For decades, Oklahoma City’s dining identity was largely defined by steakhouse culture and traditional American fare. Today, diners are lining up for escovitch fish, Trinidad-style doubles and whole roasted jerk chicken, a shift driven in part by award-winning Jamaican-born chef Andrew Black.
The 2023 James Beard winner for Best Chef: Southwest has long been known for his acclaimed tasting-menu restaurant Grey Sweater. But with the opening of Dougla Kitchen in February at 100 NE 4th St. in Oklahoma City, Black is introducing something even more personal: a restaurant rooted in Caribbean heritage and memory.
Dougla Kitchen, which occupies the former Black Walnut space, presents a refined interpretation of Caribbean cuisine that blends West Indian and Indo-Caribbean influences. The concept is both culinary and cultural, shaped by Black’s upbringing and the woman who first taught him how to cook, his grandmother, Elysabeth Badoo.
“This restaurant is a note to my grandmother,” Black said. “Every dish reminds me of cooking beside her. I’m hearing her voice the entire time, reminding me that the food, the culture, and the integrity behind it all have to stay real.”
Black named the restaurant Dougla, a term used across the Caribbean to describe people of mixed African and Indian heritage, an identity that reflects his own background.
“I started thinking about my roots,” he said. “In Jamaica you’re cooking Caribbean food and you’re cooking Hindu food. I began asking myself if there was a word that tied those cultures together. Then I found ‘Dougla.’ It was once used as a derogatory term for mixed people in the Caribbean, but now it’s something we embrace.”
Born in Jamaica to an Afro and Indo-Jamaican family, Black grew up cooking over clay ovens built by hand. As a child he often helped construct those ovens for his grandmother before learning to cook the dishes that would shape his culinary identity.
From the kitchens of Caribbean resorts, Black eventually traveled the world, training in Europe — including at the Ritz in Paris — and working throughout Cuba and the Turks and Caicos. Nearly two decades ago, he arrived in Oklahoma City, a place he initially knew little about but would ultimately help transform.
Through his hospitality group Culinary Edge Concepts, Black introduced a new level of culinary ambition to the city with restaurants such as Grey Sweater and Perle Mesta. His James Beard Award helped place Oklahoma City on the national dining map.
While Grey Sweater celebrates global technique through a fine-dining tasting menu, Dougla Kitchen returns Black to the food of his childhood.
The menu is bold and deeply personal. Whole roasted jerk chicken arrives with mint and tamarind chutneys. Wiltshire escovitch whole branzino is served with bammy. Trinidad-style doubles, a beloved Caribbean street food, appear in a polished dining-room setting. Other dishes include Guinness stout–braised oxtail and Falmouth pepper street prawns.
Even the beverage menu tells a story. Rotating rum flights highlight spirits from across the Caribbean while regional distillates such as breadfruit vodka introduce diners to lesser-known island traditions.
Black admits he was unsure how Oklahoma diners would respond to the flavors.
“I didn’t know if people here would embrace it,” he said with a laugh. “Now I’m standing in the kitchen wondering if I made enough curry goat for the night.”
The restaurant itself reflects the same sense of cultural storytelling. Caribbean music plays softly through the space while family photographs and artifacts connect the dining room to Black’s heritage. Large communal tables encourage conversation and shared experiences.
Black refers to his staff not as employees but as “ambassadors,” responsible for introducing guests to Caribbean culture through food.
“We have a responsibility to tell the story correctly,” he said. “We can’t water it down. Caribbean food is history, spice, love, and culture.”
That philosophy appears to be resonating. Oklahoma diners from across backgrounds are embracing the cuisine, breaking roti together, sharing jerk chicken and exploring flavors many are tasting for the first time.
For Black, the goal is bigger than one restaurant.
“There’s so much good in the Caribbean, our food, our language, our culture and our stories,” he said. “Now I have a platform to share that with the world.”
With Dougla Kitchen, Caribbean cuisine is no longer a novelty in Oklahoma City. It is helping shape the city’s next chapter.
