Tropical Time Jerk Chicken - Maywood

Tonight I had the opportunity to try out a new Jerk place, just souh of Madison on first Avenue in Maywood - Tropical Time. Not sure what occupied the old space, but it shares half the space with an americash.

Anyway, the jerk was really quite good, better than anyplace I've had in Rogers Park/Evanston, though maybe not quite up there with the best of the south side. Moist and well cooked with a really nice flavor, and a terrific and terrifically hot jerk sauce on the side. Oxtail dinner was OK, but I've had better. The menu indicates that they do jerk kingfish, catfish and shrimp as well for dinners (entree and 3 sides). With the oxtail, I had yams, cabbage, and rice and beans which were all decent, though not terribly exciting.

I could think of much worse to eat in the neighborhood

Tropical Time Jerk Chicken
1117 S. 1st Ave
Maywood
708-338-2003
Mon-Thur 11am-9pm
Fri - Sat 11am -10 pm
closed Sunday

Zim,

I was chauffeuring three women on a shoe-shopping excursion (can you imagine a more frightening scenario?), and I seemingly casually maneuvered the vehicle along First Ave, spotted Tropical Taste, and wheeled in. I made it seem spontaneous; I figured I might get some flak if I pre-announced my shopping-stopping intentions. The place is a hunk of beautiful funk, a unique combination of jerk chicken shack and paycheck cashing store, which share the same walls and are divided right down the center. Once the girls saw the menu and chatted with the genial gentleman behind the counter, thoughts of shoes went away and they were ready to eat Carribean.

We had half a jerk chicken and the curry goat dinner (came with plantains, red beans and rice, and Jamaican stir fry corn).

The jerk chicken was fine, with the wings a standout. I think the high grilled skin-to-meat-ratio on the wings enables one to consume more delicious jerk flavor with each bite - anyhow, we liked it, and you're right, that sauce is serious (good thing it's on the side).

The curry goat turned out to be the group favorite. Even my youngest daughter hoovered down big forkfuls of green goat stew with equal parts of beans and rice, an exceptionally complementary set of flavors, with the blander beans and rice balancing the rich, rich goaty globs, tasty with just a touch of the gaminess we like. Jamaican bread came with the goat, and it's a very dense white bread, much more satisfactory than the usual white mush bread served with American BBQ.

We tried several beverages, and the favorite seemed to be Ting, which is a grapefruit flavored soft drink that cut cleanses the palate with a fresh fruit sweetness.

Most interesting new word on menu: 'Escoveitched' (as in 'Escoveitched Red Snapper Fish' - I'm guessing the verb form of 'escobeche')

Must try next visit: Jerk shrimp.

Hammond

Is it actually "Tropical Taste" (the former name of Rudy's Taste) or is it "Tropical Time" as the address listing in Zim's post indicates? We should fix the header if the latter.

MikeG,

Good catch. I'm still dazed from goat curry. It's Tropical Time -- I fixed the header.

Hammond

Dave,

thanks for the info on the curry goat, it's on the hit list for next time.

I didn't notice the Escoveitch when I was in or I might have tried to order it - I like Escoveitch a lot, it seems to have the same root word and food cooking techniques as ceviches, but with larger chunks of fish, onion, and more carribean spicing.

BTW, I'm all over Ting, in some ways I look forward to Ting almost as much as jerk

zim wrote:Dave,

thanks for the info on the curry goat, it's on the hit list for next time.

BTW, was at Barbara Ann's the other day, after a long time. While driving
back saw a new Carribean spot near there, which adverstised "Trinidadian
Cuisine" - sort of more specific than the typical generic Carribean. STopped
in and picked up a menu (since I was already loaded down with BA's bbq)
only. And now unfortunately I cant seem to find the menu, so cant write
about it on here as I wanted to

Anyway. Anyone tried it yet? They said theyd been open 2/3 months maybe.
Its on 75th Street - coming from BA's (ie Cottage Grove), I went down 75th
towards the highway, and it was on my left (ie south side of the street)
maybe 3/4 blocks from Cottage Grove? A specifically Trini spot, and the
menu seemed interesting too - they had the usual curry-goat, Jerk etc, and
also rotis and the like (touches of Indian food, more so than the
Jamaicans do). Was a sit-down spot, with a fair few tables.

