Jamaica Jerk's Ice Cream

Had nice lunch at this spot on Howard street (curried goat and oxtails). At the end, my wife and I split an order of grape nuts ice cream (recommended in Time Out). Not only was the flavor good (a bit like the flavor of an oatmeal shake), the ice cream itself was lucious. A compliment drew the comment that their ice creams are homemade. They offer grape nuts, mango and rum raisen plus a mango sorbet. It's quite something for a small ethnic restaurant to make its own ice cream, and do it so well. This place, as a whole, is very clean and pleasant and a bit of an oasis on a run down strip, particularly so now during the el stop construction.

Jamaica Jerk
1631 Howard Street

Thanks for the great tip - it's on my way home from work! I'll be sure to check it out.

Seth

Jonah wrote:A compliment drew the comment that their ice creams are homemade. They offer grape nuts, mango and rum raisen plus a mango sorbet. It's quite something for a small ethnic restaurant to make its own ice cream, and do it so well.

I can vouch for the rum raisin. Very potent stuff.

I'm not posting about ice cream (though it sounds like I should have tried it), but this seems as good a thread as any to report on a meal there last night.

I had wanted to try Jamaica Jerk for a while, but my girlfriend is never excited when I talk about goat, so I wandered up to Rogers Park on a weekend when she was away. After parking, I almost reconsidered -- the storefront marquee had a chain restaurant look that made me do a double-take. But I quickly reasoned that that was unlikely, and I went in. Inside the decor has a genteel aspiration that it doesn't quite accomplish, but it seemed promising. A design consultant could have done better for a worse restaurant, but no consultant was involved here, and this was probably the owner's genuine taste.

I started with the Channa Cakes, reminding myself that the West Indies had a strong influx of what used to be called East Indians. They were great, lightly breaded with a very flavorful chickpea filling. The salad was nothing special - shreded iceberg with finely diced red peppers, but the mango vinaigrette was well done.

My dinner was the tenderest goat I've had, curried nicely. The waiter apologized that they had no cabbage, and the collards wouldn't be stewed with hamhocks as the menu offered. But they were great nonetheless, with a sweet undertone. Plaintain fritters quite good, soft with a lot of plantain flavor.

All in all, very good. Service is at an, ahem, "relaxed pace", but that meant there was no pressure at all to finish my Sunday paper after my meal was over. I'll be back.

Jonah wrote:Jamaica Jerk
1631 Howard Street

Jamaica Jerk has moved to a Skokie address:
Jamaica Jerk
3357 Dempster St
Skokie 60076
phone: 847-933-3304
URL: http://jamaicajerk-il.com/

I hadn't been to the new location so stopped by for some brown chicken stew, they were out. Had the jerk chicken instead. Lots going on this jerk, not particularly hot but certainly enjoyable.

Ice cream is still being sold, didn't try any.