Jasmine Norton was 7 years old when she tried her first oyster. Those early tastes stand out clearly in her memory: Her father, then an employee at the Maryland Transit Administration, would come home from work with a haul of fresh shellfish. Norton would watch as he shucked the oysters, doused them in hot sauce and lemon juice, and served them to the family. They were delicious.
Years later, Norton launched The Urban Oyster in Baltimore's Hampden neighborhood, making her the first Black woman to open an oyster bar in America. Now the Baltimore native is ready to take on a new challenge: Opening a food stall at Johns Hopkins University's new Bloomberg Student Center.
"I grew up actually not far from Johns Hopkins University, on the outskirts of Charles Village," Norton said. "I just never imagined that this little girl from East Baltimore would ever be able to say, 'Hey, I own a business in partnership with Johns Hopkins.' There's not anybody in the world that doesn't know who and what Johns Hopkins is. I'm excited and I'm honored and I'm grateful that they thought enough about being a part of the community to reach back."
Norton's food stall, The Urban Kitchen, will be one of several options available in the new Bloomberg Student Center beginning early next month. In addition to classic burgers and chicken sandwiches, her team will serve up smoked brisket banh mi, oyster mushroom fritters, broccoli Caesar salad, and other dishes previously unseen on the Homewood campus.
With the big day drawing near, Norton sat down with the Hub to discuss her culinary career, how she's grown her business, and her latest venture.
How did you get started in the restaurant industry?
For a substantial part of my post-undergrad life, I worked for an audio-visual corporation where we worked in partnership with hotels, so I got to rub elbows with a lot of chefs. ... I would become intrigued by the menus that the chefs would put together. Although my job was cool, I always thought what they did was cooler. I already loved to cook at home, so being able to learn from them and talk with them and just be a sponge was what made me gain the courage to cross over.
The Urban Oyster had our first event ever in May of 2017 in Towson at a small bistro. From there, we met one of the people who managed the farmer's market under [Interstate] 83. We finally got a chance to be a part of that, which we are still a part of, and from then it just kept growing.
We started doing pop-ups at R House. A lot [of our customers] were Hopkins students. We would do dollar oyster nights on Wednesday nights, even when we weren't in the pop-up space, and the students loved that, because, obviously, they loved oysters and they were affordable. ... We blossomed from there.
Speaking of The Urban Oyster—you were the first Black woman to open an oyster bar in the United States. What does that accomplishment mean to you?
It's twofold for me, right? Like, I'm excited that that barrier has been broken, but I'd love to see a lot more representation in that space, or just a lot more females and African-American females that can say that they have ownership in the restaurant space.
It's no secret that the food space is definitely male-dominated, so it'd be amazing to have some like-minded individuals to get inspiration from and have as a support system.
Are there any other moments from your career that you're particularly proud of?
Absolutely. The most recent one and the one that certainly caught me off-guard and by extreme and absolute surprise is being nominated for a James Beard Award for Best Chef for the Mid-Atlantic. I will be honest: I was at the hair salon when I heard the news. I had no idea. I didn't know the list was coming out that day. I certainly didn't think I would be on the list. I'm a self-taught chef, so naturally you have that imposter syndrome at times. You feel like you don't hold the degree and you don't hold the official accolades of being classically trained, so being nominated for that kind of was a reassurance that I needed. Not even so much for the world to see or anybody else, but it was the reassurance that I needed that I'm meant to be here in the space.
And now you're opening a food stall at the Bloomberg Student Center. What are you most looking forward to with this project?
Honestly, I'm excited about the community aspect of it. When I walk in that building as we train and we prepare to open, I always think about what it's going to be when life is breathed into that space. ... It makes me think about when I was in college and how the student center was the central location where we met and would connect and things like that. I just can't wait to see how everyone swarms in there. ... I can't wait to see the energy and just the human beings, because I know that they will be well-pleased with how the university put so much thoughtfulness into that space.
And the cool and interesting thing about The Urban Kitchen is that we were actually supposed to open that concept in D.C. in 2022. It was always going to start off as a food hall concept. It was our way of having the freedom to explore other food items and other cool recipes and menu items without being restricted to a certain niche of a food group.
We made the decision to not pursue that opportunity, [but] we had always been hoping to be able to rebirth Urban Kitchen or find a place for it, so we're extremely excited that we found the right partnership.
Your business was part of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, with Johns Hopkins as the host site. What was that experience like?
It was very enlightening and eye-opening. I went through the program Cohort 14. We always shout out our cohorts like we are in some sort of sorority or fraternity. ... The 10,000 Small Businesses program taught me how to work on my business and not in it. While I may only cook now maybe once or twice a week, if that, my duty and my job is to make sure that the business is always running smoothly.
Would you recommend the program to other business owners?
Absolutely. I mean, the networking alone—you know, I'm going to my 20th anniversary for high school and I have someone that can make me a suit. I've also gone through the cohort where that person worked on my taxes for the business and things like that. The networking is endless. I've worked with an attorney to help me with trademarking and starting an estate and all of those sorts of things. We were looking at getting some repairs at the restaurant, and one of the contractors who has a business and has gone through the program, him and I are now really good friends and have worked together. So the networking is invaluable.
Do you have any advice for Hopkins students or others who want to explore Baltimore's restaurant scene?
I always tell people to support local. We depend on everyone, no matter if it's a student or any other type of resident, so I would certainly say support local as best you can.
I think the food tastes different and better when you're getting it from a local business because we care, we're connected to it, and all of us are on this prowl to make Baltimore the best food scene. We take everything that we do extremely seriously because we've always been attempting to make Baltimore a destination location when it comes to food.
Posted in University News, Community
Tagged community, food, q+a, student center
