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SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL

JAMAICAN `ITAL' DELIGHTS ARE HIDDEN IN A FOREST OF ORCHIDS

Section: FOOD Edition: Broward Metro Page: 4 Type: COLUMN Column: STEVE PETUSEVSKY VEGETARIAN TODAY    I've unearthed a jewel so wonderful I actually debated if I should share it. This tale begins as a hunt for orchids. As we traipse through the trails of O'Donnell Farms in Coconut Creek, the fragrance of orchids fills the air. But I detect something else: the scent of jerk spices.     I walk into a sweet-smelling cloud of allspice, ginger, chilies and wood smoke. At first, I can't understand why that smell is here in an orchid orchard.     Then a young Jamaican woman scurries past with a huge plate of rice and vegetables. Aromatic thyme and steam rise from the plate she carries directly under my nose. A screen door slams. As I look through it, I see a modest kitchen and a tall cook chopping scotch bonnet chilies and stirring a huge pot of rice and peas. I have stumbled into some kind of food heaven.     I'm standing in a beautiful garden filled with colorful tables and benches intricately decorated with tiles. There are huge tropical birds on perches speaking English and people smiling with huge plates of food in front of them. Reggae music blasts.     Of course, I get into a conversation with the chef and his wife. Turns out, this chef feels he has a divine calling to share his Jamaican food.     As we dine, the chef sits with us and shares his passion for his island's food and culture. Including "Ital" cuisine, Jamaica's version of vegan food. It's strictly vegetarian and free of added salt. According to the chef, this allows the true, uncomplicated flavors of vegetables, legumes and grains to shine.     Vegetables commonly used in Ital cuisine include cabbage, chayote squash, carrots and yams. And most of these show up in the Orchid Cafe's Jamaican Stewed Vegetables. The chef and his lovely wife are gracious enough to share the recipe with me.     You can use light coconut milk available in most supermarkets. Chayote squash, also called mirliton, is found in most produce sections. It is a small, light-green squash shaped like a small papaya.     Although I highly recommend adding the scotch bonnet, you can omit it if you don't like heat, or add the tamer poblano or jalapeno instead. Serve this dish with pigeon peas and rice.     You'll find Orchid Cafe at O'Donnell Farms, 7231 Lyons Road, Coconut Creek, 954-421- 2076. It is open from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Breakfast is served until 11 a.m. and lunch/dinner until closing. They have a live reggae band on Saturdays from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.     ENTREE ORCHID CAFE'S JAMAICAN STEWED VEGETABLES Stewed Vegetables:     2 teaspoons canola oil     2 cups shredded cabbage (sliced 1/2 inch thick)     1 medium yellow squash, sliced 1/2 inch thick     1 green squash, sliced 1/2 inch thick     1 small chayote squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes     1 cup (1-inch) lengths of green beans     1/2 cup (1-inch) lengths of wax beans     1 cup light coconut milk     Seasoning Mixture:     1 teaspoon canola oil     2 cloves garlic, minced     2 teaspoons minced ginger root     1/2 small onion, diced     1 scotch bonnet chili, minced     3 sprigs fresh thyme, left whole     4 whole allspice berries or 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice     1 medium tomato, diced     3/4 cup light coconut milk     1 tablespoon soy sauce or mushroom soy sauce     To make vegetables: Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add vegetables and saute 2 minutes. Add coconut milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.     To make seasonings: Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonreactive skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, ginger, onions, chili, thyme, allspice and tomatoes. Saute 2 minutes. Add coconut milk and soy sauce. Simmer 5 minutes until milk is reduced and seasoning mixture looks creamy and thick. Add to vegetable mixture and combine well. Makes 4 servings.     Per serving: 175 calories, 66 percent calories from fat, 4 grams protein, 13 grams carbohydrates, 5 grams total fiber, 13 grams total fat, no cholesterol, 247 milligrams sodium.         If you have questions about a vegetarian ingredient or would like a particular recipe, write Vegetarian Today, Sun-Sentinel, 200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301-2293. Sorry, no personal replies. ID: 35963539 Tag: 200104170449.

OH LAWDY!

