New Jamaican Restaurant On MLK Drive

Pepperpot, a popular Jamaican restaurant and catering business, is opening a new location on N. Martin Luther King Drive.

Owner Dwight Jackson is opening the new Pepperpot in a building he purchased at 2215 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. The new location is much larger than the original Pepper Pot at 4120 W. Capitol Dr., and will be the new home for its catering operation.

Jackson first opened the business strictly as a catering operation in 2004. Ten years later, he opened up the takeout business on Capitol Drive. But this latest expansion is his biggest yet.

The new 3,750-square-foot building in Halyard Park will offer dine-in service along with carryout and has space to seat up to 99 people. “We wanted to grow the business,” he told Urban Milwaukee. “To be honest with you, we had grown out of Capitol Drive.”

In short, the level of business Pepperpot was doing out of the Capitol Drive location was beginning to be more than it could handle, and Jackson said he’s long been interested in opening up on Martin Luther King Dr. In 2019, he looked at opening at a different location on King Drive. The plan was to purchase the property from the city for $1 and rehab it at significant cost, but that never moved forward.

The new restaurant has had a few soft-openings in recent weeks, and Jackson said it’s already seeing many new customers. “We were blown away,” he said.

The restaurant officially opens Tuesday, April 12. If you’ve never been to Pepperpot, the restaurant is most famous for its jerk egg rolls. But Jackson told Urban Milwaukee he also recommends first-timers try the jerk chicken, or, if they enjoy seafood, the grilled salmon.

Jackson is also adding a few new items to the menu at the King Drive location, like a jerk pork and lamb chops.