Good to Go: Jamaican Jerk & Fresh Juice Bar, Rogers Park

I stopped by yesterday to the fairly new Good to Go on Howard to see how they match up with the other jerk purveyors in the area. They've been open about three weeks at this point.

On entering the small tidy cheerful storefront I unfortunately noticed no overwhelming smell of jerk, which I took to be a bad sign, however since it was the middle of the afternoon on a tuesday I kept on with the order.

The jerk chicken, sold quarter, half or whole, or an order of wings, comes with a very large order of seemingly ore-ida fries. The chicken itself was fairly moist, well-grilled and tasty, however I didn't care much for the jerk seasoning and sauce - it was a little sweetish and very mild. In fact, I'm keeping it in mind as a place to take kids for jerk, as most of the others in the area are a little too spicy for them

More interesting though seem to be the the weekend specials and the juice offerings. They advertised their homemade ginger beer and a few unusal offerings such as "Irish Moss with Raw Oats, Stout & Peanuts". Unfortunately before even looking at the juice offerings I had headed over to the cooler and popped open a Ting.

The Friday special is Fish Tea Soup, Saturday's is Goat Head Soup

Good to Go
Jamaican Jerk & Fresh Juice Bar
1947 W. Howard
773-381-7777
Open Daily to 11 pm

CrazyC and I met for lunch Thursday with no particular destination in mind. Those kinds of lunch plans often serendipity rules the day. Driving aimlessly south, then west toward Lincoln Avenue with a vague sense where some Korean noodle restaurants existed, fate intervened. “Cathy, there’s a Jamaican restaurant!” We’d just stopped for a traffic light and parking karma smiled upon us with an adjacent space to conveniently slip the car in. Everything was looking favorable, though I suggested to CrazyC we read the menu first before committing.

Two older gentlemen walked in before us, in characteristically flirty style CrazyC announced she was going to see what they ordered and follow their leader. They smiled looking pleased someone was interested in what they ordered for lunch. We both got pretty excited looking at the menu and perhaps not following these gentlemen’s cue, we ordered half jerk chicken with sauce on the side, a regular order of oxtails, a side of plaintains, coconut water for me and Lady Love (cucumber juice with ginger) for Crazy C, of course.

We each took one of the two braised oxtails, which were accompanied by rice and peas and plaintains. CrazyC especially admired the gelatinous connective tissue, which was soft from the long cooking.



The jerk chicken without sauce was smoky not from a smoker, but from grilling. We were quite happy with it as it was. The sauce with a heavy allspice component worked very well with the chicken. Each component (chicken and sauce) was stand alone very good and together it was really even better. The jerk sauce was great on the fries as well.



Though I didn’t realize the oxtails came with plaintains, I was very glad to have our additional side order because they were really nice counterbalance to the stronger tastes.



I wasn’t very taken by the description of the Cucumber-Ginger juice, as often Ginger can overwhelm, this was a very good match. One I will order on the next occasion. My coconut juice was really coconut juice with no sweetening. The taste was so quiet it just may as well have been faintly flavored water next to the Jerk Chicken and Oxtails.

Other dishes of note on the menu: Cow Foot (weekends only, I believe), Curry Goat and soups named and/or made from: Fish tea, goat head and cow skin.

This pleasant restaurant is celebrating their 1st anniversary today and tomorrow promising music, fun, food and give-aways.

Certainly there are some interesting foods to explore at this restaurant.

Good To Go
Jamaican Jerk and Juice Bar
1947 W. Howard
Chicago
773/381-7777

Tues-Sat: 11 AM- 11 PM
Sun: 12 PM – 8 PM
Monday: Closed

Regards,

When you say a "regular order of oxtails," do you mean something different from the "oxtails & beans"?

I had the braised oxtails & beans, last week, and I really enjoyed it. The beans were a large, flat variety with a buttery soft texture.

E.M.

Hi,

I was reading from their menu, they have a regular order for $7.95 and a large order for $10.95. This dinner was served with rice & peas or white rice plus plaintain or steamed vegetables. There was no bean option offered.

Oxtail and beans was either another menu selection, not on their take-out menu, or it was a special. What you had sounds good to me. In either case, I believe our independent experiences with their oxtails bodes well.

I had looked for another mention of this restaurant on LTH so I could add to the thread. If you know of one, then advise the link and I will merge this.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:I had looked for another mention of this restaurant on LTH so I could add to the thread. If you know of one, then advise the link and I will merge this.

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=

This place sounded good--when I went to search for an online menu I came up with another somewhat nearby place, Jamaica Jerk at 1631 W. Howard Street in Rogers Park, and wondered how the two compare?

