A chef from Newark went from cooking for fellow inmates to having his own restaurant. Rakim Singleton, owner of OMG Restaurant & Catering, says he never thought he would make it this far in the kitchen, or in life.

"At one point in my life, I didn't think that I would live to see 46 years old,” Singleton said.

Cooking has been a passion of his since he can remember. Even during his 10-year sentence for gang-related charges, he continued to make signature dishes.

"I was making sandwiches and going to each dorm, like, ‘I got sandwiches for five stamps’ and stuff like that,” Singleton said.

It was his dream to create a business where customers could eat every day and have something different.

"We lay out fresh food every day, all the food is fresh, because within in this community, within this West Ward, there's not a lot of people that serve that. We got a lot of fast food,” Singleton said.

After serving his sentence, the pandemic made things harder on those in the food service industry. But that's when Singleton became popular for his famous meat and seafood recipes that change every week.

"Restaurants were closed. I was able to make the food in my house and I was driving all around the city and I got popular real quick,” he shared.

OMG Restaurant has a wide variety of dishes like loaded potatoes, loaded rice bowls, loaded quesadillas, loaded salads, tacos, seafood cheesesteaks, chicken cheesesteaks, chicken and broccoli and shrimp and broccoli.

"The combinations make it so that you can eat here every day for ten years and have something different,” Singleton said.

Singleton says he went from 10 years behind bars to being able to serve customers new delicious meals every day for 10 years. He officially opened the storefront in 2022 and says it's been growing ever since.

"From the first day that sign went up, the line’s been out the door,” Singleton said.