At SpiceKings in the heart of downtown Lancaster, expect to get cravings for foods you didn’t know you wanted.
Po’boys with fried lobster, salmon bites, fish, shrimp, or chicken, topped with remoulade. Crab or lobster boil. Pasta with housemade alfredo. Wings. Fries loaded with lump crab, shrimp, and a creamy garlic sauce. More housemade sauces that bring the flavor.
And that’s just the current menu. New additions include lamb chops, fried salmon bites, and Pittsburgh salad. Sunday brunch will feature red velvet waffles, Fruity Pebbles French toast, and shrimp and grits.
Behind the SpiceKings food is a story of careful planning seasoned with a healthy dash of serendipity. SpiceKings started with a dream, endured the pandemic and a flood, and cultivated a base of loyal fans eager for fresh tastes hot from the kitchen.
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Karlo Gesner
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Karlo Gesner
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Karlo Gesner
Founder Jermaine Smith was a DJ who envisioned creating a turnkey organization serving weddings with catering, lighting, and music. As he started offering food and posting pictures online, the buzz grew, and it planted the idea of a restaurant. He called his nephew, Le Cordon Bleu Pittsburgh-trained Damonte Williams, who returned to Pennsylvania from Las Vegas to partner in the venture.
“When I was younger, I had to make meals for myself until my mom got off work,” Smith recalls. “You had to be creative. That’s where the passion came from.”
In January 2020, SpiceKings was launched, to immediate acclaim, even though Smith was still cooking in his home kitchen. Ignoring warnings about the hardships of opening a restaurant, he spotted a Lancaster hoagie shop that had gone dark during the pandemic. There were no for-sale signs, but he put a letter with $10 in a foyer mailbox, asking the apartment tenant for help getting in touch with the building owner.
The next night, the owner called.
“We came to see it and said, ‘We want it,’” Smith says, noting that his business plan helped seal the deal. “A lot of other places wouldn’t have went for it. He took a chance with us.”
That was in September 2020. In one month, extensive renovations were completed. Smith and Williams were about to drive to Cleveland to collect a cousin’s commercial kitchen equipment when someone dropped off a business card, offering equipment at a great deal.
As the pieces fell into place, Smith thought, “This is supposed to happen.”
In the months after opening day, customers lined up around the corner. The diverse menu could be called comfort trendy, built around the question, “What are all the things you want to eat that you can’t get from Lancaster, PA?”
The partners recalled their favorite food-truck hibachis from Las Vegas. Williams specializes in sauces, including a dreamy alfredo that tops the pasta. Mr. Fries Man in Los Angeles inspired the loaded fries. Crab boils come in different sizes, including the Queen Bag of a half-pound of crab legs, half-pound of shrimp, plus corn, potatoes, and choice of sauce.
“And it’s $25,” says Smith. “Everybody loves that price.”
The seafood comes from Baltimore. The cheesesteak egg rolls, hand-rolled daily by Jermaine’s mom and served hot and crispy, are delectable with top-quality shaved ribeye.
Anthony Torres, the design artist of Tezign Graphics, created the SpiceKings logo of a chess-set pawn that also evokes a pepper shaker, topped with a Basquiat crown.
That logo anchors the wall, hand-painted in black and white by Lancaster artist Keisha Finnie. The opposite wall features murals by Caesar Westbrook of sports icons Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, and Colin Kaepernick, plus recording artists Jay-Z and Nipsey Hussle.
Karlo Gesner
Flooding from a burst water heater upstairs closed the restaurant for six months in 2021, but SpiceKings bounced back. Loyal customers come from Philadelphia and Harrisburg, inspired by views of the food on TikTok. Smith hopes to hold a community cookout and fun festival for kids, “just to show thanks for the people who support us.”
SpiceKings is a family affair. Smith’s mother, Shelia Smith, is in the kitchen. Her persistence in pursuit of giving her son a better life inspires him, and he works hard to create something for his own children, a son, 9, and daughter, 2. His son has already learned how to make wings, “and he rung out a customer,” Smith says. “My niece runs the register. She showed him how, and he caught on really quick.”
Smith believes that the trust he and Williams have built in the community is returned to them in the success of their establishment. He dreams of expanding, with a SpiceKings Lounge in another city, where the SpiceKings concept is applied to more elevated cuisine.
“Anything is obtainable, as long as you’re consistent,” Smith says. “I’ve been adamant that if you speak it enough, it’ll happen. All I was talking about was SpiceKings. That’s why everything came together. I had a vision, and that positive energy made everything happen. Why did I put money in that mailbox? And I got a phone call the next day. If you think it, it’ll happen, but you’ve got to make it happen.”
SpiceKings
47 N Prince St, Lancaster