I also went to the Metromix and Chicago Reader sites to look for info and there was nada about Good TO Go, except for the basic address and phone. Do any of you LTHers ever post your reviews on those sites? I think a lot of folks use those sites as a start for their meal choices (those not lucky enough to have found LTH), and they would know nothing about this interesting place, and perhaps many of the restaurants you discuss.

veghead wrote:This place sounded good--when I went to search for an online menu I came up with another somewhat nearby place, Jamaica Jerk at 1631 W. Howard Street in Rogers Park, and wondered how the two compare?

Oops. My bad.

I visited Jamaica Jerk last week, not Jamaican Jerk and Juice Bar.

As I said above, the oxtails and beans were really good.

The ginger beer was boss.

I'm headed back.

E.M.

veghead wrote:I also went to the Metromix and Chicago Reader sites to look for info and there was nada about Good TO Go, except for the basic address and phone. Do any of you LTHers ever post your reviews on those sites?

Most of us post our reviews here on LTH. That's the point of LTH.

stevez wrote:

veghead wrote:I also went to the Metromix and Chicago Reader sites to look for info and there was nada about Good TO Go, except for the basic address and phone. Do any of you LTHers ever post your reviews on those sites?

Most of us post our reviews here on LTH. That's the point of LTH.

Erik M wrote:I visited Jamaica Jerk last week, not Jamaican Jerk and Juice Bar

Probably an important distinction to those competitors and to avoid further confusion, I went to:

Good to Go Jamaican Jerk and Juice Bar
1947 W. Howard
Chicago
773/381-7777

Tues-Sat: 11 AM- 11 PM
Sun: 12 PM – 8 PM
Monday: Closed

So now there are two options for really good oxtail on Howard! Isn't this grand?

Erik M. wrote:
I visited Jamaica Jerk last week, not Jamaican Jerk and Juice Bar.

As I said above, the oxtails and beans were really good.

The ginger beer was boss.

I'm headed back.

E.M.

Erik, did you sample anything other than oxtail and ginger beer? I've been meaning to get to Jamaica Jerk for a while, especially for their expanded brunch menu they advertised, though I understand they are no longer doing the "country breakfast" they were advertising

zim wrote:Erik, did you sample anything other than oxtail and ginger beer? I've been meaning to get to Jamaica Jerk for a while, especially for their expanded brunch menu they advertised, though I understand they are no longer doing the "country breakfast" they were advertising

No, I did not. Unless you count the salad included with the main courses.

E.M.

I haven't been to Jamaica Jerk for about a year, since shortly after they opened, but there were several things I enjoyed.

Not the jerk so much: the chicken jerk was fine considered as roast chicken -- less successful otherwise. The pork had more flavor, though rather sweet.

I liked the escoveitched fish -- yellowtail snapper with carrots and onions, reminiscent of the best pickled herring -- and the curried goat. The sorrel, intensely flavored hibiscus tea, was delicious, much more strongly flavored than the related Mexican drink, jamaica. And there was fabulous, house-made rum raisin ice cream.

The owner, Paulette Waite, was concerned that people would mix up her restaurant with Good to Go Jamaican Jerk, and it's clear she had cause. Jamaica Jerk is the one with the big hibiscus flower on the sign and seascape murals inside.

Jamaica Jerk Restaurant
773/764-1546
1631 W. Howard St.
Chicago, IL 60626-1630
www.jamaicajerk-il.com

Been to both jerk places, can't stand either of them. The sides are fine, but real jerk should knock you off your feet, or at least shock your senses with its spiciness. Each of these establishments sweetens/dilutes their jerk sauce to the point that it becomes vaguely allspice-tasting barbecue sauce.

As for me, I go to Rogers Park Fruit Market, buy a bottle of Grace brand spicy jerk marinade, go home and grill.

publicblast wrote:Been to both jerk places, can't stand either of them. The sides are fine, but real jerk should knock you off your feet, or at least shock your senses with its spiciness. Each of these establishments sweetens/dilutes their jerk sauce to the point that it becomes vaguely allspice-tasting barbecue sauce.

pb, I agree with you at least on good to go's need for more spice (as I mentioned in my post on it, however there are a number more jerk places in the area (and even more jamaican), most of which are spicier - I dont know if any of these would qualify as knocking you off your feet hot, but they are spicier than good to go's at least. Among these are Linnette's, Caribbean American Bakery and Jazmyn's. A couple other places make more of a "baked jerk" which I don't care for but are options in the area, including Klaire's Korner, and Spice Garden Cafe

There's a new place in Evanston across from the public library on Church Street (between Chicago and Orrington), I believe it's called "Jamaica Cafe." Same problem with sweet Jerk sauce--even my wife, who has roughly zero tolerance for spicy food, complained that it was too sweet. The peas and rice were kind of bland--not enough coconut milk, I think. The Brown chicken stew was good, however, enough spices and garlic to be worthy.

