at Brooklyn Navy Yard

Vincentian chef Rawlston Williams is about to open a new branch of his restaurant ‘The Food Sermon’ in a spacious new food hall in Brooklyn.

Williams almost missed out on this opportunity to occupy the ground floor of Building 77 of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which would also house a number of other food outlets.

He is the only Vincentian selected so far to take up occupancy in the New York City Council’s US$185 million restoration project, geared towards manufacturing.

During an interview with SEARCHLIGHT last week, Williams said when he was first approached about taking up space at the new location, he was not interested, as he figured it was just another real estate company looking to make a profit.

He said he ignored the company’s repeated attempts to reach him, so much so, they resorted to leaving him handwritten notes and reaching out to him via Instagram page.

“I thought these people are very persistent, not realizing that it was actually them (The Navy Yard).”

Williams said when he got an email from the New York City Council stating that they have an opportunity for him, he thought it was a catering job. However, when he returned their call, he was referred to the same company that had been reaching out to him, only to be informed that it was a not-for-profit organization, set up by the city.

The organization offered Williams a space in the project of about 1,270 square feet, which they said had already been designated for him.

It turns out that the non-profit company had read about ‘The Food Sermon’ in the New York Times and noted the fact that Williams wanted to do catering, but wasn’t able to because of the size of his current space, located on the corner of Rogers Avenue and Sullivan Place, Brooklyn – 580 square feet.

And so, The Food Sermon’s second location would be the base of a number large-scale catering jobs. According to Williams, the new location would have between 10 and 12 employees, where the “gigantic kitchen,” as he described it, would be their main food station and the base from which the restaurant would prepare most of the dishes, run its catering service and manufacture products.

Renovations for the new location will begin in April and according to Williams, he will prepare some of his dishes on wood.

“It actually reminds me of when we cook a pot on the outside in the yard somewhere, the smoke flavour that goes into the pot or the food, you can’t buy that anywhere. So that smoke element would be imparted into the food that we would be making at the restaurant too,” he said.

Last Monday, the Brooklyn Navy Yard announced six more food tenants for Building 77, in addition to the two anchor tenants, Brooklyn Brewery and Russ & Daughters.

The food outlets will manufacture food or beverages on-site, as well as offering them for sale to people who want to eat and drink at Building 77. The Navy Yard says Building 77 will create about 3,000 jobs, about 150 in the food hall.

“So, it’s going to be on a grand scale, I don’t have all the answers; I still have to figure stuff out as I go, but overall it’s a tremendous opportunity,” Williams told SEARCHLIGHT.

“Everything I do, you know I’m focused on bringing honour and total respect to St Vincent because there’s so many other islands that get all the food credit, but we can cook!” he asserted.

Williams’ restaurant ‘The Food Sermon’ has been the toast of food critics in New York since it opened its doors in February 2015, with The New York Times naming the restaurant one of the top 30 places to eat in New York, within the first eight months of its operation.

“Sometimes people come into the restaurant and they think it’s a Jamaican spot… it’s not a Jamaican spot; it’s a not a Trini spot; it’s actually a Vincy spot. That’s a big deal to me; that’s what really gets me going; it’s that aspect of it,” said Williams. (AS)