From Nashville hot chicken fused with Pakistani flavors to gourmet Chinese food served at the only prix fixe Chinese restaurant in the state, Metuchen’s delectable dining scene is all about unexpected experiences.
It gets one more on Thursday, July 8 when Bonney’s BBQ, a Jamaican and Filipino fusion fast-casual barbecue joint, opens at 387 Main St. under a husband-and-wife team that helms from each culture.
Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., or until fare is sold out.
At the former home of the Metuchen Smoke Shop, Edison residents Jeanne and Damion Chambers will serve inventive takes on their countries’ iconic dishes like lumpia stuffed with Jamaican beef patty; Jamaican beef patties with pork adobo instead of beef; and jerk chicken with chili crisp sauce.
The couple launched Bonney’s BBQ as a street food pop-up while living in Los Angeles during COVID-19. It’s named for the scotch bonnet, a chili pepper widely used in Jamaican cuisine.
“We had both worked in fine dining for so long and we wanted to do something more comfortable that used both of our flavors,” Jeanne previously told MyCentralJersey. She met Damion while they were working as chefs at the same restaurant. “We wanted to meld both cultures.”
This will be the first restaurant that either Jeanne or Damion has owned, although both have culinary histories that delve back to their childhoods.
Jeanne and Damion Chambers, owners of Bonney’s BBQ, with their two children in front of their new restaurant.
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Jeanne grew up in the Philippines, where she learned to cook with her grandmother at their rice and mango farm. At age 8, her family moved to Clark, where her parents worked as bakers, sparking her passion for the kitchen.
She attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, then gained experience at restaurants in Boston, San Francisco and New York City, including Mas la Grillade, Mas Farmhouse, Rialto, Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare, and Justine’s on Hudson.
Born and raised in Jamaica, Damion fostered a love of food after enjoying snacks and picking vegetables with his grandmother at her farm.
Fare from Bonney’s BBQ.
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He later moved to New York and pursued culinary arts at the French Culinary Institute. There, he honed his skills under chefs like Flovd Cardoz, Ian Kittichai, Galen Zamarra, and Rocco Dispirito, eventually becoming a master of wood fire grilling and butchering.
At Bonney’s BBQ, his expertise will be on full display as the restaurant’s wood fire grill (custom made in Texas) will face the bar seats in the semi-open kitchen. With wood accents and the yellow, green and red tones of Jamaica and the Philippines, the 33-seat eatery will be simple, cozy and bright, Jeanne said.
“At a certain time in everyone’s career, especially in the restaurant industry, you want to have a place of your own,” Jeanne previously told MyCentralJersey. “I think we are at that moment.”
Go: 387 Main St., Metuchen; bonneysbbq.com, 732-487-2013 opens Thursday, July 8.
Jenna Intersimone.
Contact: JIntersimone@MyCentralJersey.com
Jenna Intersimone has been a staff member at the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey since 2014, although she’s a lifetime Jersey girl who considers herself an expert in everything from the Jersey Shore to the Garden State’s buzzing downtowns. To get unlimited access to her stories about food, drink and fun, please subscribe or activate your digital account today. You can also follow her on Instagram at @seejennaeat and on Twitter at @JIntersimone.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Bonney’s BBQ, Jamaican and Filipino restaurant, opening in Metuchen on Thursday
