Cooking has always brought Nicola Blaque a sense of peace and connection to home. Now, she’s using her latest endeavor, Freight Fried Chicken, to share those sentiments with others.
A James Beard Award nominee and recognized for her contributions to the culinary space, including the prestigious Michelin Bib Gourmand Award consecutively in 2024 and 2025 for her Jamaican restaurant, The Jerk Shack, Blaque understands the legacy infused in the flavors that fill her restaurants.
“I was born in Jamaica, and I came here when I was 5 years old, and so for me, finding that community of Caribbean and even family, we didn’t have a lot. My stepdad was in the Air Force, and so we moved every couple of years. What my mom would do is she would recreate Caribbean dishes with whatever she could find wherever we lived,” Blaque recalled. “And so I was exposed to my heritage through food, and when I joined the military, that’s kind of all that I had. I joined during a time when the war had just kicked off in Iraq and Afghanistan, so cooking brought me a sense of peace, and I used it as a time to connect with my soldiers.”
Her pathway to restaurateur came to her in a dream
While working as a private chef and caterer, Blaque voyaged home to Jamaica to bury her aunt, and shortly after the trip, she received a revelation of her talents’ potential for greater heights.
“She came to me in a dream and told me that I needed to be using my talents in a different way and to share my culture and food. I really didn’t quite understand what that all meant. I was like, ‘I’ll make some jerk chicken for my clients, you know,’ but she shared that with me, and just a couple of events ended up happening, and I realized, ‘No. This is what she was talking about. I need to be sharing my culture on a national [level]… sharing what Caribbean food is.”
It wasn’t long before The Jerk Shack became the San Antonio staple it is today. Staying in alignment with using food as a teaching opportunity, Blaque decided to do extensive research, ultimately discovering the story of a group of Black women waiter carriers in Gordonsville, Virginia, aka the “Fried Chicken Capital of the Universe.”
“So, at Jerk Shack, we do a dry batter fried chicken, so there’s no dairy, and I’ve always done it like that. I’m just not too big on adding extra stuff that doesn’t need to be added,” Blaque said. “And then when I read about how the waiter carriers fried their fried chicken, I was like, ‘Oh, this is meant to be.’ I’m from Jamaica, but these roots run deep amongst us, and I am so glad that what I was feeling, it took me back to research. Rather than feeling like, ‘Oh, I shouldn’t do this,’ or whatever people feel, because now I feel proud about it, and I can share it, seeing how far fried chicken has grown across the world, and everyone has their little variation.”
Continuing the legacy of Black women through Freight Fried Chicken
Her Freight Fried Chicken sits in a food hall in San Antonio’s historic Pearl area, and is inspired by waiter carriers who were enterprising Black women in the late 1800s who sold homemade fried chicken, biscuits and pies to train passengers in Gordonsville, Virginia, turning the transit gap into economic independence and dubbing the place the “Fried Chicken Capital of the World,” a story that is on full display for patrons to see while dining at Blaque’s establishment.
“The Pearl is a very unique place,” Blaque said. “Last year, The Pearl had 7 million visitors, isn’t that crazy? Seven million people came to this place, and I feel like I’m a waiter carrier because most of the people are tourists that are coming, and writing about my fried chicken, and sharing our story, and I feel like I am rebirthing their story.”
She added, “I hear from people. I see it in their posts, and they’re like, ‘When you go to San Antonio, and you’re at the Pearl, get that fried chicken.’ And so the next part of our journey is we’re actually opening up in the airport,” adding, “So that story continues of people coming and trying the chicken, and spreading it across the world, just like them,” referring to the waiter carriers.