The Caribbean comes to Sharpsburg with 2 Sisters 2 Sons restaurant
A Jamaican restaurant, 2 Sisters 2 Sons, opened on Main Street in Sharpsburg just a few days into July, but their cuisine is hardly new to Pittsburgh’s Caribbean food scene.
Their phone is ringing off the hook.
Those callers might know the sisters, Denise Josephs and Marlene Siddo, from their previous Jamaican restaurant, 3 Sisters in Wilkinsburg. The venture closed in 2015 because of structural issues at their leased space.
Or the callers might have been the same patrons to wait in nearly endless queues for the family’s offerings at Jerk Fess, an annual Highland Park event that features Caribbean food and culture.
It was that fan base and the promise of a tight-knit family business that inspired the sisters and their sons, Michael Brown and Kwasi Prince, to find a new space to house their slow-food operation.
“Every single time we did an event or Jerk Fess, there was other Caribbean food there, but people would line up from the front of our stand to the street,” said Brown, a Perry High School graduate. “People were always asking us, ‘Do you have a location?’ We just realized the demand was there for us.”
Electric green and yellow emblazon the exterior of 2 Sisters 2 Sons, echoing the Jamaican flag. A blocks-long waft of spices emanates from the kitchen.
The sisters lead the culinary part of the business, and their specialties hit all the high notes of classic Jamaican cuisine. There’s oxtail, jerk and jerk-barbecue chicken and Escovitch red snapper. Meat dishes, from chicken to goat to shrimp, can be sauced with curry or brown stew. All of it is served up with two sides, usually rice with peas and a heap of steamed, cabbage-dominated veggies.
While the pandemic has hit so many in the restaurant industry hard, the blueprint for how 2 Sisters 2 Sons would look in its infancy has been relatively unaffected.
The open, high-ceiling space can accommodate a dine-in crowd, but the family’s business model didn’t anticipate dine-in service until later, which conforms perfectly to Allegheny County’s current pandemic-related dining restrictions.
But don’t mistake that conservative model for lack of ambition. Brown, a former self-employed tri-axle truck driver with plenty of retail experience, has big vision for his family’s venture.
“I want this to be one of the first Caribbean restaurants to be a franchise,” Brown said. “I have a big goal like that for all of us, but, for now, we’re good with being humble.”
The family’s position in local Caribbean food culture isn’t the only factor causing their phone to ring: Brown and Kwasi, the business side of the operation, have a knack for a persistent and entertaining social media presence, cultivating a procession of first-time patrons.
Over 1,100 Facebook and 500 Instagram users have found the business’s page just a week into operation. The Sons republish every post that tags the restaurant, continually generating buzz and cementing a connection with their customers.
2 Sisters 2 Sons may be new in name, but their experience seems to be paying dividends from the get-go.
“We triple-prepped, and we’ve still been getting swamped,” Brown said. “People are just running to us blowing the phone up. It’s a good problem.”
Abby Mackey is a Tribune-Review contributing writer. You can contact Abby at abbyrose.mackey@gmail.com or via Twitter.
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