New Black Owned Business: A Young DC Chef Creates His Own Path
You can never have too many wings, or too much sauce. When that Henny Mumbo sauce hit my lips I was beyond excited to try the rest of the menu. The kitchen at Unity Lounge has only been open a few weeks, but this will be my new wing spot.
Originally from the Bronx, NY, Chef Jaquaun Blackwell started working part time at HalfSmoke while in school at Howard University. Though he majored in marketing, his love of cooking grew and he made the decision to stay on at HalfSmoke after graduation. He learned his professional work ethic at HalfSmoke and worked his way up to sous-chef. Chef Jaquaun then moved on to another well known DC restaurant, KitchenCray Cafe, where he was able to hone his skills in the kitchen.
After less than two years at KitchenCray, Chef Jaquaun was presented with a great opportunity to run the kitchen at Cloud Lounge. He was working at Cloud when the pandemic hit the DC area. While waiting to return to the workforce, Chef Jaquaun decided to stop waiting, and started his own catering company, TPK, in May, providing catering. He was not discouraged by the effects of the pandemic. As he says, “people are still eating everyday.”
Once restrictions began to lift around the city, Chef Jaquaun secured the head chef position at Unity Lounge. Chef Jaquaun is serving up five different flavors of wings, a variety of tacos, lobster, lamb chops, just too many mouthwatering dishes to name. The Henny Mumbo Wings are slathered with a scratch made sauce. The flavor is reminiscent of a classic DC mumbo sauce with a delightful twist. The wings themselves were moist and tender. (A regular order is eight wings.) The Fried Lobster Tacos are a customer favorite. Lobster claws in a toasted tortilla, topped with fresh pico de gallo made by the chef, and drizzled with a sriracha aioli. The lobster meat was nice and tender. The red onion in the pico gives these tacos a nice bite. (A full order includes three tacos, or you can mix and match.)
Now for the entrée. I tried the Creamy Garlic Tuscan Salmon and Crab Pasta. This was such a generous portion, I almost didn’t know where to begin. The fettuccine pasta is full of mushrooms, spinach, and sun dried tomatoes. If that wasn’t enough, the pasta is topped with salmon, which is then topped with lump crab meat. The salmon was cooked to perfection, the crab on top was well seasoned, and sun dried tomatoes were a really nice touch.
Since starting his own business Chef Jaquaun brought on partner and friend Ronnie Gipson. Ronnie handles all of the business while Chef Jaquaun handles the cooking. Ronnie loves the Henny Mumbo Wings, the lobster tacos are also a favorite, as well as the pasta when he’s craving something heavier. Chef Jaquaun’s favorite is the lamb chops because he can easily prepare them a variety of ways. Though he loves lamb chops, he enjoys cooking seafood, and aspires to open a seafood restaurant one day in the future. Chef Jaquaun had his first job at the age of nine and doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon.
Unity Lounge is open for dine-in and carry out service. Takeout is also now available through UberEats. You can follow Chef Jaquaun at Kitchen at Unity Lounge DC. For catering services follow the Chef on his personal page.
Discover more from Flights and Foods
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
5,592 Comments
kmspico
I was wondering if you ever considered changing the page layout of your site?
Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect
with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or 2 images.
Maybe you could space it out better?
Internação para Dependentes de drogas e álcool
Some really quality blog posts on this site, saved to bookmarks.
Soulmate Sketch Reviews
Hi , I do believe this is an excellent blog. I stumbled upon it on Yahoo , i will come back once again. Money and freedom is the best way to change, may you be rich and help other people.
hptoto
Excellent blog here! Also your site loads up fast! What host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host? I wish my site loaded up as fast as yours lol
pink salt trick recipe
I’ve been absent for some time, but now I remember why I used to love this web site. Thanks , I’ll try and check back more often. How frequently you update your web site?
click here
Thankfulness to my father who stated to me concerning this
webpage, this weblog is in fact awesome.
daftar gareng77
I truly appreciate this post. I have been looking everywhere for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You’ve made my day! Thx again
tonic greens review
Youre so cool! I dont suppose Ive read anything like this before. So good to search out someone with some original ideas on this subject. realy thank you for beginning this up. this web site is something that is needed on the internet, someone with slightly originality. useful job for bringing one thing new to the web!
slot gacor
Greetings from California! I’m bored to death at work so I decided to check out your site on my iphone during lunch break. I love the knowledge you present here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m surprised at how quick your blog loaded on my cell phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, great blog!
pestoto
Hello very cool blog!! Man .. Excellent .. Superb .. I’ll bookmark your website and take the feeds additionally…I am happy to seek out a lot of useful info right here in the post, we need develop more strategies in this regard, thank you for sharing. . . . . .