Going tropical at this place can mean your kitchen or theirs

By Phyllis Johnson
Correspondent

If you're tired of pizza and burgers and want something tropical, visit JC's Caribbean Cuisine on Portsmouth Boulevard.

The place, owned by Jacqueline Samuels, is half restaurant and half grocery store. I took a look around on the grocery side before venturing to the restaurant.

The first thing I saw was a hard dough bread loaf and then I spotted spice bun bread, the heaviest loaves I've ever picked up. They were solid and looked positively decadent. Lots of Goya products lined the shelves, including crackers and cookies, yucca and pigeon peas to name a few. (These peas came from Asia.)

Other food included rice and plantains. You'll also find coconut water and coconut milk, cooking wine, canned guava, herbs and dried beans.

Western Branch residents and regular customers Crystal Jones and her friend, Kenyatta Edwards, came to eat at the buffet. "They have excellent food here and the customer service is outstanding," Crystal said.

Jamaican native Patrick Coleman was working at the counter. He's worked at the restaurant since it opened four years ago. Friendly and helpful, he gives service with a smile. "I like that they brought the Caribbean food here," he said. Maybe it feels a little bit like home.

On a weekday afternoon, the business was steady. There were 28 buffet trays filled with poultry, beef, seafood, goat and vegetables. Chicken is served four ways; with curry, jerk sauce, Southern fried or stewed. Kenyatta and Crystal tell me one of their favorites is the oxtail.

Among the appetizers are fried dumplings and Jamaican coco bread. I see coconut muffins on the buffet line and make a mental note to get some on my next trip.

For seafood lovers, there are crab cakes, flounder, catfish and whiting. Seafood baskets contain fish and chips, shrimp and chips or a fish and popcorn shrimp combination.

The homemade desserts are rich and inviting with bread pudding at the top of my list. You can also choose from cobblers, sweet potato pie, pudding and Jamaican rum cake. Yo ho ho!

Lunch specials run from 11 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. on weekdays and cost $4.49, with the exception of curry chicken which is $3.99. The weekday lunch buffet costs $6 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Grab a grass skirt and run on down.

Phyllis Johnson, pjwriter@aol.com