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The restaurant is a modest, tidy place on U.S. 1 north of Garrisonville. The walls of the dining room sport the peppermint pink of the islands; kitschy Jamaican paintings and decorations are sprinkled around the comfortable room.
On a recent evening, the restaurant's lone waitress, a native of Trinidad, greeted customers and described unfamiliar dishes.
Our first inquiry was about roti. All over the Caribbean islands, she said, people eat roti, a grilled flat bread with an inner layer of finely ground split peas and spices served filled with a curry.
The Jamaican chef-owner makes the bread himself, then wraps it up like a gift with a tender, flavorful filling of turmeric-laced potatoes and chick peas ($3.75). He'll add chicken, beef, goat or shrimp for a modest increase in price.
Make a meal of roti, or buy one to bring home for the next day's lunch--it comes to the table wrapped in wax paper and reheats beautifully.
Another curiosity was the "patties" ($1.25-$1.75) which our waitress told us are also island favorites. The baked pastries are filled with finely ground beef, chicken or vegetable stuffing and resemble English pasties. The turmeric in the pastry crust turns the little bundles deep orange.
Both the roti and the patties go well with Guinness, which the restaurant has on tap. Heinekin and Jamaican Red Stripe ($2.75) are also on the menu as well as American beers ($1.75).
Caribbean and American Delights also offers exotic-sounding homemade juices such as mauby (made from the bark of a tree), sorrel, carrot and island punch ($1.50 or $2.75 each), as well as sodas, hot chocolate, tea and coffee.
The restaurant offers American standards such as fried and barbecued chicken, spare ribs, tuna salad and pasta for lunch and dinner.
But who has time for those when you can try saltfish, jerk pork, cornish game hen, steamed red snapper or curried oxtail?
I took a leap of faith in the friendly chef and tried the curried goat--faith because I've often been served goat that was fat, gristly and tasted too much like Old Billy smells. Not so at Caribbean and American Delights.
The curried goat and ox tail ($9.50) featured two stews separated on an oval platter by a heaping mound of red bean-studded rice. Fried plantain added just the right sweetness to the savory dish.
The goat and ox tail were tender from long, slow-cooking and had taken on the flavor of a mild, complex curry. Part of the fun of this dish is picking up the bony pieces of ox tail and extracting every bit of tasty meat (and marrow, if you're a marrow fan).
The waitress was very helpful with suggestions about other entrees. When I told her the red snapper--which the chef prepares in many ways--sounded tempting, she suggested that I try the red snapper eschovitch ($13, but the price varies with the size of the fish). That's a whole snapper pan sauteed then served in a golden, velvety sauce that tasted of vegetable essences.
The snapper covered the platter and was surrounded by caramelized onions and quick-sauteed match-stick slices of red and green pepper.
Caribbean and American Delights seems to specialize in whole or half barbecue and jerk chicken for takeout.
Our waitress issued at least three warnings that the jerk spices are HOT! She was right to caution us--the blackened spices that clung to the grilled meat were searing but worth every tear. The chicken was smoky, white and tender inside but the outside was fiery. If you aren't a fan of cayenne, skip the jerk chicken ($8) and pork ($9.50).
All dinners come with a house salad, most come with red beans and rice with plantain, and diners can order sides of other vegetables for $1.50 each.
The dessert menu lists a variety of American desserts, but I noticed two intriguing pastries displayed under a glass counter: cassava pone and coconut drops ($1.25 each).
Cassava, or yuca, is the root used to make tapioca, and the pone had the consistency of a very, very thick pudding with a crisp coconut crust on top (and coconut through and through). The tasty sweet was served cut in large squares and was flecked with currants.
I preferred the coconut drops, large coconut and currant scones that had the texture of a freshly baked, dry cookie. The next day I wished that I had brought home a sack of them to serve with a nice pot of tea.
But it won't be long until I visit this restaurant again--the complex flavors from my last meal left me wanting more. And there are many intriguing dishes at Caribbean and American Delights still to try.