A few weeks ago, after we had supper at Taqueria Real de la Villa, we went the other way on Franklin Road for the first time. Going south to Delk Road, we saw a pretty blighted strip shopping center on the left, with a Jamaican restaurant quietly doing its business without a lot of buzz. I’d never heard of this place, and couldn’t find any discussion of it anywhere. It’s called Jamaican Jerk and it’s been here since 2002. We came back a few days later, instead of making our usual Tuesday trip out for burgers, to give it a try.
The restaurant is a quiet little family affair, and most of the business is carry-out. While we were there, only one other couple sat down with their food, but there was a constant stream of guests taking things home. As with many of our favorite places, the few tables that are available are ramshackle and mismatched. It’s a no-frills place for good comfort food, served up by polite and friendly people.
I have wondered for years what weird psychological hocus-pocus leaves Marie indifferent, at best, to Indian food. She seems to like curry a good deal when it is used in Thai cooking or, especially, in Jamaican meals. She and the three year-old split an order of curry chicken and enjoyed it tremendously. The sauce was not spicy at all, but very rich with flavors.
I had an order of jerk chicken and didn’t enjoy it quite as much as she did hers. Perfectly decent, representational of what I expect from this sort of food without being really inspiring. I suppose that I might always be, at best, as indifferent to Jamaican cooking as she is to Indian cooking, but I wouldn’t object to coming back one day and trying a few other things.
You can see all the restaurants that we have visited for our blog on this map, with links back to the original blog posts. It’s a terrific resource for anybody planning a road trip through the southeast!
Marie, Let's Eat! 