Ms. Ena learned to cook in Mendez, Saint Catherine, Jamaica, in the 1950s, developing the jerk sauce that would define her cooking for decades. She immigrated to the United States in 1982 with her husband, Lloyd Hayles, settling their five children in the Linden area of Columbus. Sunday dinners for the family became known around the neighborhood, and what started as a joke about opening a restaurant turned real in December 1999, when Ena's Caribbean Kitchen opened in that same Linden area.
By 2004 the restaurant had outgrown its original space and moved three doors down into a renovated laundromat at the corner of Cleveland and Myrtle Avenues, where it still operates today. Jerk chicken built on Ms. Ena's original sauce is the dish regulars point to first.
Ena's Caribbean Kitchen has become a fixture of the Linden area over more than two decades, and Columbus Monthly named it one of the city's best restaurants in 2025.
By 2004 the restaurant had outgrown its original space and moved three doors down into a renovated laundromat at the corner of Cleveland and Myrtle Avenues, where it still operates today. Jerk chicken built on Ms. Ena's original sauce is the dish regulars point to first.
Ena's Caribbean Kitchen has become a fixture of the Linden area over more than two decades, and Columbus Monthly named it one of the city's best restaurants in 2025.