While some restaurants battle for foot traffic, one Jamaican eatery in White Marsh, nestled in the shadow of an indoor skydiving park and a desert of beige strip malls, appears to have struck gold.

Long lines form for oxtail and goat curry in a neighborhood where restaurant owner Jazz Tucker says nearly no Caribbean community exists. And yet in the predominantly white Central Maryland suburb with just over 10,000 people, lies the success story of Konoko — a restaurant marketing itself as a “Jamaican Experience.”

“We were looking for somewhere we could make a cultural statement,” Tucker said. “There’s a need for Caribbean and Jamaican food, and when I look around, there’s nothing like us.”

Konoko attempts to recreate the experience of traveling to the island. Servers greet tables like flight attendants, and the occasional kitschy plane window looks out at a painted mural of Konoko Falls, a waterfall near where Tucker grew up and for which the restaurant is named.

From the time it opened in summer 2022, the restaurant had an average of 500 people per weekend night — a number that’s since climbed upward of 600, Tucker said. Most can’t get in without a reservation at least three days in advance.

When this reporter tried to nab an empty seat at the bar on a Friday, security stepped in because it gets too crowded for anyone to wait around for a spot. By 6:30 p.m., the waitlist for tables was full and carry-out orders closed.

The success of the restaurant, as well as his first eatery, Island Spice, has landed Tucker among an influential group of restaurateurs tapped to bring traffic to one of Baltimore’s most ambitious developments: Baltimore Peninsula. He is set to open another Jamaican restaurant, Blü Cā, with wife Sandy in 2026 in the nascent neighborhood of retail and luxury housing. The project’s a big investment for Tucker, who will be expected to drive crowds to South Baltimore the same way he does in the suburbs.

But how did he get so many of those customers in the first place?

Hollie Crew, who traveled from her home in Cecil County to White Marsh to give Konoko a try, said the vibe was what caught her eye.

“People want to go somewhere with good food, alcohol and music,” she said, adding that crowds always come out for a quality DJ and authentic Caribbean dishes. “You usually have to travel into the city for those things. You don’t always find that around White Marsh.”

The level of business still surprises Tucker. People on the street stop him to ask the best time to nab a table at Konoko. His restaurant is the only Caribbean restaurant in White Marsh and one of few in Baltimore County.

He believes being the outlier helped. It’s a strategy that paid off with his first restaurant, which opened in 2014 in Harford County. That Edgewood eatery, while not the sole Caribbean fare in town, stood out from its competitors by offering Jamaican staples from rice and peas to jerk chicken while also providing families a comfortable space to gather and learn about the cuisine.

“Some of the people had never known, or never tasted our culture,” Tucker said of Edgewood, a predominantly Black neighborhood with a small Caribbean community.

Explaining his culture and cuisine to customers is one of Tucker’s passions: “I feel the need to do it.” He talks about the dishes’ strong similarities to Maryland soul food, both sharing deep roots in West African cuisine. He’ll gladly explain to customers the art of sucking the meat out of oxtail, which he compares to a ribeye for newcomers, or the fiery yet fruity vibrance of a scotch bonnet pepper, used to add heat to his dishes.

Many of Tucker’s customers had eaten what he deems Americanized versions of the cuisine, but few knew the magic of a pimento dried fruit, which is used in Jamaican allspice to build the smoky flavor into his jerk seasoning. They hadn’t tasted ackee and saltfish, his country’s national dish, the way Tucker made it growing up in the island’s St. Ann community, where his mother still lives.

“I was blown away with how busy we were,” he said of Island Spice.

Tucker noticed the same need for a cultural hub when he heard about a space opening at The Avenue at White Marsh. The 35-acre retail development in Baltimore County is a rapidly growing spot with cheeky street signs, neon lights and astroturf lawns — a town center for the White Marsh neighborhood. Neither the Perry Hall/White Marsh Business Association nor the Federal Realty Investment Trust, which manages The Avenue property, responded to requests for comment.

Konoko stood out from The Avenue‘s other offerings, not just as the only Caribbean spot, but as a location that feels transportive. It’s a communal experience where the blasting of reggae and ’90s R&B music compels customers to dance in their bar stools. Palm trees, shared high tops, flat-screen televisions and a large bar with fruity drinks that come in extravagant flights add to the ambience.

It‘s over the top and bursting with energy, from the traditional braised oxtail, doused in a sauce worth drinking, to signature plays on pasta dishes like the KoKo rigatoni, loaded with an Italian and jerk-seasoned cream sauce coupled with shrimp, scallops, crab meat and lobster. Seasonings are made from scratch, and pricey imports of oxtail and goat are the foundations of many of Konoko’s authentic dishes, some of which can cost over $30.

“People come for the food, but they stay for the vibes,” he said.

Those vibes will play a key role in the development of Blü Cā, which will face new competition for Jamaican food in a city where over 580,000 people live and a large Caribbean community exists.

“That’s been stressful trying to build out the restaurant,” he said of the new venture.

The costs are steeper in Baltimore Peninsula, coupled with inflation and setbacks associated with New York-based MAG Partners taking over the reins from another developer in 2022. “There’s been some curveballs,” Tucker said.

But he believes it will all pay off once his concept opens just feet from the waterfront.

“I’ve always wanted to be on the water,” he said of what drew him to the challenge. “I know it’s going to feel like home.”