Dave’s View: A true adventure awaits you when you dine at Jamaican Style Jerk on 33rd and Keystone Avenue in Indianapolis. First off, it’s attached to a liquor store and you order at a window. You order your food through a badly makeshift Plexiglass front. It’s like ordering food at a heavily fortified bank. Then there’s the lazy-susan on the countertop where you place your money. You put your money in and then the lazy-susan flips around. Your see the owner messing around with change and a big bag of food, and then the lazy-susan flips around and viola, you are given some of the best Jamaican food served in Indianapolis.
So Andrea and I grab our bag of good eats and proceed to the dining area. The dining area being two picnic tables strapped down to parking lot curbs sitting on the sidewalk. Actually a great place to eat and people watch. I ordered the White Meat Jerk Chicken with rice and peas for my main entrée followed by a Jamaican Patty for a side. Now when your order the Jerk Chicken, you’ll have a choice of sauce to go with it. I picked the hot sauce. If you never had Jerk Chicken before, you may want to try a milder sauce and leave the hot sauce for the future because the hot sauce is hot. How hot? Like “my skin inside my mouth peeling off” hot. It is a delicious sauce that goes well with the tender Jerk Chicken. The Jerk Chicken falls off the bone and when you dip it in the hot sauce, it’s like pure Heaven. The Jamaican Patty I had was fantastic. It has a lot of dough on the side which at first turned me off, but once I got into the middle, the meat and the spices were superb. If you want me to do a comparison between this patty and Patties of Jamaica Patty on Allisionville Road, this patty is thicker, while Patties of Jamaica patties are thinner. You take the comparison and let me know what you think.
I also ordered Ginger beer. This beer has no alcohol.(Go figure?) It is extremely sweet, but I was glad to have one because it balanced out the spiciness of the Jerk Chicken. Without the Ginger beer, flames would have been shooting out of my mouth and holes would have develop on my cheeks.
Now when it comes to neighborhoods, this is probably not one of the safest places to be, but it’s not one of the worst places either. Don’t worry. About a thing. Cause every little thing is gonna be alright.
Food: 9.5 Service: 9.5 Ambiance: 9 Total: 28 out of 30
$20-$30 without adult beverages, They do not serve adult beverages, but you could probably go next store and grab a cold one.
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- Jerk Chicken, Rice & Peas, and Jamaican Patty
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- Ginger Beer
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- Smokers
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- The outside
Andrea’s View: Finally, the adventure is back in foodadventuresindy!!!!!!!!!!!!! After a very busy summer, and a hectic first part of fall, Dave and I were able to take some extra time and seek out a truly unique eatery. I hesitate to call it a restaurant only for the fact that you cannot go inside. Intrigued? We were.
Jamaican Style Jerk is a funky little joint attached to a liquor store on the corner of 33rd and Keystone. Don’t be scared, this story turns out all right. The “restaurant” is a store front counter with a menu taped to the outside wall and a Plexiglas window with a speaker. Just call your order into the speaker, and the owner will turn the bullet-proof lazy-susan for you to place your money on. The lazy-susan then turns around again to reveal your perfectly packaged food and change. Then you have the option of eating at one of the picnic tables in the parking lot, or taking your feast home with you. I suggest eating at the picnic table.
The menu is very limited, as this is a very small operation. Most days, they just have white and dark meat jerk chicken and one other Jamaican delicacy as entrees. They also serve Jamaican patties. Dave and I both ordered the jerk chicken which came with rice and beans and a plantain, also we each got a beef patty. And OMG, the food was amazing. The chicken was fall off the bone tender, and the beans and rice had a slightly cinnamon kick to them. The chicken, although seasoned with a jerk rub of some kind was also served with a side of jerk sauce. We ordered ours hot, (they have a mild version) and they are not fooling around. This sauce is HOT. Not too hot, but just barely. It was a really good hot.
I was going to launch into a diatribe about race relations and socio-economics, but that would be over the top and a bit condescending. Not condescending to you the reader, but to the owner of this restaurant and the neighborhood itself. Nobody who eats at Jamaican Style Jerk and certainly not the owner, cares a flying rat’s a** about what you look like and where you may or may not live. Its just about the food. Sometimes, it’s just about really good food.
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