Friday, May 22, 1998
Cafe Patwa be happenin’ in Santa Monica, mon
RESTAURANT: Jamaican food delights with savory dishes, tropical
ambience
By Vanessa VanderZanden
Daily Bruin Staff
Ja mon, come in and kick your feet up, is all breezy here. We
got your ginger beer waiting, iced and cold, as the palm fronds be
flappin’ against the shack walls. No worries, no hurries, just a
little Jamaican spice and you’ll be irie.
Slurpin’ up the Santa Monica Spring heat, the newly opened Cafe
Patwa awaits discovery. Open seven days a week, the beach town
shanty serves a savory selection of affordable Jamaican-style
lunches and dinners. The tiny restaurant even boasts a bright blue
"A" from the cleanliness board.
Beyond the sterile kitchen rests the funky, thrown together
bungalow portion of the groovy spot. Customers have the option of
sitting street-side, in the main room or patio-style. Here, two
sexily posed mannequins in silver skirts and loose blouses hang out
in the corner, under two abstract art pieces.
Abstract only because chicken wire mounds with randomly spurting
crests of pink, orange, yellow and violet tissue paper, these
aren’t standard cafe decorations. Neither, for that matter, is a
massive poster of Bob Marley smoking a joint or an art shot of a
man enveloped in a swath of white veils. And variously placed
plaques of wild kingdom beasts don’t constitute the norm
either.
This backroom has a beveled ceiling, partially open to the sky
in corners, where the corrugated roofing pieces allow for
ventilation. Colorful and quaint, the ceiling has been bathed in
purple, the walls a cheery yellow and the floor a strong mauve.
Resting in a comfy, pillowy chair, customers notice the neon paper
menus which double as place mats. Every table has a slightly out of
date fashion magazine, such as the March ’95 issue of Allure, as a
center piece. By the time the relaxed waiter emerges with water
glasses painted with domestic, Target-esque flowers, it will have
become time to order.
Offering a full espresso bar with a few pastries (including
piroshki-style Carribean and Jamaican patties between $2 and
$2.50), some may only choose a light snack. Reasonably priced
lattes and cappucinos go for around $2, while the variety of
homemade juices, available when in season, stay at around $2.75.
The Irish Moss ($2.75), a milky iced fruit drink which tastes like
a light eggnog, provides a refreshing offset to the spicy meal.
All lunch dishes come with rice and peas or steamed rice,
steamed vegetables and fried plantains, if available. Dinners,
which cost on average $3 more only for being served after 3 p.m.,
include soup in addition to the rice and peas, if that option is
taken over the other three sides. The soups vary by day, ranging
from gungo peas to conch, ($4.75 to $5.95 for a small and $7.95 to
$8.95 for a large).
However, the entrees themselves exist as such delicacies that it
would be a shame to order anything else. Particularly scrumptious
is the curry goat ($7.95 lunch, $10.95 dinner), tender pieces of
goat meat, fully seasoned with a blend of curry and green Jamaican
spices. Zesty flavorings penetrate the choicest morsels of lamb,
demanding the inclusion of the red bean and white rice mixture to
soak up the rich sauce.
Also, the jerk chicken ($7.95 lunch, $9.95 dinner), spicy
marinated chicken with seasonings unique to the Maroon culture,
measures up to its name. Served in chunks (still on the bone), this
red-sauced dish has a kick without overpowering the taste buds.
Yet, for those less inclined toward a sharp tongue bite of any
kind, the blander cod fish ($8.95 lunch, $11.95 dinner) might be
the ticket. This stew of shredded, salted cod cooked with onions,
tomatoes and scotch bonnet pepper has a more subtle flavor.
All three dishes take advantage of the crisp, steamed mixture of
cabbage and red pepper as well as the sweet fried plantain, which
is neither too mushy nor too greasy. The variety of fresh foods not
only look spectacular, but they provide a well-balanced, healthy
cuisine which any malnourished college kid could feel proud of.
Though, on a student’s budget, lunch time would definitely be the
best bet for conserving beer money.
MARK DITTMER
Shalon Maxwell, from Alhambra, and Maziar Adl, from Woodland
Hills, eat lunch at Cafe Patwa.