At Family Affair restaurant there are three things that are in full supply.

Fun people.

“Yeah I’m playing uno right now.  I’m whipping some people.”

Good flavors.

“Oh man good is an understatement. It is phenomenal.”

And chicken and waffles.  Lots and lots of chicken and waffles.

“It’s amazing.”

Located in Dorchester Family Affair is a homecoming for owner Jermaine Tullock. He grew up here and went to high school here, but this modern day renaissance man took a long and winding road to opening a restaurant here.

“My background’s kind of all over the place left high school, studied opera performance, then became a licensed barber, traveled as a performer around the world, then became a school teacher.  After teaching i decided last year to open up a restaurant.”

“Jermaine’s just a really really cool dude.  Really good chef really good singer.  Really good friend.”

“He enjoys making this food and you taste the enjoyment.  You taste the passion.  You taste why he does what he does it’s amazing.”

When you’re at Family Affair you will most certainly feel like family.

“When you walk in the door you automatically know you’re in a family environment.  Someone waves at you someone helps you get a seat and someone helps you get a menu.  We’re from the island of Montserrat so we have different things that we grew up eating we have Caribbean style oxtail mom’s meatloaf macaroni and cheese. We also have fried chicken and our American side of course.  We offer 52 flavors of chicken and waffles.”

Yes you heard right 52 flavors with a special waffle rolling out every week.

“We have our thanksgiving waffle, our pulled pork cornbread waffle our, tres leches churro waffle, our red velvet,  our pork chop, our Oreo waffle, our banana pudding waffle, bacon chocolate chip waffle, our dolce de leche chicharron waffle, our guacamole waffle.  And that’s just to name a few.”

One of Jermaine’s favorites is the Thanksgiving waffle.

“The Thanksgiving waffle is an ode to grandma’s warm hugs.  It is a cornbread stuffing waffle topped with spiced baked chicken with gravy on top, topped with cranberry sauce.”

For a true taste of the south in your mouth, get the pulled pork waffle.

“The pulled pork cornbread waffle is a cornbread based waffle topped with macaroni and cheese, pulled pork and dusted with barbecue sauce. That’s our ode to Texas

For something sweet try the red velvet waffle.

“If you love red velvet cake, our red velvet waffle is the perfect option for you.”

And if you want that great combination of sweet and savory, the bacon chocolate chip waffle is for you.

“The bacon chocolate chip is one of my favorite waffles because it has bacon and chocolate in it enough said.”

Before you get to all of that waffly goodness, an appetizer is in order and at Family Affair they offer tasty treats like chicken parm wings that are deep fried and topped with tomato basil sauce and a blend of cheeses.  Or check out their over-the-top version of crab rangoon.

“We had to put crab rangoon on the menu.  As you can see we’re greedy in our family so we don’t want the little triangles.  We give you a long roll filled with that great crab ragoon filling and crispy shell.  Delicious.”

And for a deliciously different way to kick off your meal order the stuffed plantain.

“Our stuffed plantain is a fried sweet plantain it is stuffed with our macaroni and cheese sauce ground beef and a mix between our provolone and mozzarella cheese and it’s topped with our crispy fried plantain chip and cilantro, red onion.  When you get that ultimate bite it’s literally like a plantain cheeseburger.  Delicious the best of both worlds.”

As for entrees Family Affair serves tasty ribs with sides like potato salad or this creamy mac and cheese of

course there’s plenty of fried chicken available

“Always ultra crispy on the outside and tender in the middle.”

But if you want some real home cooking nothing quite stacks up to the meatloaf that’s made with lots of love by

Jermaine’s mom, Helda.

“My mama’s meatloaf is better than your mom’s meatloaf.   It’s moist, delicious, tasty, scrumptious.  Mama’s meatloaf is a mix of red onion, different spices, breadcrumbs all put together and instead of the traditional beef gravy, we get a nice sweet and sour tangy sauce with it.  It’s amazing.”

And if you can fit it Jermaine recommends you try his Reese’s brownie chocolate cake.

“It is a must try you have to be strategic here and save room with the dessert in mind.”

And for this opera singer turned teacher turned restaurant tour there’s no job quite like this one.

“Coming in every day and seeing different people.  Come in grab a game and sit down maybe talk across the restaurant to someone they just met.  All of this just makes me overjoyed in my heart bringing the community together one plate and one male at a time.”