Comments (0) Best Jamaican Restaurant - 2001
Caribbean Cuisine
7433 Bissonnet, ste. F
Houston, TX 77074
713-772-8225
Readers' Choice: Fusion Café
With a loping reggae beat in the background, barely discernable over boisterous Friday-night clusters of customers in the crowded storefront, Caribbean Cuisine is an easy place to be. The smell of curry cuts through the air, and the swinging door that leads into the kitchen flaps open as a cook brings out another tray of perfect-smelling paddies -- meat or vegetarian -- whichever is ready. Grab a Red Stripe from the cooler, borrow a bottle opener from the customer who last had it, and sip while you look over the menu scribbled on a board behind the cash register. What'll it be: goat, chicken, oxtail, pork or veggies? Curried, fricasseed, stewed or baked? Order at a relaxed pace, knowing the food will arrive much the same, complete with fried plantains and the traditional rice and peas. One side of the restaurant is a small store, offering fresh plantains, Jamaican condiments and special curry mixes, and walk-in grocery customers sidle around the disorganized array of tables in the restaurant area to do their shopping. There's nothing fancy about Caribbean Cuisine: no neon, no ambience, no hostess to seat you. It's just a storefront full of familial atmosphere and robust flavors, much like you would find in Jamaica.
