For the Love of Jamaica

JA Patty Offers an Elevated Take on a Traditional Street Food

Maybe you’ve seen him at a market, or her at a brewery, standing behind a small table where there rests a warming tray filled with Jamaican patties. Your curiosity piqued, you decide between beef, chicken or veggie and walk away with a warm pastry, full of flavor. Too soon, the patty is gone and you find yourself wanting another. And another.

This can be the effect of JA Patty pastries, culinary creations of Conroy Outar and Alison Rosario, two business partners living in Warwick with a shared love for food and Jamaica.

“I’ve had the cooking bug since I was a child,” Conroy said, sitting around a sunlit table with Alison at Hope & Main in Warren on a recent afternoon. As an 8- or 9-year-old, he recalls watching his mom in the kitchen in their Kingston, Jamaica, home, taking in the scene and letting the smells speak to him. Jamaican society wasn’t so encouraging of his interest in cooking—it was considered a woman’s job, and kitchen work viewed as lowly, and far from “manly,” he said. While he excelled at the culinary arts in high school, he went on to study hotel management—the business side of cooking.

When Conroy came to the U.S. about 25 years ago, he began working in various restaurants, first as a dishwasher, then a busser, a waiter, eventually working his way up to a management position. He found himself at an Italian place for a while, where he learned about American cooking and food culture.

He eventually went on to start his own catering company, Me Tastie Jamaica, and then Patois Catering. Conroy was making a version of his Jamaican patties at this time, but not the dough. One day, after a miscommunication with his bakery over a particular order, Conroy found himself in the kitchen making his own dough out of necessity. This ultimately inspired Conroy to reimagine his patties, and shifted his focus to perfecting the recipe.

A key ingredient to launching JA Patty was meeting Alison last year. The two connected over a shared love for Jamaica and quickly realized they would make great business partners.

Alison visited Jamaica for the first time when she was 14 years old and fell in love with the country. “It really motivated me to start my future,” she said.

Later, as a college student in New York, she befriended the international students on campus, many of whom were Jamaican. “I learned some cooking. I learned about Jamaican culture—I just got really comfortable,” she said. The meals she came to love included jerk chicken, plantains, rice and beans.

She and Conroy respect each other’s palates and often think outside the box. Both agree that their success so far is a product of their ability to work together. “Jamaican food is underserved,” Conroy said, noting there is a small Jamaican population here, and not much exposure to Jamaican life. “I want to educate folks that there are different tiers in Jamaican culture, to bring that to Rhode Island.”

“I’ve been here for 25 years, waiting for someone to do it—and it hasn’t been done,” he said. Meeting Alison, who also works as a school nurse, was instrumental; she convinced Conroy that he was capable of taking on this task. “I took a leap of faith,” Conroy said. ”I’ve gone from 0 to 100 in less than a year.”

JA Patty is now a full-time job, and Conroy has upped the ante of a traditional street food, using fresh ingredients, quality spices and pairing the patties with complex sauces—like tamarind and ginger, which is sweet and a little tangy, with an unexpected flavor that makes the sauce all the more delicious.

In a shared commercial kitchen at Hope & Main, where they meet almost every day, Conroy and Alison have been focusing on perfecting their dough, which they make from scratch, and experimenting with spices and flavors. They have settled on three staple patties: beef, jerk chicken and a curry vegetable.

With a new food truck, which they launched in May, they plan to offer an expanded menu of rice and beans, tofu dishes and more vegan options. The truck is equipped with a full oven, which means they will be baking the patties fresh on location this summer, from farmers markets to breweries, weddings and corporate events.

Part of their business plan is to use a portion of their profits to support a school in Kingston, Jamaica, for students with intellectual disabilities, which is in need of resources.

“People want to engage Jamaica,” Alison said, “and they can do that through JA Patty.”

For Conroy, it’s important that JA Patty tell another story of Jamaican culture, one that shows the country’s complexities, and he believes this story can be told through food.

For their whereabouts, follow @JAPatty on Instagram.