From the Caribbean to Moxee - Heidi bring the exotic

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From the Caribbean to Moxee at the Yakima Herald-Republic

Dec. 30, 2002
855 words
Yakima Herald-Republic

From the Caribbean to Moxee -- Heidi's brings the exotic taste of the Cayman
Islands to rural Yakima County

By DORI HARRELL
YAKIMA HERALD REPUBLIC

MOXEE - To outsiders, Moxee may be better known for its hop fields and French
heritage than Caribbean food. But insiders know better.

Residents have spent the last three years cultivating a taste for island fare
at Heidi's Caribbean Cafe. And soon, flavors from the cafe will be spreading
to area stores and beyond.

Cafe owner Heidi Timmermans-Judy worked as a cook for nearly two years in the
Cayman Islands. When she returned three years ago to re-open her cafe, she
added jerk marinade - a spicy Jamaican sauce made of Scotch bonnet peppers,
onions, lime juice, garlic and other spices - to her menu.

"Here, we use ketchup," she said. "There, they use jerk."

Jerk began several hundred years ago in Jamaica as way to season and smoke
meat using allspice. Over time, hot chilies and other spices were added,
resulting in a spice so popular that it's typically spelled with a capital J
in the Caribbean.

And it's not for the mild-mannered in eating habits. It bites.

Timmermans-Judy, 35, spent six months last year developing her own jerk
recipe. After another nine months of testing, bottling, labeling and taking
classes to meet state and federal regulations, she's now offering jerk mustard
and barbecue sauce, and blackened seasonings, for wholesale and retail sales.

"We were getting so many requests for the barbecue sauce and were giving it
away in Pepsi cups," Timmermans-Judy said. "We thought, "Why not sell it?' "

By spring, the products should appear in Yakima at Wray's Thriftway stores and
Make it Special, Make it Washington; and in Wapato at Food Pavilion. Timmermans-Judy
knew the basic ingredients for jerk and formed several recipes.

She tested them the old-fashioned way - on her customers. After they picked
their two favorite recipes, she stepped out of the restaurant for advice.

"My husband took some sandwiches to his work. I took sandwiches to the gas
station, the grocery store, the hardware store, I even stopped a city crew
while they were working and had them taste it," Timmermans-Judy said.

The most popular of the two recipes is now found on her ribs, steak, chicken
and other meats.

Not everything on the menu is cooked with jerk. There are pizzas and pies made
from scratch.

After a busy noon hour earlier this month, an energetic Timmermans-Judy
explained how she introduced Caribbean fare to the Moxee community.

At the restaurant, stuffed fuzzy blue, purple, pink, green and yellow fish
dangle from the ceiling on fishing string. A fish tank hums in the background.

The tables feature more vividly-colored fish.

At just 1,500 square feet, it's not a large diner. It seats just 49.

Heidi's Pizza and Cafe opened in 1991 to brisk business, although it sold no
Caribbean food.

"We were open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner,"
Timmermans-Judy said. "By 1995, I was burned out." In 1996, she sold the cafe
and took a job cooking in a restaurant in the Grand Cayman, where she and
husband Dave Judy during an earlier vacation had fallen head-over-heels with
the island's slow pace and warm climate.

The couple, both black belts, also opened a karate training facility.

"It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Fabulous. I loved it,"
Timmermans-Judy said.

But nearly two years later her grandparents died, prompting the couple to
return home to Terrace Heights to be near her mother.

In the meantime, the restaurant had changed hands three times and was now
owned by a group of 13 farmers and businessmen.

"They weren't sure what to do with it," Timmermans-Judy said. "But they knew
they needed a coffee shop."

When they heard Timmermans-Judy returned, they approached her about reopening
her restaurant.

"I thought, "I'm the boss.' If I can't live in Cayman, I could make the
restaurant the way I want it - and I wanted to surround myself with the
happiness of the Caribbean."

After leasing the facility from the 13 owners, she remodeled, purchased bulk
jerk marinade and added Caribbean food to the menu.

"People were skeptical at first," Timmermans-Judy said. "Customers said,
"What's jerk?' "

Joe Kauzlarich, one of the building's owners and a Moxee resident, said the
Caribbean food is popular among the cafe's regular customers.

He said he eats at the cafe six mornings a week and at least one weeknight.

Moxee supports just three restaurants, and Heidi's is the only one open for
breakfast, he said.

"The restaurant is very important to Moxee," Kauzlarich said. "We knew Heidi
would make a success out of it, and she's done exactly that."

Demand for food cooked in the jerk marinade grew, Timmermans-Judy quickly ran
out of her bulk spices and found she couldn't replace them.

So she set up her restaurant as a test kitchen and made her own, with the help
of her mother.

Now on the market for four months, the barbecue sauce is in such demand,
Timmermans-Judy said she can't keep up. She is negotiating with Green Garden
Foods in Kent to process that product.

"Everybody has made this happen," Timmermans-Judy said. "The town saved the
cafe, and we're here to educate the Northwest on Caribbean food."

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