882 / 882 - Friday, August 6, 1999 INSPIRATION FROM ABOVE GUIDES THE SUCCESS OF A FAMILY BUSINESS IN LAUDERDALE LAKES. Section: COMMUNITY NEWS Edition: West Broward Page: 1 Dateline: LAUDERDALE LAKES Caption: Photos/Diane Bradford (color) DRINKING UP SUCCESS: Copeland Harris credits the Lord for success, even using his store-brand wine to spread the message. (color) ALL IN THE FAMILY: Enid Harris checks the produce in her Lauderdale Lakes grocery.(Ran in Northwest Broward.)    -- Call it divine intervention.     At least, that's how Copeland Harris, explains the success of his latest business ventures grouped under his Lauderhill-based Lord's Enterprises Limited Inc.     Earlier this year, his associates -- all family members -- had a grand opening for the fourth installment of the chain: Lord's ASupermarketPlace, a 10,000-square-foot grocery store in Lauderdale Marketplace, in the 3700 block of West Oakland Park Boulevard.     Residents and city officials alike are bestowing blessings on the expansion.     The grocery store is yards away from the Xtra Supermarket building, which closed about five years ago. It was the only major grocery store in the city.     In his 30-year adventure of entrepreneurship, Harris manufactured barbecue grills, ran a restaurant and ran a chain of gas stations in Florida, Arkansas, California and Georgia. Now, he is bent on making the Lord's concept last, with a little "help from above."     "Whatever we do now, we're going to put the Lord's name in it," he says. "It's been a stroke of luck from the beginning and we want to give Him all the glory."     The "Lord's" name not only appears on the supermarket signs and on labels of specially bottled Lord's Chardonnay and Merlot, but the enterprise also consists of Lord's Bounty Seafood, Lord's Produce and Oh Lawdy Restaurant.     Oh Lawdy is a loosely used, Jamaican religious exclamation.     His wife of three years, Enid, 39, shakes her head. "It's true," she says. "There were a lot of miracles."     One day a traveling salesman stopped at the Lauderhill produce store and asked if Harris wanted to buy calling cards to resell. He wasn't very interested, so the stranger offered to give him $200 worth on consignment.     Harris says the salesman also surveyed the store and told him he knew a place where he [Harris] could duplicate the produce business successfully.     He hesitantly took the information from the stranger.     "I took the owner's name and address from him just out of courtesy," Harris says. "I already had a signed lease for the supermarket, so it wasn't the time to think about anything else.''     But he did.     Harris met with the owners of Inverrama Shopping Plaza in Sunrise in March 1998.     The strip mall had a high vacancy rate and he surprised the owner by offering to rent three stores, one for a restaurant and the other for a fish market; the third because "something" told him to.         "Something told me to leave the supermarket for a while and pursue the new projects," Harris says. His bankers were puzzled by the new developments but they allowed him to proceed.     In less than a year, Harris opened Oh Lawdy Restaurant and Lord's Bounty Seafood at the strip mall.     Harris says he was more interested in the seafood store and considered the restaurant merely a decent investment.     Still, he put his heart and his excellent cooking skills into the Jamaican eatery; the growing number of patrons attest to its success.     Diners rave about the food and the "secret" barbecue sauce and say the soothing Caribbean atmosphere is authentic. Harris hopes to bottle the sauce and place it on the market.     Recently, Lauderdale Lakes city officials used the restaurant to host a group of visiting businessmen.     Harris' daughter, Deborah, manages the restaurant. His son, Copeland III, runs the fish store; another son, Richard, attends college in Atlanta. Harris, his wife and her 8-year-old son, Sean, live in Parkland.     Dale Holness, president of ERA All Broward Realty & Mortgage who has known Harris since the 1970s, says Harris Lord's staying power will be enhanced by the family bond. "He always had great entrepreneurial spirit but having family members behind him will help keep things flowing."     Commissioner Hazelle Rogers said, "I know he will be successful. We are looking for him to expand with the support of the community."     To this day, neither Harris nor his wife has seen the phone card salesman again. He has never contacted them about the phone cards or money.     "That's what I'm talking about," Harris says. "Who was this man and why did he come to us out of the blue?"     Although Harris is convinced Lord's Enterprises has had divine assistance, his exposure to business began in Jamaica where his father operated a dry goods store on famed Princess Street.     In 1969, he left his well-to-do family in a Kingston neighborhood to visit his sister in California. He was so smitten by the bright lights and big, sprawling cities that he decided to live there.     He operated a produce market in Pasadena. He moved to Florida in 1976, left after a few years and returned in 1996 when he opened Lord's Produce on Northwest 21st Street in Lauderhill. Two years later, he signed the supermarket lease but financial difficulties caused such a delay in opening that he started to doubt the venture.     At low points such as this, the Harris's say, "miracles" happened.     "Many times we're on our last dime and the phone rings with some good news," Enid Harris says. "These things just reaffirm our belief that we can go forward."     For example, they say, after weeks of trying to obtain a car to raffle during the grand opening of the supermarket, they started thinking one would not materialize. One night after Copeland Harris closed up the grocery store -- which was to be opened in a few days -- he sat outside thinking. His brother-in-law passed by and suggested they go to Memory Lane Cafe. It was while there that Harris was introduced to William Armstrong of Armstrong Ford.     Within days, Harris and Armstrong finalized a deal for a joint car promotion.     "I swear, as soon as we put up the Lord's sign on the building things started coming together," Copeland Harris says.     "There is just no other way to explain this.''     Dwayne Campbell can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 954-572-2004. Illustration: PHOTOS 2 Keywords: BUSINESS PROFILE ID: 34114835 Tag: 199908040746 .