New Awesome Jamaican Jerk restaurant brings island spice to Palm Bay
Like many of the islands of the Caribbean, Jamaica is home to a cuisine that combines a heady mixture of flavors, spices, techniques and influences from the panoply of cultures that have inhabited its shores.
Curry, particularly in the chicken and goat variations, is extremely popular in Jamaica, as is jerk, a style of cooking that utilizes a hot spice mixture as a dry rub or as marinade. It is not surprising thus that Brevard’s newest Jamaican restaurant, Awesome Jamaican Jerk & Thing in Palm Bay, should focus on both of these dishes for its menu.
Although it seats 16 diners, Awesome Jamaican is primarily a take-out eatery with a simple menu of island favorites. Owner Phillip Chamberlain gets an assist from daughter Rashida Charles in the day-to-day operations. It is Chamberlain’s first restaurant, although the Kingston, Jamaica, resident has worked in plenty of professional kitchens.
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“I wanted to bring the flavors of Jamaica to where I live,” said the Palm Bay resident.
To sample Awesome Jamaican’s fare, a good start is the lunch hour from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., when specials go for $5.99. You can check out the curry chicken, which is distinct from Indian curry chicken, since Jamaican cooks prefer their spices to have a significant kick to them and favor the added heat of habanero or Scotch bonnet peppers.
Specials at Awesome Jamaican change daily, although the price remains at $5.99, whether it is curry chicken, curry goat, brown stew chicken, jerk chicken, jerk pork and more. Lunch entrees are served with rice and peas or white rice, fried plantains and steamed veggies.
For dinner, Awesome Jamaican has an awesome idea of controlling portion sizes — and prices — so guests can choose according to their appetite. Curry goat, for example, goes for $5.99 for the small plate, $10.99 for medium and $13.99 for the large plate.
The dinner menu is similar to lunch, with the addition of oxtail stew ($5.99/$14.99/$16.99). All entrées, served with rice and peas or white rice, plantains and vegetables, go for $5.99 in the small dinner size and a majority are $9.99 for the large portion. The oxtail stew is the highest priced entrée on the menu.
You can opt for one meat or maybe go for variety.
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“It’s OK to mix it up with any two meats on any large meal,” said Chamberlain.
There is seafood, too, with fried fish and Jamaican escovitch fish, each $14.95.
In the snack department, Awesome Jamaican serves beef and chicken patties for $1.85 and vegetable patties for $2.10. And, because as Chamberlain notes, “It’s never too hot for some awesome soup,” Awesome Jamaican also offers a soup selection, such as the goat head or cow foot soups, at $4.50 for the small and $6.50 for large.
With all that flavorful food, you are going to get thirsty, but don’t worry, be happy, for Awesome Jamaican also features drinks such as Big Bamboo Irish Moss ($1.39), a classic Jamaican vanilla drink, and D&G Ting ($1.25), a little bottle of island sunshine concocted with real grapefruit juice.
Have you tried
What: Curry chicken meal
How much: Starting at $5.99
Where: Awesome Jamaican Jerk & Thing, 4000 S. Babcock St., across from Palm Bay Magnet High School
Hours: 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Info: 321-802-4262
Email toastofthecoastfloridatoday@gmail.com.