Friday Finds

Hi everyone, this is a very quick post to tell you about a place I stumbled upon while returning from the grocery store Lidl that I wrote about in my last post. I took a road that I thought,I had never taken before and in perfect Boone Appétit fashion I found a new restaurant to try. The Island Breeze Grill and Cafe is located at 326 Convent Road in Blauvelt, Ny. The bright blue building sits back off the street on the corner. There is something inviting about the building itself and I felt compelled to pull into the parking lot.

Opening the door I was hit the aroma of jerk chicken and curried spices. I knew this was going to be an adventure for my taste buds! The menu had many Jamaican dishes you don’t see at most Caribbean restaurants. I had to look up what Calaloo was. Calaloo is a leafy green vegetable dish that varies from island to island but usually consists of either Taro, Amaranth or water spinach. It is cooked with onions and can have salt pork in it as well. It varies by region but seems like a healthy side dish no matter how it’s made. They also have Ackee and saltfish which is the national dish of Jamaica. On Friday and Saturday they serve Jamaican Porridge, which is a corn based sweet delight that’s a perfect breakfast to hold you till lunch. What I liked about the place was that they had a $7.50 lunch special that included any chicken dish, like jerk, curry or stew with rice, vegetables and a drink. That’s a great deal so I had to try it. Their food is already prepared and in a steam table so you can view it, but it also makes for very quick take-out. Spice levels of heat can be added if you really like spicy stuff but I’d say maybe get some hot sauce on the side until you become familiar with their food.

I had the jerk chicken with a beef patty and my companions had the curry chicken and porridge. I enjoyed the flavor of the jerk chicken and thought I could have gone a little spicier. The beef patty was excellent and not greasy at all. One thing I always like to do when you have a rice dish is to ask for more sauce to be put over the entire dish. This assures the rice won’t be dry. The amount of food was more than enough and I found the lunch special to be a great deal. The curry chicken was also met with a positive review. The porridge was a little sweet for my friend but it did have some other interesting spices that kept one wanting another spoonful. I think it was cardamon. We were all so full we couldn’t try another speciality that I hear folks rave about there, the carrot cake. Apparently it’s the best in the county, which I can’t vouch for but it sure looked amazing, and I’ll go back soon and try a piece.

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Once again taking a new route ended in finding a new place to eat. I encourage you to do the same thing in your town. I’m sure most of us have a place we drive by every so often and think we should stop in one day. Why not make today the day? You may be delighted you did, and if not at least you gave it a try!. If you have a restaurant you’d like to share with us please do so in the comment box, and as always if you have any questions please leave them in the box also. Until next time Boone Appétit!