Omar Powell

Graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and
professional chef
Duluth, Georgia

At the Sugarloaf Country Club in Duluth, Georgia, chef Omar

Powell runs the kitchen the same way that countless other chefs

run country club kitchens. He makes what his customers want.

Hamburgers. Cobb salads. Iced tea.

Only, a few of his customers know a secret. And that secret is

that Powell is one of the best Jamaican cooks around, a chef who

cut his teeth at the Culinary Institute of America and at Daniel on

New York’s Upper East Side, but whose truest talent is

interpreting the food of his youth on Montego Bay.

“I had a colorful childhood there,” he tells me from the kitchen

of his Duluth home, where he lives with his wife, Nathalie, and his

daughters, Jordan and Hailey. “We planned our summers based on

what fruits were available. In June they have naseberries; in

August, it’s mango season.”

Powell cooks authentic Jamaican food with both a deep sense

of authority (“Our flavor profile includes thyme, allspice, green

onions, and cloves”) and a profound sense of enjoyment (“You

have to like the subcutaneous gristle to really like oxtails”).

His oxtails—which he seasons overnight with paprika, garlic