Just thought Id mention it in this thread, and see if anyone knows it or
has tried it yet - wish I hadnt lost the menu and so could be more specific
in the inquiry

c8w

Attention VI, now you can try a Trini Roti shop without having to go back to Miami. Let it snow.

Trini stuff is way, way more Indian influenced than is Jamaican in my limited experience, BTW.

JeffB wrote:Attention VI, now you can try a Trini Roti shop without having to go back to Miami. Let it snow.

Trini stuff is way, way more Indian influenced than is Jamaican in my limited experience, BTW.

Not sure its just a "roti shop" or anything, but still

And Trini stuff *is* way more Indian-influenced - by a long way. Lots of Indians
in Trinidad, heritage-wise - a large percentage of the population, theyve been
there for a few generations. Trinidad and Guyana both have lots of Indians,
and lots of Indian-influences in food and culture (bhangra-rap came out
of there a while ago, before it became big elsewhere). As did, at the
other exteme, VS Naipaul

Even if you look at a sport like cricket, for example, played in both the
Carribean and India... teams from Trinidad and Guyana have lots of
"Indian Heritage" people in it (as distinct from Jamaica, Barbados, and the
smaller islands, which dont). And they even play the game differently
in terms of style

Jamaican food is really not *that* affected by Indian - some little mixing, maybe,
due to Trinidadians who live there etc. But Trinidadian food itself is a complete
mixture of cultures in a lot of ways, as is Guyanese (the captain of the
Guyanese cricket team, for example, when interveiwed as a youngster
once claimed that his favourite food in the world was biryani

c8w

JeffB wrote:Attention VI, now you can try a Trini Roti shop without having to go back to Miami. Let it snow.

Trini stuff is way, way more Indian influenced than is Jamaican in my limited experience, BTW.

OK, Iam *good*. What once was lost, now is found - the menu for "Cafe
Trinidad" that is

Its at 557 E 75th Street, Tel 773-846-8081

They have "Roti, the Wrap of the Caribbean" - with choices of beef, chicken,
jerkchicken, choice of veggie (potato and channa - that tells you how Indian
influenced it is, they actually call it "channa"), and goat. Range of price
5.95 to 6.75, 8.50 for a dinner.

Plus Pelau, Curry Chicken and Goat, Stew Chicken and Beef, Red Snapper,
Trini Perch, Curry Salmon etc. Ranging to 6.75 for lunch, 9.25 for
dinner (the fish is more, 12 and up for snapper etc).

They have Stir Fry too - curried veggies, Chicken or Shrimp.

Side dishes - "roti skins" (how they put skin on a roti, I have no idea
Red beans and rice. Dhal. Boiled dumplings. Sweet Potaoes, Collard
Greens etc, the usual. Plus Palori, Macaroni Pie, Callaloo ("a creamy
combination of spinach and okra"). Range 2.50 to 3.50.

Specials include Curry Crab and Dumplings, Curry Shrimp, Stew Duck
(only Sat/Sun), Fish of the Day. Range 7.50 to 13.50.

So there it is. Very much a Trinidadian place - wouldnt be mistaken for
a Jamaican place at all, IMHO, just going by the menu. A mixture of
Indian-style food and indigenous Caribbean - just like in Trinidad
(where else would you ever see "Red Beans and Rice, Dhal and
Collard Greens" all side by side on a menu? Next trip to BA's,
I'll grab a little of this on the side too, for sure.

c8w

c8w wrote:

JeffB wrote:Attention VI, now you can try a Trini Roti shop without having to go back to Miami. Let it snow.

Trini stuff is way, way more Indian influenced than is Jamaican in my limited experience, BTW.

OK, Iam *good*. What once was lost, now is found - the menu for "Cafe
Trinidad" that is
c8w

Good, did I say? Iam an idiot. Always pays to look hard all over a menu
first, before posting.

