Tony Scott learned how to cook when he was a kid, growing up in Jamaica. He stood next to his mom in the kitchen while he sampled dishes and tasted food before it hit the table at dinner time. Scott learned to chop ingredients, wash up and observe how much spice went into a dish each time.
“I really appreciate my mom forcing me to get in the kitchen,” Scott said. “She was like, ‘You better you better get in here and learn something.’”
Cooking became a passion for Scott, one he carried through his 2003 move to Austin, where he would open his first restaurant less than a decade later.
The context
Scott opened Tony’s Jamaican Food on East 11th Street in downtown Austin in 2012, serving staples like curry goat and jerk chicken. He became one of the first Jamaican restaurants in the city and expanded to Pflugerville in 2018, after customers asked him to venture into North Austin.
“People try to make some jerk chicken because they’ve been to Jamaica and they think they can [cook] the food, but it wasn’t authentic,” Scott said. “It’s like, I’m the first one to introduce [Jamaican food] to Austin.”
Craving oxtail?
Tony’s Jamaican Food serves a selection of meats, including curry chicken, jerk pork, shrimp, and a fan favorite—oxtail. All of the meats are served with rice, peas, steamed vegetables and fried plantains.
“People [are] just all about the oxtail,” Scott said. “When they eat it, it is so tender [that] it falls off [the bone] in their mouth. For the day, if I get 300 orders, 250 [include] oxtail.”
Many of the recipes that Scott uses today are adapted from his mother’s cooking—now utilizing modern spice mixes and ingredients. A common misconception that people have about Jamaican food is that it’s all spicy, Scott said. The three main dishes that are spicy are the jerk pork and chicken, and the curry goat.
Next Steps
Customers drive from all over the Austin area, and beyond, to visit Tony’s Jamaican Food, Scott said. Many patrons have asked Scott to open locations in cities like San Antonio and Buda, something he is considering through franchising in the future.
“People always want me to be [in a] certain place, but at the same time, it’s a lot of work,” Scott said. “ So, then I started to think about the franchise business.”
Quote of note
“I appreciate the customers who have been supporting [me] for years,” Scott said. “The [ones] who haven’t been here yet, [I] hope they can come in one day and just give it a try.”
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Dining and Cooking