Evanston Lunch Group Mon May 17 12:30 Kingston Grill

It's been a while since ELG has had Jamaican jerk chicken, so we'll be getting together at Kingston Grill Monday, May 17. Kingston Grill was formerly Jazmyn's, but under the new owners the menu has been expanded, and it's now BYO (as long as you'll share a little with the lady at the cash register). Being in strip mall (on Dodge, just south of Dempster) there's plenty of free parking.

Note that Evanston Lunch Group™ has been meeting monthly for over five years now. Take that, you Loop Lunch whippersnappers. (For the record, it was inspired by a comment from CrazyC at Gulliver's Pizza, so many years ago.)

Kingston Grill
1164 Dodge Ave.
Evanston, IL 60202
847-475-7700

I'll be there.

I bet those Loopers don't have membership cards....

I plan to be there. Thanks, Tom!

Looking forward to making this month's outing. See you there.

I'd like to join you...

Loop Lunch Group's ID cards were left in the back of a cab and never recovered. Will you accept an Amex Black card? EBC membership card? Union League club ID?

A couple questions that have absolutely no bearing on whether I'll attend or not: Is this place any good? Do they cook over wood/charcoal?

I'm just curious because there's been almost nothing posted about it here and my last few jerk experiences in town have been pretty lousy.

Thanks,

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Is this place any good?

Jeez, he wants good food. Our company's not enough.

But at least he'll come even with authentically lousy food - what a guy.

Looks like all the grilling is over gas, but the jerk sauce dominates over what otherwise might be smoky favors. I had the jerk pork; it was very flavorful, much more spiciness than the moderate amount of heat. Curry goat was good, too. Cow foot is usually only available on Fridays, but if there's enough interest, I'll call and see if they can make it for us on Monday.

It may not be the city's absolutely best Jamaican, but IMHO it's pretty good, and deserves a shot.

And, Jen, yes, you can leave your Amex card with me. There've been several things I've been meaning to order over the interwebs.

Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced it (maybe on the L?) Jerk offerings sounds intriguing...cow's foot, huh? Righteous!

GAF wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:Is this place any good?

Jeez, he wants good food. Our company's not enough.

But at least he'll come even with authentically lousy food - what a guy.

Yeah, yeah . . . so, sue me.

=R=

We are looking forward to joining you on Monday,
Robert and Catherine

I would like to join you.

See you Monday

ronnie_suburban wrote:

GAF wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:Is this place any good?

Jeez, he wants good food. Our company's not enough.

But at least he'll come even with authentically lousy food - what a guy.

Yeah, yeah . . . so, sue me.

=R=

I'm not going to be able to make it on Monday but it has nothing to do with the food or the company, I promise!

=R=

Regretfully, I have to bow out today--hope to make it to another one...have fun

Hi- I am finally going to able to make it to your lunch group today. Hope to see lots of people there. Thanks, Nancy

We had a good group yesterday, and I think most would agree the food was pretty good. But there was one major service snafu.

All entrees come with a basic iceberg lettuce and tomato salad, with Ranch, "French," or "Italan" dressing, brought to the table in squeeze bottles. That engendered a lively discussion about the origins of Ranch dressing, and the fact that there's nothing close to the French dressing in France.

Entrees also come with good rice and beans, described as "rice and peas" on the menu.

We started off with good, slightly starchy plantains.


Jerk Chicken is a signature dish here, and the chicken pieces were crispy. The dark meat was fine, the white meat was only slightly overcooked. Spice levels were on the mild side.


The curry goat is one of my personal favorite dishes here. Stewed goat in a flavorful sauce.


I found it interesting that everything served wasn't brown, in contrast to our previous ELG visit to the late, unlamented Jamaica Gates (which was documented on LTH, but I can't find it now. It was also the momentous occasion where GWiv and Ronnie Suburban first met.) But the braised oxtail was brown.


Cabbagehead, true to his handle, ordered the cabbage, and I think the group was happy he did.


The snafu came in ordering the escaviche red snapper. We were told it might take half an hour to make the dish. We all thought that was fine, as it could follow the other dishes. It was well over an hour before it came out, despite several promises of "just ten more minutes" that stretched out over half an hour. When it finally came out, the fish smothered in vegetables wasn't as spicy as I would have expected (considering it's described as being made with habaneros), and it was small, but the skin was crisp, and the little portion of flesh I got was flavorful.


Overall, I'd say Kingston Grill, like many small ethnic places, can be a bit quirky, but overall the food's pretty good. I'm sure I'll be back, especially because it's BYO (as opposed to previous ownership's no-alcohol policy).

Kingston Grill is a useful addition to the Evanston dining scene, which now has several Jamaican restaurants - near Howard Street and elsewhere (e.g., Claire's). I can't claim that any one of them rises to the level of a Great Neighborhood Restaurant, but we should be glad to have these dining options. Like nr706, the curried goat was my favorite as well. The dark meat of the jerk chicken was nicely moist, and the sauce had some heat, but perhaps the kitchen held back on the peppers, imagining that we were not from the islands (not counting Manhattan in that designation).

nr706 wrote: All entrees come with a basic iceberg lettuce and tomato salad, with Ranch, "French," or "Italan" dressing, brought to the table in squeeze bottles. That engendered a lively discussion about the origins of Ranch dressing, and the fact that there's nothing close to the French dressing in France.

Yes, Virginia, there IS a ranch.... According to Wikipedia:
"In 1954, Steve and Gayle Henson opened a dude ranch near Santa Barbara, California, and named it "Hidden Valley Ranch". As a side business, they sold to guests a special dressing that Steve had developed in Alaska. The dressing was popular, and they began selling bottles that guests could take home, and later opened a factory to sell packets of ranch seasoning that had to be mixed with mayonnaise and buttermilk (packets that are still available to this day). In 1972 the brand was bought by Clorox [!!!] for $8 million.... Currently, Clorox subsidiary Hidden Valley Ranch Manufacturing produces the Hidden Valley Ranch lines of packets and bottled dressings at two large factories, in Reno, Nevada and Wheeling, Illinois."

Also per Wikipedia, ranch dressing has been the #1 choice of Americans since 1992. Before that, it was Italian, or "Italan," if you prefer.