Cafe Trinidad, it is. "Authentic Trinidad Caribbean Food with a Touch of Soul".
11:30 to 9:00 Tue-Thu (10 Fri/Sat), 12:30-7:00 Sun, Closed Mon.

Oh, and one other thing. www.cafetrinidad.com. Especially so that idiots
writing about it on the internet wont have to type up the entire menu, and
can just check a website instead. Bah.

c8w

a couple more small notes on trindadian indians - one of the more famous members of the indian diaspora is from trinidad - V.S. Naipaul. Also the movie of a couple years ago - The Mystic Masseur (which is actually better than the title would indicate) is set in the indian community in trinidad

I also thought that VI mentioned that 3D's jerk chicken on the west side also had roti?

zim wrote:I also thought that VI mentioned that 3D's jerk chicken on the west side also had roti?

Well, it is on their menu, but I do not know if they have it...

As to Indian influences on Jamiacan food. Are we not selling it a bit short above? Curry goat and curry chicken are two pretty much standards of Jamiacan cooking, and I am not that sure if the Jamiacan versions differ that much from the Trini versions.

When we were in Florida, we went into a few West Indian grocery stores. Talking about multi-culti. Like a lot of such stores, they were mostly run by people of Indian descent. They, however, typically sold the big mirrored pictures of the Haj and oil paintings of Hinu dieties, and Mother Africa posters. Lotsa curry powders.

Anyways both the roti shop and the Maywood jerk place are on my short list.

Rob

I'd say that Jamaican is about as influenced by the Subcontinent as is the cuisine of most places in the old empire. Speaking of which, I've noticed that Ginger's, the very Irish bar on Ashland, has been advertising curry fish lately. Ginger's new chef, circa September 2004, is one of the best bar cooks in Chicago for my money. The Irish Breakfast and Fish & Chips are especially good. (With my luck he's moved on since the last time I was there.)

zim wrote:Dave,

thanks for the info on the curry goat, it's on the hit list for next time.

I didn't notice the Escoveitch when I was in or I might have tried to order it - I like Escoveitch a lot, it seems to have the same root word and food cooking techniques as ceviches, but with larger chunks of fish, onion, and more carribean spicing.

BTW, I'm all over Ting, in some ways I look forward to Ting almost as much as jerk

I meant to get back on this. Escobeche or its various spellings, is kinda ceviche, but not really. Escobeching, so to speak, is a brine with onions and such. Typically, in Jamaican and similar cooking, fish is fried, and then soaked in the escabeche stuff and eaten cold, but other food cultures use the word escobeche as the equivilant as pickle. For instance at Los Comales, those jalepenos, carrots and califlower are escabeche. Ceviche is raw fish cooked in citrus (which is kinda like a brine).

Rob

Strictly speaking, escabeche is the marinade or other liquid in which something is pickled. So the pickled carrots are zanahorias en escabeche. Now, much like our word "pickle" which has a second meaning as a particular kind of pickled cucumber, certain folks in Latin America mean either the ceviche-like picked fish or the carrots/onion/jalapenos mix when they use the term.

The Jamaican term, escovitch, is closely related. I've seen it transliterated in Italian, too (scavece).

JeffB wrote:The Jamaican term, escovitch, is closely related. I've seen it transliterated in Italian, too (scavece).

Jeff:

In Italian that's usually alla scapece. There is a clear link between the Italian term and its cognates from elsewhere around the Mediterranean (and thence around the Spanish Empire and beyond) insofar as alla scapece definitely and necessarily involves dressing with vinegar, but in Italian the term isn't used for full-blown pickling, at least in my experience.

In Neapolitan and Campanian usage, alla scapece typically means taking something that was just fried in olive oil and dressing it with vinegar and, more often than not, other flavouring agents such as garlic and/or a fresh herb, such as mint or oregano. The items so treated are especially fish, e.g., eel, fresh anchovies, etc., and vegetables, especially zucchini and eggplant. My favourite alla scapece recipe and one which I make often as part of an antipasto spread is with eggplant, dressed with garlic, vinegar and mint.

Antonius

Antonius wrote:

JeffB wrote:The Jamaican term, escovitch, is closely related. I've seen it transliterated in Italian, too (scavece).

