Home comfort goodness could very well be Winsome Hall’s secret sauce. The charismatic restaurateur of Crystal Edge puts true heart and the right kick of flavour into her eatery’s pleasing options of Jamaican menu faves. Welcoming the Jamaica Observer Food Awards judging panel for dinner last week Monday — a special treat, considering it’s the sole day Crystal Edge is closed for business — Hall whipped up a sunset spread of chicken soup, roast chicken, oxtail and rice n’ peas for her guests that set the stage for easy table conversation over comfort fare.

The delicious fall-off-the-bone oxtail, in particular, had the judges in a tizzy, with guest judge Khadine ‘Miss Kitty’ Hylton so taken with the magnificently prepared dish that she was moved to request cooking lessons. Hall’s response was she’d make a special exception since she shared her culinary gifts with male cooks as she finds them more amenable to training.

A long-time resident of the sleepy Irish Town community, Hall took an entrepreneurial leap of faith and opened her now much-beloved restaurant in 2001, having developed a faithful customer base of weekend regulars, operating as a jerked chicken and pork vendor.

Post-dinner, ‘Miss Winsome’, a title affectionately bestowed on her by neighbourhood folk and loyal patrons (with frequent guest judge, clothing retailer Jimmy Joseph counted among them) entertained the judges’ requests to share recipes and promises of return visits. With its picturesque, getaway feel and quality meal service, Crystal Edge Restaurant is that undiscovered culinary spot to usher in your next ‘foodgasm’.

— Omar Tomlinson