Caribbean restaurant, 2 Sisters 2 Sons, closing Sharpsburg doors

A popular Caribbean restaurant that drew people to Sharpsburg for its oxtail and jerk chicken has announced its doors will close this month.

2 Sisters 2 Sons, which recently celebrated its second anniversary in the borough, will close Aug. 31

“The area wasn’t working out for us as we hoped,” said Michael Brown, one half of the “2 Sons” whose caricatures adorn the Neon green façade at 1882 Main St.

Brown opened the Main Street eatery with cousin Kwasi Prince and their mothers, Marline Siddo of Pittsburgh’s North Side and Denise Josephs of Monroeville.

“We’re not 100% sure why things didn’t work, but we’ll still be cooking and catering while we look for somewhere new.”

Sharpsburg Councilwoman Kayla Portis said her family will miss having the restaurant in town.

“It was convenient and delicious,” she said. “The brown stew chicken was our favorite dish.”

Fellow patron Carrie Tongarm also is disappointed the restaurant is closing.

“I have eaten there several times and absolutely loved their food,” she said. “It is hard to lose such a great restaurant in Sharpsburg, especially a Black-owned business.

“I will support them wherever they land, and I sincerely hope that they have a chance to open up in Sharpsburg again.”

2 Sisters 2 Sons opened in July 2020 in the peak of the pandemic but enjoyed regional support from foodie fans familiar with the menu from Pittsburgh festivals like Jerk Fess, a Highland Park event that features Caribbean food and culture.

Siddo and Josephs also previously operated the Jamaican restaurant 3 Sisters in Wilkinsburg. That restaurant closed in 2015.

Josephs’ daughter, Angel Brown, blamed the current location’s problem on continuous Route 28 roadwork. There haven’t been many weeks where local roads and ramps to the expressway haven’t been restricted or closed, she said.

“It was cramping our style a bit, all the traffic,” she said.

A student at Penn State University, Angel Brown has been helping to search for a new location while she is home from school this summer.

“The idea is to look for somewhere that fits us better and somewhere with more room,” she said.

Catering orders will remain open.

With a menu that offers authentic island cuisine such as Escovitch red snapper and curry goat, Brown said each dish is spiced with ingredients brought home from Jamaica. The Escovitch — vinegar and Scotch bonnet peppers — is homemade.

The cousins cook over a hot grill with pimento wood in the rear of the restaurant. They also offer tofu dishes with a variety of veggies.

Just days after the Sharpsburg restaurant closes, Brown said the family will be cooking for crowds at the Pittsburgh Reggae Festival in Verona. That event runs from noon to 10 p.m. Sept. 3.

Brown revealed that several locations have been scouted for the new restaurant, most recently a place in the South Side.

“We’ll definitely announce it online when we find the right space,” she said.