Jeff:

In Italian that's usually alla scapece. There is a clear link between the Italian term and its cognates from elsewhere around the Mediterranean (and thence around the Spanish Empire and beyond) insofar as alla scapece definitely and necessarily involves dressing with vinegar, but in Italian the term isn't used for full-blown pickling, at least in my experience.

In Neapolitan and Campanian usage, alla scapece typically means taking something that was just fried in olive oil and dressing it with vinegar and, more often than not, other flavouring agents such as garlic and/or a fresh herb, such as mint or oregano. The items so treated are especially fish, e.g., eel, fresh anchovies, etc., and vegetables, especially zucchini and eggplant. My favourite alla scapece recipe and one which I make often as part of an antipasto spread is with eggplant, dressed with garlic, vinegar and mint.

Antonius

I think that basic process is what is also being used in places like Jamaica. For whatever reason (I am sure to preserve the catch, no?) it is a process most associated with fish in the New World.

In France, of course, if you skip the breading/frying, it is how you "Greque" things

Rob

Also in Italian, perhaps Antonius can identify as it seems like a dialect, is pesce in saor. There used to be (25+ years ago) a restaurant on Taylor St. that had an antipasti buffet with a nice pesce in saor, with raisins in it.

annieb wrote:Also in Italian, perhaps Antonius can identify as it seems like a dialect, is pesce in saor. There used to be (25+ years ago) a restaurant on Taylor St. that had an antipasti buffet with a nice pesce in saor, with raisins in it.

That's a Venetian dish and name. Usually with sardines or sole:

"Ma le creazioni veneziane non riguardano solo il pesce ricco e pregiato ma anche quello che toccava alla povera gente, non sempre freschissimo e di prima qualità. Il popolo lagunare ha inventato il 'saor', che - una salsa, una marinata a base di cipolle fritte, aceto, spezie, con pinoli e uvetta per ammorbidire il "forte", con la quale si mettono a insaporire (da "saor", appunto), le sarde o le sogliole."

The form saor is the dialect reflex of sapore 'flavour' with lenition of the medial -p- via -b- and -v- to zero, in case anyone was wondering.



Antonius

P.S. AnnieB: Which restaurant was that?

Antonius,

Is spezie spices? Otherwise I can muddle through the Italian reference:-)

I do not remember the name of the restaurant, the name started with M, and it was on the south side of Taylor St., and quite honestly I can't remember if it was the "east" or "west" part of the neighborhood. A simple storefront.

I recall they also had a nice stuffed zucchini with a minced meat and pea stuffing, which reminded me (very favorably) of some of the things I at while living with a Brasilian family a few years earlier. Father was 1st generation Italian, so we ate risottos and macarao (sorry for the lack of nning on the a) and mother was 2nd generation portuguese.

Maternal grandmother ruled the kitchen, and peas used to appear in ways that at that time were new and exciting to me, like in something very like huevos a la flamenca, and in the stuffing for the zucchini.

Peas with tomatoes, that was something very different from the peas from my grandmother's Michigan garden.

Perhaps VI might help with the name of the restaurant, I understand he collects old menus and restaurant guides. I definitely found it in a restaurant guide. And it was sardines in that saor.

Thanks.
Ann

annieb wrote:I do not remember the name of the restaurant, the name started with M, and it was on the south side of Taylor St., and quite honestly I can't remember if it was the "east" or "west" part of the neighborhood.

Sounds like Mategrano's at 1321 W Taylor, now home to yet another Bar Louie. How depressing is that?

Mategrano's it was. I only ate there once (I was on an even more restricted budget in those days:-) but it was good honest food of the sort I grew up around in a town populated by recent immigrants, first, and second generation Italians.

Antonius wrote:Ma le creazioni veneziane non riguardano solo il pesce ricco e pregiato ma anche quello che toccava alla povera gente, non sempre freschissimo e di prima qualite. Il popolo lagunare ha inventato il 'saor', che - una salsa, una marinata a base di cipolle fritte, aceto, spezie, con pinoli e uvetta per ammorbidire il "forte", con la quale si mettono a insaporire (da "saor", appunto), le sarde o le sogliole."

