Montego Bay

Elite '08

52

226

Clint U.

Washington, DC

Jamaica is a paradox.   It relies on the tourists for most of their income.   The resorts are fabulous...many all inclusive which means food and alcohol is included in the fixed price.....the resorts are great....and some are even clothes optional.   The paradox is the most of the residents are the absolute poverty level....many with 0 income.   Eating as a tourist in Jamaica puts you in a 4 to 5 star restaurant...beautiful but sterile.   Unfortunately the real authentic Jamaican home cooking lies buried deep in the dirt streets  of they communities...usually off limits to tourists.  

Small diversion of an interesting Jamaican experience..   I was an one of those all inclusive resorts with my family..and included was a Jamaican fishing trip.   I took it with my daughter and had visions of a big power boat looking for swordfish or javelin....wrestling with the fish for hours and coming home with a trophy.     uhhh.....We boarded this small wooden boat with a 10 hp motor that was on its last legs....and we putttered out of the dock..and around the island we went..   I noticed there was not a fishing pole in the boat.  I was about to tell the guy turn around and I'll get a charter boat to fish.....but as we puttered around the coastline...I noticed villages on the shores and cliffs.....and asked him questions about them.   It turns out that is where most of the Jamaican population lives.   I asked him if there were good places to eat there and he said yes...in peoples homes.   I asked how I can go there and take some pictures and look around...and he said...there are no roads there....you either walk several miles through the jungle or take a boat like we were to get there.

Suddenly he yelled out to a fellow fisherman on the water in Jamaican...and before I knew it ..that fisherman threw a fish over to our boat.   Our "captain" took the fish and cut it up in small pieces.   He put a piece on a hook on a line...no rod...and threw it overboard.  We started talking and soon we got a fish.    He took that fish, cut it in half..hooked it.. and threw it overboard.  We repeated this over the course of the afternoon and soon got a fish about a foot long.    This is how some Jamaicans fish in the villages.  Needless to say...I forgot about fishing....and had the best teacher in the world next to me and my daughter...teaching us about Jamaica, their culture...their way of life.   The boat ride at 5 knots was as beautiful as one can get.   Open wooden boat with no cover...and the entire Jamaican coast before me.  This was a side of Jamaica very very few tourists see.

Fast forward to Monetgo Bay.   Nestled in the northwest regions of Baltimore city, is a building that looks like it could be boarded up the next day to make room for a new freeway.   And like Jamaica, this Jamaican restaurant is in a very poor side of town.   So unless you know this area or grew up in an area like this.....I would strongly recommend to my friends to go here for lunch or a very early dinner.....before it got dark...and preferably....order take out.

But the food is fabulous.   This is both a take out and sit down restaurant.  Ras Doobie de Chef has moved his digs from Orioles Stadium to Pimlico Racetrack.   I had the honor of meeting him in person even though his English is very broken.

I ordered take out....Jerk Chicken dark, Jerk Chicken white, oxtail, and goat shank dinners, 2 beef patties, 1 vegetable patty, extra pepper and jerk sauce, and a bag of plaintain chips.....all for about $55.  I fed 5 people with this food but I could have easily fed 7.

The jerk chicken was spiced perfectly...like I remembered in Jamaica.   Because of the nature of this business, the food was prepared ahead of time..and the chicken was on the dry side....still good though.  

The oxtails were done superbly.....stewed in a Jamaican jerk style sauce....different than the chicken but close in the spices..  The tails were tender but could have been stewed a couple more hours so the cartiledge could fall off the bone.  Oxtails are very popular in Carribbean homes.....Havana Mania, a Cuban restaurant in Redondo Beach, CA, serves oxtails and it is my favorite there.

The goat shank was sawed into small pieces....braised and stewed in a curry sauce.....WOW... that was great.     The bones are sawed so you can suck out the bone marrow.   Bone marrow stewed in curry sauce is an exceptional treat.   Goat meat has a distinctive taste...and the taste was not disguised with this sauce.

The beef and vegetable patties were good but not exceptional.

Overall..worth the trip for getting take out.  Order the stewed style dishes.   They can be reheated and taste just as good as in the restaurant.

Ohhhh ...if you happen to visit Jamaica and are offered a deep sea fishing excursion....tell the tour guide to screw it.    Have him find a local fisherman with an open wooden boat. and small gas motor...and have an experience of a lifetime.

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