Also of note: the lady working the cash register was jaw-droppingly gorgeous. This may or may not affect your opinion of the place.

Edit: Even my wife commented on the lady at the register.

Hi,

We went to Good To Go last night. We had tried this place last fall after reading about it here. We agreed that it hadn't been particularly spicy but we enjoyed what we had ordered none the less. On our return visit I was pleasantly surprised by an increase in the heat of their jerk sauce. Still not "knock you off your feet" hot, but an improvement in my opinion. My lips were burning, but there was no real rise of internal temp, no sweating. The chicken was actually a little dry, but the flavor was good. Same fries as before. Even though it was a generous serving, I'd like to see something other than regular fries, maybe cassava or sweet potato. The plaintains were great, sweet, plump and not swimming in grease. We also ordered a couple of great fruit drinks, mine was a blueberry, raspberry and strawberry and my SO's was "The Rast Mon", banana and raspberry, with a touch of honey. The drinks were the best part of the meal. The folks there are friendly and the place is cute, but I think we'll probably try some of the other jerk offerings in the area before going back. All in all, a great juice bar with some ok jerk.

Note: We had previously tried the goat and it was good. We haven't tried any of the other dishes there.

I wonder if anyone othe than Cathy has tried some of the the more unusual drink offerings? Have any thoughts on these?

publicblast wrote:Been to both jerk places, can't stand either of them. The sides are fine, but real jerk should knock you off your feet, or at least shock your senses with its spiciness. Each of these establishments sweetens/dilutes their jerk sauce to the point that it becomes vaguely allspice-tasting barbecue sauce.

a HUGE +1 on this (well, not BOTH but.. definitely the 1600 W. jerk chicken restaurant)

Jamaica Jerk Restaurant of 1631 W. Howard St. is a waste of electricity and chicken as far as jerk is concerned.

1a) not smoked
2) mush meat
3) biggest farce of a jerk sauce north of 75th st?
1b) not smoked, if i wanted rotisserie, i'd go to costco and pickup a chicken for $5.

i have no clue how this place stayed alive for 2 years. read the TOC review and saw Hungry Hound's sign, now think both smoked something good before eating. have ~2 lbs of chicken left in my fridge w/ no dogs to feed. the sauce tasted like a cross between tonkatsu and terriyaki. extremely salty, zilch spice, no flavor, no heat, complete lack of texture, looked like runny diarrhea. the rub on the chicken was interesting, but there was no skin crispness or meat jerkiness, obvioisly due to the clearly visible rotisserie oven.

after 2 pieces of this mealy chicken, i figured Buffalo Joe's would save me. OMIGAWD. all those people who touted this joint as the "best wings in the city", yall need your tongues cut and replaced. this is crap. ordered suicide, got diluted tobasco sauce. no buffalo chips. cold wings. ad nausea.

don't know how "Good to Go" is on the 1900 block, but i think i'll avoid howard street like the plague. and the TRAFFIC to/fro. UGH. ARGH! SHOOT ME.

Jerk is not really smoked, right? Jerk is direct-over-the-coals grilled, like Italian sausage or burgers. Smoke is involved, inasmuch as someone places corrugated tin on the food to hasten its cooking. On the other hand, it certainly is not cooked in the oven in a sweet bbq sauce, either.

TonyC wrote:3) biggest farce of a jerk sauce north of 75th st?

oohhh... could you be alluding to Uncle Joe's Jerk, or are there other places down south I should know about? Uncle Joe's is one of my new favorite fast places to grab food.... I think there's a mention of it somewhere else in LTH...

Uncle Joe's Jerk
8211 S Cottage Grove
Chicago IL

....after reading reviews it seems as though the non-chicken items are just as, if not more popular... I do like their chicken, but I've tried the catfish and curried goat too.. The catfish is delicious. Though you have to contend with a lot of small bones, so it requires patience too.

Their jerk is definetly not sweet--I usually down the equivalent of a big gulp of soda, water, or whatever else while eating it because its so knock your socks off spicey.

Cathy2 wrote:Other dishes of note on the menu: Cow Foot (weekends only, I believe), Curry Goat and soups named and/or made from: Fish tea, goat head and cow skin.

Cow skin has been mentioned twice on this site, but neither post seemed to indicate that it had actually been sampled.

I had a small bowl of cow skin last night at Bolat (3346 N. Clark), and it was damn odd. Not bad, but kind of a cross between fat and gristle, not tough, more solidy gelatinous, and without the flavor of a comparable cut of, say, pig. Glad I had it, because you know, it's always good to experience new foods, but this is one dish that will probably never call out to me.

Yet to have a run at fish tea...