Google translates from Italian to English wrote:But the veneziane [C2: Venetians] creations not always do not regard alone the rich and valuable fish but also what it touched poor people, freschissimo [C2: freshness?] and first quality. The lagoon people have invented "saor", that it is a sauce, marinata made up of fried onions, vinegar, spezie, with pinoli [C2: pine nuts] and uvetta in order to soften the "fort", with which put themselves to insaporire (from "saor", exactly), the Sardinians or the sogliole."

Google translates from Italian to English wrote:But the veneziane [C2: Venetians] creations not always do not regard alone the rich and valuable fish but also what it touched poor people, freschissimo [C2: freshness?] and first quality. The lagoon people have invented "saor", that it is a sauce, marinata made up of fried onions, vinegar, spezie, with pinoli [C2: pine nuts] and uvetta in order to soften the "fort", with which put themselves to insaporire (from "saor", exactly), the Sardinians or the sogliole."*

Madonna mia, che fanno mo questi Veneziani alla povera gente della Sardegna? Li mangiano come tanti pesciolini!



* The limits of machine translation illustrated. It's sardines and sole that they so treat, not Sardinians.

Antonius wrote:Madonna mia, che fanno mo questi Veneziani alla povera gente della Sardegna? Li mangiano come tanti pesciolini!

Google translates again wrote: Madonna mine, that they make mo this Veneziani poor people of the Sardinia? They eat them like many pesciolini!

Now if I could only find a latin-to-english or gaelic-to-english machine translations...

Don Anto', do you buy the cookbook lore that a' scapece comes from the Latin esca apicii? Marcus Gravius Apicius did after all recommend dormice smothered in the ketchup of the first century, garum.

Apicius' recipe for lobster:
[399] Locustum Elixam cum Cuminato
Real boiled lobster is cooked with Cumin Sauce [essence] and, by right, throw in some [whole] (sentence missing in surviving manuscripts) pepper, lovage, parsley, dry mint, a little more cumin, honey, vinegar, broth, and if you like, add some [bay] leaves and malobathron (probably cinnamon).

Cathy2 wrote:

Antonius wrote:Madonna mia, che fanno mo questi Veneziani alla povera gente della Sardegna? Li mangiano come tanti pesciolini!

Google translates again wrote: Madonna mine, that they make mo this Veneziani poor people of the Sardinia? They eat them like many pesciolini!

Now if I could only find a latin-to-english or gaelic-to-english machine translations...

I think Google better work on the translation program it has now before taking on other languages. Let's see: no sense that a single word in one language can correspond to more than one meaning in another language; no sense that word order can vary in other languages; when it hits a "hard word" it just leaves it in the original language. Not too useful.

I know Antonius will translate the passage he originally posted later on and surely has plenty to say about Apicius, but here's what Antonius's reaction to the first Google translation says:

"What are these Venetians doing to the poor people of Sardinia? They eat them like so many little fish!"

Back in my failed cognitive psychology period (somewhere vaguely between my Dusty Springfield and Sonic Youth periods), I learned never even to attempt anaphora or deixis on a computer. It will only end in tears, as my grandmother used to say.

I have now tried on 3 occasions to go to Tropical Time over the last 3 weeks, admittedly all on Mondays, and found it closed each time. There is a little sign on the side door that says something like "Closed for little mechanical problem - today only!" which has been there for some time. The last time Maywood's finest were parked in the lot having a confab, which seems like another bad sign.

Anyone have any news?

dicksond wrote:I have now tried on 3 occasions to go to Tropical Time over the last 3 weeks, admittedly all on Mondays, and found it closed each time. There is a little sign on the side door that says something like "Closed for little mechanical problem - today only!" which has been there for some time. The last time Maywood's finest were parked in the lot having a confab, which seems like another bad sign.

Anyone have any news?

dicksond,

I drove by today, and it was open (lights on, and a red neon Open sign in the window). A few weeks ago, I drove by on a Monday and it was closed. My guess is that they have a recurring little mechanical problem every Monday.

Hammond