Like a not so hidden secret, Pasches Island Soul has been building a reputation for authentic Caribbean cuisine from the heart of downtown for the better part of two years.
“We definitely pride ourselves in making all of our all of our items homemade,” said Paschelle Holder, assistant manager at the family-run bistro on James Brown Boulevard.
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Holder and her family, who are Trinidadian, have lived in the South for “the better part of two decades,” after moving from New York, primarily Queens.
“We thought, ‘et’s bring a little taste of what we’re used to,’” she said. They acquired a prime location, a sturdy, 138-year-old building on James Brown Boulevard for its potential foot traffic (which became plenty of actual foot traffic) and its scenic view.
Holder notes that her family is private, preferring the caliber of the Trinidadian cooking to speak for itself. Based on how the restaurant’s reputation progressed since opening in October 2020, she says, the menu has managed say plenty.
“We opened the time when the pandemic was kind of at its peak,” she said. “But, oddly enough, that was actually when, you know, we had pushed and gained notoriety and popularity in one fell swoop.’”
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Deliveries through DoorDash, and later Grubhub and Augusta ToGo, contributed to the restaurant’s early success. The eatery currently offers takeout and delivery, with two umbrellaed tables outside, as the rest of the building is currently undergoing renovations, anticipating an elaborate dining room to complement the business’ values: high-quality food, freshly made, complete with a fine presentation.
Among the top selling dishes are jerk chicken, curry chicken, the salmon fillet and, of course, oxtails, which Holder notes is so popularly that it commonly sells out the day it’s prepared. She also notes that the cuisine’s unique flavor and cultural touches tends to quell occasional ignorance about Caribbean food in general.
“All jerk chicken is not made the same; all curry chicken is not made the same,” she said about the distinctions between Trinidadian and Jamaican cuisine. “There are different types of recipes that both cultures have, despite being, you could say, ‘cousins.’ They are very similar, but not the same.”
Trinidadian food, Holder mentions, flows out of a wealth of historical, cultural influences, including Indian, Spanish, a “smidge of Chinese” and Japanese—particularly with herbal blends—and African.
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Holder says the diner’s popularity has skyrocketed further since introducing vegan delights to the menu, thanks to Augusta’s growing vegan community.
“It’s been bringing in a lot of people who are vegetarian, or transitioning to vegan, or people who just want to taste vegan food,” she said.
The family hopes the dining room will be complete by the end of the year, and has aims of expanding the operation, and its traditional values (exemplified in the restaurant’s slogan, “We feed you like family,”) along with it.
“We stress on everything being made from scratch,” said Holder. “So it is a little bit more time consuming, but it’s an effort to put every bit of love that we have in our product.”
Pasches Island Soul is located on 307 James Brown Blvd. in downtown Augusta. For more information, visit its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Pasches.IslandSoul.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
