Spices and ingredients line the shelves, transforming the harsh lighting of the industrial kitchen where Mauvette Gregory cooks her Caribbean specialties into a welcoming atmosphere.
Gregory, the owner and chef de cuisine at her namesake restaurant, Mauvette’s, calls herself a “transplant” to the Athens area. Gregory is from Montego Bay, Jamaica.
“I'm all about the people, all about entertaining,” Gregory said. “I'm really big on my culture. So for me, I get the most joy knowing that I'm cooking something that others are able to enjoy, and while enjoying it, they're learning a little bit about my culture while making me happy by doing all of these things in the process.”
A redirection from art school faculty and an acceptance to culinary school led Gregory to Athens.
“I just decided, to hell with it, I'm going to go with the other school,” Gregory said. “That was how I ended up doing culinary and hospitality. It wasn't that this was my first love or anything, but I'm from a big family and we cook a lot. I was a greedy child growing up, so I was always in the kitchen.”
In November of 2000 Gregory traveled to New York for school; however, when she arrived, she was too late to start the semester. Luckily, the school had a partnership with Hocking College, which was on the quarter system and asked Gregory if she would be OK doing a quarter at Hocking then returning to New York for the next semester.
“I should have left Hocking at the end of that quarter, but Hocking asked me to be part of their residence life … so I took the job,” Gregory said. “I never bothered to go to New York, because not only was I on scholarship, I was now making money doing the resident (advisor) job.”
Gregory ran a dinner delivery service for multiple years before opening the restaurant.
“I would do it outside of my home when I didn’t have big orders,” Gregory said. “I made meals according to a menu that I designed … and then I delivered them.”
When Gregory started looking for a permanent location, “problems came in different ways.” At the first location Gregory considered, she said the building’s owner wanted a "guarantee" of “no smells.”
“I tell her that I can't make that guarantee,” Gregory said. “In Jamaica, if you're cooking and nobody's smelling it, you're not cooking at all.”
Prices of other locations and equipment skyrocketed and did not fall under Gregory’s budget. Eventually, the cook relocated to 540 W. Union St.
“In Jamaica, we have a saying that you can't hang your basket where your bamboo pole can't reach it,” Gregory said. “In other words, you can't put your sights on something that is bigger than the amount of money that you have … I said, ‘You know what? It doesn't matter. We're going to make this work.’”
The building needed renovations and what was expected to be a six-month project, stretched to nearly two and a half years.
“I can't begin to tell you the tears,” Gregory said. “I've been blessed with a bunch of women and a core group of people in Athens that have been my rock, my foundation.”
Mauvette’s opened nearly two years ago, serving all sorts of Jamaican staples including fried plantains, jerk or fried chicken, oxtails and ram goat curry. Prices range between $5 and $25.
“I do have a standardized menu, but I try to change some of the items so as not to have folks become bored or for their palates to become lazy,” Gregory said. “I try to introduce as much to them as I possibly can in the small ways that I am able to, because Jamaica is by far more than cured goat, managed water, jerk chicken, fried plantains.”
Logan Ousley is Gregory’s “lead” at Mauvette’s and he takes orders and phone calls, restocks products, cleans and “lifts things.”
“She's a very particular lady,” Ousley said. “She knows exactly how she likes things done … in the shop, everything has a place. She's also very dedicated to the craft of cooking … she always asked me to help taste test things, make sure that things are on point.”
Dave Zlatkind visited Mauvette’s for the first time recently, however, it was not his first encounter with Jamaican food.
“I've been to Jamaica seven times and I learned to cook some Jamaican dishes,” Zlatkind said. “This is authentic. It's excellent. I'm ecstatic because I just found out (about Mauvette's) a few days ago … I wish I would have known about this a year ago, because I'll be coming back.”
In his eagerness to try the food, Zlatkind did not check the hours and showed up before Mauvette’s opens. However, the new customer was welcomed inside.
“While she's getting ready to open business, we had a conversation,” Zlatkind said. “Instantly became friends … we chatted about cooking in Jamaica and her life and my life, and how she ended up here.”
Ousley said Gregory strives to make customers and employees comfortable at Mauvette’s.
“She's very family oriented,” Ousley said. “Everybody that works here is family, like the other people that come in to help her out.”
Gregory said she is grateful for the support shown by Athens’ locals.
“They religiously come,” Gregory said. “They're not going anyplace else to spend their money. They say that when they come here, they feel as though they're a part of a family, and they get to talk, and we interact, and I guess people like that.”
