Brickhouse Restaurant
Cliff Harvey and Amelia Kisna-Harvey love sharing the flavors of a traditional Sunday Jamaican family dinner with the guests at their Brickhouse Restaurant in Eastham. Mingled on their menu with Cape Cod’s traditional seafood offerings is the Caribbean cuisine they both grew up eating and cooking.
Always underfoot, Cliff learned his craft watching his mom and grandmother in the kitchen. “Jamaica is known for its jerked chicken, yet instead of focusing on keeping everyone’s mouth on fire, I prefer to be heavy on the food’s bold flavors,” says Cliff.
Growing up near Hanover, Jamaica, these high school sweethearts immigrated to America separately with their families to different states. Eventually reunited, they married and began a family. For many years Cliff cooked in high-end Provincetown restaurants, working his way up from salad prep to sous chef. Anxious to set out on his own, Cliff eyed the current Brickhouse building in Eastham, then a vacant bar that had been on the market for several years. When he made the decision to open a restaurant, Amelia left her job in the medical field. “I was all in to support the new venture,” she says. “I love it when he cooks and I love eating his food.” After four months of intense renovation accomplished almost completely on their own with family and friends, Brickhouse opened in July of 2018. Despite a kitchen vent breaking at the final hour and filling the kitchen with smoke, Amelia recalls it being one of the busiest days in their history. Relatives arrived, yet it was almost entirely townspeople and tourists that they had never met that poured in to the dining room. The couple is still visibly moved recalling the community support shown to them that opening day.
Open three full years now, this year-round eatery features lunch, dinner, and kids’ options as well as early specials featuring an entrée, soup or salad, and beverage. There’s a snappy listing of island drinks to sip, too. Daily specials evolve all the time and the popular ones have sticking power. “Like a scallop dish I created with an orange rum sauce, and a seafood stuffed haddock,” says Cliff. “We keep them because they’re really well-loved.”
“I also have to remember the population that I’m cooking for, both in-house and with take-out orders. I want them to know that I’m here for this community, and that includes its elders. I want to change the idea among diners that whatever is hottest is best,” says Cliff. “I’ve learned that you can turn up the heat, but you certainly can’t turn it down.”
The Brickhouse menu offers both traditional American entrées like fried clams and steak tips and others that dance with more subtlety. The accompaniments on some dishes, like coconut rice, wilted spinach and plantains round out a diverse culinary experience nicely. They keep you wondering; just what exactly was that flavoring in the coleslaw? “What I hope to achieve is American food infused with Caribbean flavors,” says Cliff.
In times when volume peaks, especially like this past summer, securing help has been nearly impossible. The couple is grateful that, when needed, their teenage daughter contributes in the kitchen and even Cliff’s mom joins the wait staff. “It really has been difficult,” says Amelia “particularly for the front of the house.”
Undaunted by the challenges of COVID and a tight workforce, this year the Harveys installed a patio and outdoor eating space with a fun fire pit area just off the back entrance. Adjacent to the expansive indoor dining room and wraparound bar is a second private room. Available by reservation, they can accommodate 40-90 guests for weddings, showers, birthdays and others catered events.
With homemade jerk seasoning, mango salsa and dark Caribbean rum cake, there’s much to sample at the Brickhouse this winter, when you may just need a little taste of the islands the most.
Brickhouse Restaurant
4940 Route 6, Eastham
4940brickhouserestaurant.com
774-801-2475
