Sweet Spice

The road from island kid to restaurateur has been a winding one for Donavon Smith. Born in Westmoreland, Jamaica to a family of five, he learned how to cook the traditional dishes of his mothers kitchen by the time he was 12. His aspirations, however, were elsewhere: After a stint on the police force and as a bodyguard for Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, Smith moved to New York in 1997 to find his fortune. I came here chasing the American dream, he nods. I didnt quite know what that was, but I wanted to drive a BMW. Like so many, the eager young man found the American dream elusive. After selling clothing on commission at JC Penney for several years, he met a recruiter from the U.S. Army and spent eight years as a logistics agent at bases in Japan, Korea and Texas. By the time he left the Army, he had refined his entrepreneurial urges. My dreams had grown, says Smith. Now they were less dreams than goals. Tall and trim, Smith still holds himself like a soldier, though he smiles easily and often. He credits the military with teaching him how to get along with all kinds of people, leadership skills that he knew would help him no matter where life took him. His path as a businessman opened up when he came to Savannah with his wife, Ingrid, to visit a friend. Here he found an empty culinary niche. I took for granted that Jamaican food was everywhere. How can anyone live without Jamaican food? he exclaims. He set to work making and selling beef patties less like an American hamburger than a pocket of pastry filled with meat and other goodies and opened Sweet Spice restaurant on Waters Avenue in 2011. Unafraid to introduce Savannah to new flavors, Smith filled the menu with the other Jamaican staples he learned to prepare at his mothers stove: Jerk chicken seasoned with thyme, allspice and bonnet peppers for a deliciously slow burn. Tender curried goat served with fried plantains and white rice. The intriguing ackee and salt fish, the national dish featuring the a