Jeff Edwards
2009-08-06 04:39:07 UTC
After a trip to the Caribbean, I have a thing for the food. Thus, when
I saw this place on the Guy Fieri show on Food Network, I had to try it
(yes, Guy is insufferable, and had he not teased a restaurant in
Arlington I would not have watched).
Anyhow, it is in what my wife claims is an abandoned Kenny Rogers'
Roasters. Thus, not big, but also not crowded on the Wed night we went.
They have a stage for reggae on the weekend and a full bar they
installed. The big plasma shows Jamaica travel vids and the very Food
Network show I saw.
For a chile-head like me, it's refreshing to visit a place where they
say "spicy" and it reaches beyond the Pace picante sauce standard most
people call spicy. When they include peppers next to the name of a
dish, they mean it.
For an appetizer, we had the jerk shrimp. The jerk sauce/marinade is
wonderful and very authentic. Lots of spice and powerful flavor.
As entrees, my wife and daughter both had the Red Stripe chicken. It
was really too spicy for either of them to eat too much (wimps), so I
had plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day. I shared the less spicy
items on my plate with both of them, though.
I had the combo plate. I chose curry goat, braised oxtails and jerk
pork. The curry goat had a great, rich curry flavor and very tender
meat - this was the favorite of all three of us at the table. The
oxtails were braised slowly so the fatty meat slid off the bone - very
rich and very tasty. The jerk pork was perhaps the spiciest item of the
night, but also very tender and very good.
As sides, my less adventurous family had french fries. As for me, I
chose rice and peas (actually red or kidney beans, but referred to as
peas), a staple of the Caribbean table and wonderfully tasty. I also
went with hard-dough bread, another staple. It is basically very dense
white bread.
For dessert, we chose the very popular rum cake - they were out of the
regular/yellow cake, so we had chocolate. It was warm, rich and very
good. It was on par with anything I had in the islands, in fact.
Most appetizers were in the $5-$10 range, entrees $10-$15 (my combo a
little more, I think).
Overall, I really enjoyed my meal. My wife was put off by too much
spice, which I sort of consider a good thing (again, I'm a chile-head
and love it as hot as possible). My daughter is actually my little
chile-head in training and enjoyed the spice and flavor as well, at
least on the shrimp. I will certainly go back - with perhaps a more
adventurous set of diners. They have a website with a full menu listed
- search for the name, then seek out the restaurant. They are small and
owned by a Jamaican family trying to serve something distinctive, and
deserve the business of those curious about the cuisine.
-Jeff
I saw this place on the Guy Fieri show on Food Network, I had to try it
(yes, Guy is insufferable, and had he not teased a restaurant in
Arlington I would not have watched).
Anyhow, it is in what my wife claims is an abandoned Kenny Rogers'
Roasters. Thus, not big, but also not crowded on the Wed night we went.
They have a stage for reggae on the weekend and a full bar they
installed. The big plasma shows Jamaica travel vids and the very Food
Network show I saw.
For a chile-head like me, it's refreshing to visit a place where they
say "spicy" and it reaches beyond the Pace picante sauce standard most
people call spicy. When they include peppers next to the name of a
dish, they mean it.
For an appetizer, we had the jerk shrimp. The jerk sauce/marinade is
wonderful and very authentic. Lots of spice and powerful flavor.
As entrees, my wife and daughter both had the Red Stripe chicken. It
was really too spicy for either of them to eat too much (wimps), so I
had plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day. I shared the less spicy
items on my plate with both of them, though.
I had the combo plate. I chose curry goat, braised oxtails and jerk
pork. The curry goat had a great, rich curry flavor and very tender
meat - this was the favorite of all three of us at the table. The
oxtails were braised slowly so the fatty meat slid off the bone - very
rich and very tasty. The jerk pork was perhaps the spiciest item of the
night, but also very tender and very good.
As sides, my less adventurous family had french fries. As for me, I
chose rice and peas (actually red or kidney beans, but referred to as
peas), a staple of the Caribbean table and wonderfully tasty. I also
went with hard-dough bread, another staple. It is basically very dense
white bread.
For dessert, we chose the very popular rum cake - they were out of the
regular/yellow cake, so we had chocolate. It was warm, rich and very
good. It was on par with anything I had in the islands, in fact.
Most appetizers were in the $5-$10 range, entrees $10-$15 (my combo a
little more, I think).
Overall, I really enjoyed my meal. My wife was put off by too much
spice, which I sort of consider a good thing (again, I'm a chile-head
and love it as hot as possible). My daughter is actually my little
chile-head in training and enjoyed the spice and flavor as well, at
least on the shrimp. I will certainly go back - with perhaps a more
adventurous set of diners. They have a website with a full menu listed
- search for the name, then seek out the restaurant. They are small and
owned by a Jamaican family trying to serve something distinctive, and
deserve the business of those curious about the cuisine.
-Jeff