From Military Bases to Jamaican Plates: The Story of Spice Island Grill
Sometimes the best restaurants are born out of frustration. Claudette and Glenn Roy Hutchinson spent years traveling with the military—Nebraska to the Netherlands, Ohio to Maine—searching for authentic Jamaican food. They never found it. So they started cooking their own.
Friends kept showing up, drawn by the aromas of home-cooked Jamaican dishes. The feedback was consistent: “Someday you guys should open your own restaurant.” When the couple finally got stationed in Colorado Springs, that’s exactly what they did. In 2011, Spice Island Grill opened its doors.
The Jerk Chicken That Takes You to Jamaica
Both Claudette and Glenn Roy grew up eating Jamaican food, and when their families immigrated to the States, they brought their recipes along. That heritage shows in every bite of their signature jerk chicken—what Guy called “an amazing mixture of spices and flavors.”
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The secret? It’s not just about heat. As Claudette explained while building the dry rub: “It’s more flavorful than spicy to me.” The process starts with red cayenne pepper—and plenty of it. Guy noted that there’s “four times the amount of cayenne to anything else.” But here’s where it gets interesting: ground coffee is their secret ingredient.
The dry rub also includes paprika, regular salt, and cumin—or as they say in Jamaica, “cumin.” This mixture becomes what they call their “dry rum,” setting the foundation for layers of flavor.
Building the Marinade: A Two-Part Process
The jerk chicken at Spice Island Grill isn’t a one-note wonder. After the dry rub comes a wet marinade that turns everything into a paste. Into the blender goes garlic, oil, vinegar, thyme (fresh), plenty of green onions, and ginger.
The chicken leg quarters get washed with vinegar first, then coated with the red seasonings—worked all the way underneath the skin. It’s a two-person job, and watching Claudette and Glenn Roy work together, you understand why. “It goes a little bit faster when we do it this way,” Glenn Roy noted. Similar to how restaurants across the country have their own signature techniques, like the Three-Citrus Chicken Breast with Compound Butter, this is a dish built on careful preparation.
The final touch? A pre-made jerk marinade imported from Jamaica “to add a little bit of extra Jamaica to it,” plus oil to keep everything moist on the grill.
More Than Just Jerk
While the jerk chicken is the number one hit—”everybody comes for the jerk chicken”—Guy also highlighted the curry goat. “I cannot think of anywhere else in Colorado Springs that you can get curry goat,” he observed. It’s that kind of unique, hard-to-find cuisine that makes Triple D destinations special, much like finding authentic Bone Marrow Tacos in San Diego.
The menu also features festival bread and plantains, dishes that had Guy declaring “one bite and I’m on island time.”
Real Tips from the Kitchen
Layer your flavors: Don’t rely on just wet or dry seasoning. The combination of the spiced dry rub followed by the wet marinade paste creates complexity.
Get under the skin: Push seasoning underneath the chicken skin, not just on top. This ensures flavor penetrates the meat.
Balance heat with depth: Ground coffee in a jerk rub might sound unusual, but it adds an earthy depth that balances the cayenne’s heat.
As Guy put it after tasting the finished product: the jerk chicken “takes you out of Colorado Springs and into Jamaican culture.” Glenn Roy’s response? “Blessing, blessing. Ever living, ever sure, forever.”
Looking for more Triple D spots? Check out our restaurant directory to find Flavortown destinations near you.