JC’s Café & Lounge coming to downtown Riverhead’s Green Earth market

The Green Earth Natural Foods Market has been a fixture in Riverhead for over 30 years, providing healthy foods and supplements to its customers. Starting this weekend, the rear of the store will be transformed into a gourmet café by day, and an intimate lounge with music and arts by night, bringing new cuisine and culture to downtown Riverhead.

JC’s Café & Lounge, which has a “soft opening” with a limited menu on March 15 with family and friends, is the inspiration of executive chef Calvin Kerr and his two partners, James Hall Jr. and LaMarr Wooten. They will have an official opening on Saturday, March 22.

Chef Kerr has worked in numerous restaurants, from Long Island to Virginia. He was born in London, to a British mother and Jamaican father, spent his childhood growing up on the island of Jamaica, and then moved to Long Island with his family, where he graduated in 1974 from Bellport High School. He worked at the Bellport Country Club, the Chowder House in Bellport, the Fishermen’s Grille in Cutchogue, Gurney’s Inn Resort, and Weyone Restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia, among others.

When asked how he started cooking, Kerr said he watched his mother make pastries and Shepherd’s Pie, as a child.

“She was a great cook, and it inspired me,” he said. “I later was a prep cook in the Air Force, a food supervisor at the Riverhead Nursing Home, and I also learned to cook from Taylor Alonzo, a chef at the Bellport restaurant.”

Kerr describes his new menu at “JC’s Café & Lounge” as “eclectic food, with a hippie gourmet style,” and his influences are Caribbean, European, and South American. He will serve breakfast and lunch from Wednesday to Sunday, and then the lounge will be open from Thursday to Saturday nights.

“I plan to serve the best gourmet breakfast in town, cooked to order, at affordable prices,” he says. “My egg platters and breakfast wraps are a fine dining experience, and I also make Wild Alaskan Salmon Benedict, JC’s Waffles with fruit, “Very Berry” French Toast, and Chocolate Chip, Blueberry or Banana Pancakes.” His lunches include Paninis, wraps, sandwiches, homemade soups, healthy salads, and even fresh smoothies.

“And don’t forget my award-winning flourless chocolate cake,” says Kerr.

JC’s will have some special culinary themed nights. Wednesday night is “Soul in a Bowl,” where customers pay $10 for a seat and choose from set courses of “soul food” like fried chicken, barbecue, collards and corn bread. Then there is “Throwback Thursday” night, with music of the 1960s and food of the Motown era. Saturday is “Caribbean Night,” with dishes like jerk chicken, yams, and green bananas.

James Hall, Jr. and LaMarr Wooten will be running the Lounge Nights, from Thursday through Saturday, when the café will be transformed into a relaxing lounge with couches, soft-lighting, candles, and big-screen TV’s with Samba, Brazilian, Motown, jazz and other music, and U-tube and live shows videos. At night, the entrance will be in the back parking lot of the Green Earth Natural Foods Market.

Hall, who works for the Town of Brookhaven, is a childhood friend of Kerr’s, and the two were business partners in a former floor-cleaning operation in Suffolk County.

“The lounge will have cheese platters, and light snacks, people can bring their own wine and beer, and sometimes we’ll have dancing,” said Hall, who added that they are applying for a liquor license.

LaMarr Wooten, the third partner, who also works for the Town of Brookhaven and coaches basketball for the Mastic Sports Program, said he is running the music aspect.

“One of my dreams was to have a lounge where people could gather, and we can expand it into open mike nights and poetry readings,” he said. “I feel that our ambience will be so inviting that it will make people want to come back.”

Steve Siegelwaks, owner of the Green Earth, said he thinks the new café and lounge “will bring a wonderful verve to the neighborhood, and it’s a good complement to my store.”
JC’s Café & Lounge is located in the Green Earth Natural Foods Market at 50 East Main Street in Riverhead. For information call 631-591-3281.