Ya mon! Have a taste of Jamaica at new restaurant

Around town

Friday, Nov. 27, 2009

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by EMILY BARNES Co-owners Aaron Loney, left, and Uche Ezegbunam pose for a picture, near the counter, in Irie Café. They hold an escoveitch red snapper entree with a side of steamed vegetables and rice and beans, also shown below. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story Click here to enlarge this photo

Aaron Loney and Uche Ezegbunam first opened Irie Café two years ago in College Park. The restaurant partners have since shut down that restaurant but have opened another spot in Largo. Their second location recently opened in Brandywine Crossing.

"We're bringing some flavor to Southern Maryland," Loney told The Gazette before the restaurant opened. Actually, Southern Maryland already has Caribbean Flava in Waldorf. (The restaurant was reviewed in Southern Maryland Weekend in 2007.)

With Caribbean food, though, I say the more, the merrier. Plus, Irie Café, the area's newest Caribbean destination, mainly specializes in Jamaican cuisine. Interestingly, while Loney is from Jamaica, Ezegbunam, whose parents are from Nigeria, grew up cooking West African and soul food.

The vibrant setting features yellow walls that bear the image of Bob Marley, an intentionally crooked row of paintings and a map of Jamaica. One Love, it reads above the counter. And, Ya Mon! And, roots, rock, reggae. During one visit, the music was recorded Marley remixes, while the televisions broadcast a court show on mute with subtitles.

One finds menus on the counter and the wall behind it. The staff will take your order at the cash register and food is quickly prepared to go, in Styrofoam boxes, whether or not you are dining in. Those eating in — a spread of booths fill the small dining area — are handed the order on a plastic tray and given plastic cutlery.

At Irie, it sometimes seems like the staff practically puts in your order of jerk chicken, the most widely known Jamaican dish, before you put it in yourself. … which is not to say that Irie's version is not worth ordering. In fact, the jerk sauce here is as full-flavored as any I've tried, but pleasingly zesty rather than spicy.

As I've eaten jerk chicken that made my eyes water, I liked that Irie's offering did not burn my taste buds so badly that I had nothing left to taste my sides. (After all that, the jerk chicken salad or sandwich, for $6.99, seems like a good pick.)

But Irie is also a good place to try something different — to think outside, or at least fill your box with, something else. Its offerings, in turn, are both more diverse and numerous than it initially seems. Entrées feature oxtail or fish (snapper, whiting, croaker, salt mackerel) or cow foot.

To drink, try a cup of tropically-flavored juice from a fountain. Irie also has daily soups such as red pea and fish tea, not to mention four types of porridge, which is boiled and spiced with milk and spices. In addition to sandwiches and salads, Irie offers chicken, shrimp and goat roti. All entrées are served with a pile of sautéed cabbage strings and a heap of earthy brown rice and peas. Additional sides, or appetizers, of which I can vouch for sweet, fried plantains, can be added for about $3.

Try dark, leafy callaloo greens seasoned with peppers and onions and spiced up with ground-up salt codfish ($8.50, $10.50).

Try goat marinated in a rich, Jamaican curry and livened with house herbs and spices — the dish that made me a believer. On the other hand, part of what made it so enjoyable was how the oil and curry which accentuated the tender goat pieces (some peeling off the bone) spilled over into the rice and beans, thus making for a delicious, Old World taste. It makes you wonder, then, if the compartments for your entrée and your side are mostly a hindrance (though it is does seem to make for a hearty portion size).

Entrées are served in small and large portions, of which the latter are priced at $10 to $14. That's pretty pricy for lunch (although you might get two meals out of it), but the small portions are about $9.

For irie (it means quality) food, such prices are reasonable, though it seems a bit strange at this point to pay that much in what comes across as a carryout setup.

However, the restaurant offers a weekday lunch special of curried, brown stew or fried chicken served with rice and peas or white rice for $5.99. After a meal like that, you might even have room (in your wallet, anyway) for dessert.

Check out what's available in the display case. You can't go wrong with a cool slice of spiced rum cake ($3.50), a sweet dessert that impresses not with icing but with its remarkably dense consistency.

Irie Café

15904G Crain Highway, Brandywine

Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday, noon-8 p.m. Sunday

Entrée prices: $8-$14

Credit cards: V, MC

Carryout, delivery: 301-782-2388

www.iriecafe.net