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Chef Jae-Anthony
1. Where do you hang your apron, so to speak?
Seasoned Dreams – A contemporary Caribbean restaurant and catering service located in the Sud-Ouest area of Montreal.
2. Tell us a little bit about your kitchen.
Our kitchen is filled with positive vibes all around. We are blessed with so much opportunity and good fortune, every day there’s just this aura of gratefulness to be here – pray daily and be thankful. We live by our motto #oneplateatatime, which means we stay on the ball when it comes to creating dishes and plating, but more than that, we apply that to life in general and just keep putting one foot in front of the other, focus on what’s in front of you and do it the best you can.
3. What is your favorite Chef Works product?
I just bought 2 chef jackets from Chef Works and I love ‘em! The Bristol jacket and the Delancey, and I also love the Slim Fit Pants!
4. What was your first cooking job?
Back when I was 13, my first kitchen job was at McDonalds for about 2 years. When it came to starting off my own business, we had very little capital but big dreams and a simple passion for food.
My first kitchen when I started taking orders (and events) as “Seasoned Dreams”
was out of anywhere I could, but mainly we used my parents’ and my fiancée’s daycare kitchen.
5. What is your biggest inspiration for your cooking?
My dad inspires me every day to keep cooking. He always wanted to open a restaurant, but because he had me at such a young age, he chose to dedicate his life to provide for me instead of pursuing his culinary dreams. I’m the man I am today because he was there for me growing up.
Now that we’ve seen such success with the restaurant, I’m blessed to be able to have him work with me and live out that dream.
6. What is your specialty dish?
There are so many flavours and styles we love to blend when creating new dishes, but I have to say our Montreal Style Jerk Chicken Poutine and Ox Tail Mac & Cheese are two of our most unique and popular specialties!
7. What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
I don’t know if it’s the weirdest, but it’s definitely one of the weirdest looking. Pigtail, boiled in a salted brine, then barbecued. Delicious but really strange!
8. What is your favorite pastime when you’re not cooking?
Cooking and creating dishes is my passion, but I never miss an opportunity to spend time with my (recently engaged) fiancée Tara. I love boxing and training at Donnybrook Boxing Gym with the renowned Shakeel Phinn, but what really drives me is giving back to the community. I’ve recently started giving a course at James Lyng High School, teaching kids not just how to cook, but how to budget and plan, and just life skills in general. Another cause very close to my heart is helping those less fortunate, so a few times every year as a staff we head over to Welcome Hall Mission to donate our food and time to serve meals.
9. What is your latest project?
We have so much on the go right now and I have to say, with my business partner Matt Guerguerian, we’re really blessed with all of our success.
This spring/summer we’ll be moving our current location to a bigger spot in St-Henri to act as our central kitchen and we’ll be adding a bar!
Plus we’re working in collaboration with Dr. Patrick Owen (Ph.D. in Nutrition and a Fitness and Health Expert) bottling our special “Seasoned Dreams” sauces for retail and healthy meal preps—with a Caribbean twist.
On top of that, we’re currently in the works with Huffington Post to create a collaborative web series with my childhood friend, Harley Morenstein of
Epic Meal Time.
10. What is your best culinary tip?
One of the best pieces of culinary advice I could give is to be consistent – make
sure you don’t cut corners, and make sure every dish you make is just as incredible
as the last.
Beyond that, never stop growing, never give up, and as a chef and a person, adapt to change as it comes and keep moving forward.
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