Mr. Brown's Lounge

As a lover of most things Jamaican, I was quite surprised whilst cruising down Chicago Ave. to see a new spot named after one of my favorite Wailer's tunes in the old Sak's location at Oakley. Last night we stopped by and found a dressed up, sleek loungey affair with island touches to the decor. As an avid reggae record collector, I was a bit troubled by the generic selection of Jamaican LP sleeves framed as wall decoration- hoping that the authenticity of the food would not be analogous to the spring-break soundtrack of Marley's "Legend" greatest hits record, which unfortunately over the years has dumbed down the incendiary political relevance of Marley's music for the beach bumming party set.

There is a brief cocktail list that includes an interesting sounding punch of ingredients I cannot remember and a house cocktail that lost my interest as soon as I read "Bailey's". I was hoping to order a dark and stormy, which the gregarious bartender was happy to accommodate using on- hand Myer's (not my favorite rum) and delicious DG's ginger beer.

The menu is priced comparable to the neighborhood- think nearby Chickpea's price hike on Palestinian grub that most of us are used to buying on the cheap. Entrees ranged from $12- $15. There are daily specials and last night it was two-for-one patties, which seemed to be a good litmus test for the rest of the chow. And they were not so great, the pastry was meh, not far off from frozen pot pie, lacking the distinct yellow hue from turmeric. The veggie filling had the consistency of cooked down frozen vegetable medley and had very little spicing, whereas most veggie patties I've sampled have curry notes and at least a little bit of chile zing. My speculation was that these pastries are frozen food service grade- things were not looking up. Fortunately, entrees fared much better. The portions were huge (unlike said Chickpea). I ordered curry goat- skeptical to order jerk by lack of a visible smoker- but my companion took the plunge on the jerk chicken. My goat plate was piled with meat in gravy and had just enough bones to make it seem homestyle, but not so many as to annoy like some preps of this dish that I have partook. The curry gravy was rich with fork tender goat meat and was not overly chile hot until augmented with Scotch bonnet hot sauce. Overall, it was as good as any I've had. The sides included a brighter and crunchier-than-usual sauteed cabbage (a nice contrast to the thick unctuousness of the curry, though I preferred the version I had recently at Ja's); plantains that were as ripe as maduros, but deep fried like tostones, though not smashed; and a side cup of rice and peas that had good coconut flavor and were very much enjoyed as a vehicle for extra curry sauce when dumped onto the plate. Dining companion's jerk was surprisingly good. It was dry rubbed and charcoal grilled, with a discernible charred flavor. A hot jerk sauce was liberally applied to the bird, post grilling. In a nutshell, this wasn't Chicago hybrid smoked/stewed jerk nor was it smoked, but it was cooked well- juicy meat with a nice resistant chew, bits of crisp well-spiced skin and a respectable jerk sauce.

There were a few service snafus, but I hate to publicly disdain a brand new restaurant in that department. All in all, a nice addition to the neighborhood- friendly folks, decent drinks, food showing promise but not yet on all marks. Depending on the situation, it would be hard not to drive the extra mile and a half or so for the more homestyle and 1/3 cheaper Ja's, but for a date or a more dressed-up drinks-and-dinner occasion, I can see my self returning to Mr. Brown's. I'd say the downtown cool of Marley's Lee Perry-produced "Mr. Brown" is an apt reggae metaphor for the joint rather than the tan-lined redundancy of the "Legend" record. (They might need some new album sleeves)

Mr. Brown's Lounge
2301 W. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60612
772-278-4445
http://www.mrbrownslounge.com

I think I like this place. It took a long time for me to accept the transition from Sak's, but Pucca and I made it here for dinner last night before our unfortunate visit to Bleeding Heart. The jerk wings may be the best wings in the neighborhood: succulent, good rub, nice char, unmistakable heat, huge portion. I will return to eat these.



The curry goat had a lot of potential. I agree with Jefe's description except that our order was served at room temp, maybe almost cold. In retrospect, we should have sent it back because I think just having it warm would have made a huge difference. I'm looking forward to eating the leftovers.



We also ordered the jerk burger, since $6 burgers was the Wednesday night special.



Frozen and overcooked, I didn't eat very much of this. Neighbor Pucca and I are spoiled living so close to Lockdown. However, the waffle fries were surprisingly satisfying--some skin, nicely fried, substantial without being heavy. I'm glad to have Mr. Brown's nearby.

I haven't gotten over there in a while but my wife and I like Mr. Browns. Their jerk wings are fantastic. Though, I usually go with the jerk chicken dinner. My wife likes the goat.

Neither of us were wild about the patties. We've gone to Jamaica a couple of times and these just didn't compare very well imo. Of course they vary greatly on the island too.

Gotta like that they have Pranqster on special on Saturday's. Good for washing down the heat.

Mr. Browns Lounge won out as the jerk choice for Saturday simply because they had the Bulls game on and a full bar. Never heard of or noticed the spot before.

Jerk chicken turned out to be a pleasant surprise, as well as the rice and peas. Jerk got me sweating a little an numbed the tongue. Friendly staff as well.

Nice that its across the street from Phils Last Stand in case a shrimp or burger jones hits.

A buddy and I had a miserable fail here about a month ago on half priced jerk night. If you peruse their Yelp reviews, it seems as though sloppy and inconsistent service issues abound. We put in an order for our jerk plates as soon as we were greeted by our server and she warned of a 45 minute wait time for the next batch to be ready. No matter, we ordered a round of wings to start off. 45 minutes later, no jerk, no wings, not even the chips she promised to tide us over. We inquired about the wings and I could immediately read her blank look that she had completely flaked on this order, which she had to cop to. Hangry and pissed we double downed on salty grease across the street at Fatso's.

I've still been craving jerk chicken after a very high high in Indy a few months back. Plus, the last round of the jerk I had at MBL a year ago made my year end best list. Call me a glutton for punishment– I decided to give them a second chance. And I was glad I did. Service was great– attentive and snappy. The food was pretty dang excellent. There's still the lingering perfume of smoke and allspice on my fingers as I type this. The chicken was brash– smoky and spicy. Definitely spent some qt with woodsmoke + tender through and through. I loved the peppery stewed down cabbage side, ate all of it and half of my partner's. The peas and rice were a bit bland, though a good foil to the aggressive chicken and perked up with Scotch bonnet sauce. The $15 price tag works fine for me considering I have a lunch worth of leftovers in the fridge. It may be a roll of the dice how your experience here works out, but the jerk chicken is a natural.

Mr. Brown's Lounge coming to Hard Rock Hotel

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... rock-hotel

To celebrate my birthday, the family took a trip from Chesterton, IN to Mr. Brown's Lounge for some Jamaican food. We had curry goat, oxtails, jerk chicken sandwich, tilapia sandwich and a side of plantains. The goat and oxtails came with rice and peas. The sandwiches come with fries. The goat and oxtails were seasoned well and had some kick. Note that according to the menu, the oxtails are available only on Fridays and Saturdays; the goat is not available on Sundays. Initially I had a bit of sticker shock- the goat was $22, and the oxtails $20 but I felt a bit better about the prices after seeing the portions we received. All in all, we felt it was a successful dinner. Since we were in the Chi, we decided to make it into a mini food tour and hit up Del Seoul for some chicken wings, fish tacos, and kimchi fries, and then a Taste of Heaven in Andersonville for some slices of cake. Last stop was World Market on Broadway to stock up on some African ingredients for cooking up Ghanian dishes for my husband.