What happened to Jamaica Jamaica in Evanston?

I really enjoyed the jerk and caramel cake at Jamaica Jamaica in Evanston, but one night my wife and I stopped by for dinner and it was dark. No sign, just a dark restaurant with the chairs up on the tables. Friends also gave the same report on other nights.

What happened to the restaurant? I guess they're closed, as I just came across an item in the minutes from a recent Evanston City Council meeting relating to reducing the number of open liquor licenses due to the closing of Jamaica Jamaica.

Does anyone know what happened to them? They had just received a nice writeup in Time Out Chicago, and I miss the ambiance, the friendliness of the staff, and the wonderful jerk chicken and beef patties that so reminded me of a recent trip to Jamaica.

- Chris

Jamaica Jamaica was owned by the same people who own Good to Go Jamaican on Howard St. I would guess the current economy didn't allow for two restaurants, so they closed the downtown one. I'd never been to Jamaica Jamaica, but I like Good to Go, and I'd imagine they're similar - although I bet the food at Good to Go is more authentic, considering how caribbean the neighborhood is (did Jamaica Jamaica offer Goat's Head Soup?.)

I also like Jamaica Jerk a bit further East on Howard, and Tickie's around the corner from that; all very similar restaurants; also Claire's near Evanston High School (though Tickie's and Claire's are more take-out joints.) All offer the stewier-type of jerk, for smoked jerk you typically need to find somewhere on the south side of Chicago.
Almost all these places buy their beef patties from the Carribean American Bakery on Howard St (take-out only.)

Good to Go Jamaican
1947 West Howard Street
Chicago, IL 60626-1526
(773) 381-7777

Tickie's
7605 N Paulina St
Chicago, IL 60626
(773) 973-3919

Jamaica Jerk
1631 W Howard Street
Chicago, IL 60626
(773) 764-1546

Claire's Korner
1827 Emerson St.
Evanston, IL 60201
(847) 328-7650

Caribbean American Bakery
1539 W Howard St
Chicago, IL 60626
(773) 761-0700

Mhays wrote:I also like Jamaica Jerk a bit further East on Howard, and Tickie's around the corner from that; all very similar restaurants; also Claire's near Evanston High School (though Tickie's and Claire's are more take-out joints.) All offer the stewier-type of jerk, for smoked jerk you typically need to find somewhere on the south side of Chicago.
Almost all these places buy their beef patties from the Carribean American Bakery on Howard St (take-out only.)

Hey, is Carribean American Bakery on Howard open nowadays? I havent seen it when Ive driven by... wasnt sure it was still around (especially post fire from a year or so ago).. if its still open I'll definitely drop by again soon!

(My last beef patty, BTW, was about a week ago at..um. A new jerk spot on Oakton in Skokie, blanking on the name - looked a nice spot.. but their beef patties, they said, came all the way from New York!)

BTW, while its true that the Jerk places you mention above offer mostly the "stew-style" Jerk common to Chicago, one no longer has to actually make the trek all the way to the southside for pretty good smoked-style jerk. Not since the opening a few months ago of "Life Line Tropical Island Cuisine" - which has pretty good actual smoked jerk in the Southside style (and also some very good island juices). My last stop here was a couple of weeks ago (whole Jerk Chicken to go), and it remains a solid place, IMHO the best on the northside. My personal favourite in all of Chicagoland is still Uncle Joe's Jerk at 8200 South Cottage Grove - which is similar or slightly better with the spiced-and-smoked chicken, and has a little more fire to their sauce as well. But Uncle Joe's is an hour away while LifeLine is 10 minutes, so it might be more frequent on the rotation (LifeLine's sauce is also nicely peppery and flavorful BTW- but my personal heat-tolerance is pretty high, and I like a mouth-burn to my Jerk; others may well find LifeLine's very good sauce more to their taste). I havent tried much apart from their Jerk Chicken and so wont rec anything else (well, their plantains were decent enough the one time I tried em).

LifeLine is at 7247 N. Damen Avenue.

c8w

c8w wrote:BTW, while its true that the Jerk places you mention above offer mostly the "stew-style" Jerk common to Chicago, one no longer has to actually make the trek all the way to the southside for pretty good smoked-style jerk. Not since the opening a few months ago of "Life Line Tropical Island Cuisine" - which has pretty good actual smoked jerk in the Southside style (and also some very good island juices)...

LifeLine is at 7247 N. Damen Avenue.

c8w

Woo-hoo! I saw this place was open again the other day - it's just a couple blocks from me! Yay!

Caribbean-American has been open the entire time: the facade crumbled and they moved a block West. I seem to recall they had recently moved back into the original location, but either way, they're still around.

Life Line has the best jerk chicken on the northside, IMHO. Get there.

c8w wrote:


(My last beef patty, BTW, was about a week ago at..um. A new jerk spot on Oakton in Skokie, blanking on the name - looked a nice spot.. but their beef patties, they said, came all the way from New York!)

I believe the place in Skokie is called De Jred or something like that. I went there yesterday and had the jerk chicken and the brown stew chicken.

I was not impressed with the jerk chicken, but i confess that I'm not a jerk afficianado. it was a wet jerk sauce, rather than a dry rub seasoning.

On the other hand, the brown stew chicken was fantastic. Put it up there with chicken boti at Khan BBQ and Athenian Chicken at Psistaria for the area's most tender chicken. it was delicately flavored compared to most brown stew chicken i've had, but I enjoyed it very much. Slightly sweet with a little kick. The morsels just fell apart with the touch of a fork. A great cold weather option and something i'll be back for.

De Jred
4901 Oakton Street
Skokie, IL 60077-2903
(847) 983-4582

Mhays wrote:I also like Jamaica Jerk a bit further East on Howard, and Tickie's around the corner from that; all very similar restaurants; also Claire's near Evanston High School (though Tickie's and Claire's are more take-out joints.)

Tickie's is Belizian, so some of the dishes are similar but not exactly the same. The Ox-Tails at Tickie's are pretty darn good.

I am eager to try LifeLine. Over the years that space has housed several Jamaican restaurants. I remember one called Blue Mountain, then it was a place called Mom's for a while.

If we're talking about Jamaican in Evanston, don't forget

Kingston Grill
1164 Dodge Ave
Evanston, IL 60202
(847) 570-4811

It's in a strip mall. Reportedly they've dropped the anti-BYOB policy. I have yet to try it, but it seems promising.