Mexico meets the West Indies

So a Jamaican chef walks into a Mexican restaurant — no joke — and whips up food of the West Indies: jerk chicken, curry goat, oxtail stew, plus a vegetarian option. That two-culture menu still greets diners each Thursday and Friday at Melendez Imports in Berrien Springs — a modest spot with a small grocery on the side that carries imports from Latin America, Africa, and the Caribbean.

Owner Joe Melendez built it here for a reason. Look across Old U.S. 31 to the main gate of Andrews University, where thousands of students hail from more than ninety countries. “There was a need for it,” he has said about adding West Indies cooking beside the Mexican kitchen. “I saw a big West Indies population here.”

The Melendez family story goes further back. Joe’s father, the late Domingo Melendez, started in the late 1970s driving a step-van of Mexican staples around migrant worker camps. By 1980 the family had put down roots in Berrien Springs. Joe later returned home to help with the business, kept recipes his mother refined, and moved Melendez to the current spot on U.S. 31 — restaurant in front, specialty market beside it.

Everything is made from scratch when it can be — including several house salsas, from kids’ mild to fire-throwing hot. Mexican plates run every day: wet burritos, enchiladas, tamales, flautas, fajitas, and more. Many favorites also come in vegetarian form, shaped by the local Adventist community that shops and eats here. Closed Saturdays for the Sabbath.

Chef Paul brings the Jamaican kitchen midweek. Guests come back for oxtail stew with soft meat on the bone, jerk chicken, curry goat, fried plantains, and rice and peas. Eat here — then walk the aisle for produce, spices, and hard-to-find imports to cook at home.