To the moderators:

would it be worthwhile to separate out the comments here, there are really two different restaurants being discussed with a similar name, and even as a person who posted on both and know them, I'm a little confused

I went to Good to Go: Jamaican Jerk & Fresh Fruit Bar with a bunch of friends this evening. We had made reservations for 12, and when I called back earlier today to up the reservation, I was informed that they only have 12 chairs. There are barstools at the counter, but I didn't really want our group separated, but I knew some people would be late and that would be their "punishment."

Tony, the owner, seemed delighted to see an unusual bunch of people crowding the dining area. He is a very friendly gentleman, and put on a DVD of a concert featuring Jamaican music for us. He said that after 2.5 years, he has rented out the adjacent store and will be expanding his restaurant in the next few months. In the summer, he plans to put some tables out on the sidewalk as well. Our server was friendly, but the service wasn't that great as we had to constantly ask for additional silverware, glasses, plates, etc. I guess it's understandable as this is a tiny restaurant and we all came in at once.

After doing some research here and on Jamaican cuisine on Wikipedia, I ordered a bunch of food for the group. I am no expert on Jamaican food, but thought that the jerk chicken was fabulous. Let me be more specific to say that the chicken meat was delicious, super moist and tasty on its own, even without the sauce. One of the best pieces of chicken I have ever had! I like the idea of spicy food more than my mouth can tolerate, so I'm not the best at gauging spiciness, but my mouth was shocked by the first bite of jerk pork.

We ordered:
- six beef patties (Jamaican patty) - mildly spicy ground beef encased in crust. These were quite tasty, like large beef empanadas. This was a crowd pleaser.
- four orders of fried plantains - pan fried, not as soggy/buttery as the platanos that my Costa Rican host mom used to make for me, but I love fried plantains from any Carribbean or Latin American country
- two orders of jerk chicken with rice and peas (rice cooked with kidney beans and coconut milk) and sauteed veggies (cabbage, carrots, onions)
- jerk pork with rice and peas - tons of jerk on the fatty layer
- red snapper special (escovitch fish) with veggies, plus rice and peas
- goat curry - milder curry flavor than I expected, but the goat was a bit too gamey for me (I'm okay with goat, but not prepared this way)
- Kola Champagne - non alcoholic carbonated beverage that tasted like cream soda
- Ting - carbonated beverage that tastes like Squirt
- various fruit smoothies
- four orders of caramel cake - this was absolutely amazing! It tastes like pound cake, but lighter in density, with a delicious carmel-y frosting. I'm not a huge cake fan, but we all thought it was delicious.

We shared the above amongst 13 people and we all paid $14 each. The restaurant is BYOB, and some brought beer and wine. For many of us, it was their first trip to Howard Street and the first time eating Jamaican food in a non-resort setting. I'm not sure how authentic it was, but a great time was had by all.

asami

LAZ wrote:Jamaica Jerk Restaurant
773/764-1546
1631 W. Howard St.
Chicago, IL 60626-1630
http://www.jamaicajerk-il.com

Had take out yesterday evening from this Jamaica Jerk (1631 W Howard). Jerk chicken is weak but my Mom likes the flavor profile so we get some. Oxtail & beans were not as savory as I remember from past visits (last was over 1 year ago). The hit of the night for me was the brown stew chicken w/rice & beans.

I had dinner here tonight. Husband had the brown stew fish with cabbage, plantains, rice and peas. I had brown stew chicken with the same sides. We also ordered a side of mac and cheese for our son. Husband had pineapple ginger juice which he really enjoyed. I loved my chicken- moist, flavorful, and great gravy. Looking back, I should have ordered some hard bread to sop up the gravy. Plantains were sweet and fried to a beautiful golden brown. I think the cabbage could have been seasoned slightly more. However, I just mixed it up with the delicious gravy on my plate. I didn't try my husband's fish but he ate every speck on his plate, so it must have been good. The mac and cheese was creamy but one dimensional in flavor. This is my go to place when I get a taste for Jamaican food. I'm actually not a jerk chicken fan so I've never had it here but I've always found the brown stew chicken and oxtail stew to be delicious. I was hoping to end the meal with their coconut and ginger drops but they were out of those. Maybe next time!

Jamaica Jerk's website states that they will be moving to a new location

I am very excited to find that a new Jerk restaurant is opening in my neck of the woods, at Chicago and Halsted. Apparently their food truck, Jerk. Modern Jamaican Grill, did well enough to evolve into a brick and mortar location. Just curious, has anyone had jerk from their food truck? http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140227 ... storefront

Jamaica Jerk is apparently open and relocated. Seemed to be doing pretty brisk business today at 9:30p (though not nearly as joyfully boisterous as Kingston Grill down the street).

The menu seems well-represented with 5 (!) housemade ice creams: Grape Nut, Rum Raisin, Mango, Stout, and Irish Moss. Anyone up for a tasting?

3357 Dempster St
Skokie, IL 60076
(847) 933-3304
www.jamaicajerk-il.com