The ribbon cutting June 20 at Cool Runnings with Mayor Adam Sendroff holding the scissors with chef-owner Sandreen Ferguson.
Courtesy Steve Fontana
The aroma of jerk chicken and goat curry scented the air on opening day at Cool Runnings as the chef cooked nonstop for the tide of patrons that kept coming past closing time.
“It was more than I prayed for,” chef-owner Sandreen “Sanny” Ferguson said. “I had a line when we opened the door at 11 all the way till 9 o’clock when I said, ‘OK, I’m not cooking anymore.’ It was unstoppable.”
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Ferguson stayed open two hours past closing time at her first brick and mortar Jamaican eatery at 1695 State St. in Hamden, which opened June 20. Normal hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday.
In New Haven, Ferguson is well-known for her fall-off-the-bone oxtail and curries among fans of her food truck – also named Cool Runnings, which operated for nine years at 1399 State St. in New Haven. She closed the truck temporarily until she gets her feet under her at the new restaurant, she said.
After seeing the crowd at her new eatery, she said she realized she needs to hire a team to help her out. The eatery seats 16 and offers takeout with extra seats for people to wait.
“People are still texting and calling” she said, adding that some customers told her they would have to come back because the line was too long. She said people have been sending her messages of “love and support,” while others brought her gifts and flowers.
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“I didn’t know I was so loved,” she said.
The new Jamaican eatery, Cool Runnings at 1695 State St. before the opening June 20.
Mark Zaretsky
Ferguson taught herself to cook at age 6 in Jamaica, using the money her mother gave her for snacks to buy food instead because she wanted to learn how to prepare it, she said. Even back then, she said she had dreamed of opening her own restaurant.
Ferguson, 38, migrated here when she was 11 with her step-mom and dad and she’d cook for them.
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“I’ve been cooking since because I love it. That’s my passion,” she said.
Ahead of her first weekend, Ferguson said she gathered about a dozen family members and friends to help her with food prep over a three-day period.
She said she had a feeling that she’d get a crowd on opening day when she saw her Facebook post announcing the opening had garnered some 127 views in two days. But she didn’t anticipate how large the turnout would be.
Ferguson, a former health aid at Bridgeport Hospital, left her job there to start her food truck “with a leap of faith back in 2017.”
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At the restaurant and the food truck, popular dishes include jerk chicken grilled over a charcoal fire, chicken and goat curries, and rice with peas. “Brown stew salmon” and “brown stew chicken” are also favorites and the name reflects the cooking method of browning the fish or chicken and sauce.
Rasta pasta, a Jamaican twist on mac & cheese, is also a crowd pleaser, a penne pasta topped with a sauce made with three different cheeses and heavy cream. But it’s the seasoning that makes the dish.
“You put a little tinge of the jerk seasoning, but nothing overpowering and lightly seasoned with Jamaican spices,” she described.
“We were thrilled to celebrate Sandreen and the opening of Cool Runnings. Her journey from food truck owner to restaurant owner is a great example of entrepreneurship and determination,” Nancy Dudchik, president of the Hamden Regional Chamber of Commerce, who was at the opening said.
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The Jamaican restaurant adds to the town’s culinary offerings, she added.
“Cool Runnings adds another exciting dining option to Hamden’s already vibrant restaurant scene, and the enthusiastic turnout at the ribbon cutting showed just how much support there is for local businesses in our community,” Dudchik said.
