We arrived at this small but homey diner in South Minneapolis and grabbed a booth. The place is decorated in a happy Mexican/Carribean/Rasta décor and some fake trees wrapped in tinsel scattered around. It isn’t a large place by any stretch, but there are plenty of tables (maybe like 12-15) for people to sit and enjoy. 
We got menus and began to have some trouble deciding on just what we wanted. Everything on the menu looks really good. I mean everything. There are good descriptions of most things (which helps immensely – but doesn’t help with the pronunciation). There is one section with Roti – which is described as a sort of burrito-like wrap with fillings inside. I have this thing where I mentally read text with capitals as shouting – like we all somehow learned to do when reading inflammatory e-mails and txts. Anyway, with these Roti Wraps, you get your choice of fillings from the long list of various meats, tofu, and vegetables. But the menu reads that you can get any of the wraps “with your choice of filling FROM BELOW”, so I naturally read that last part as shouting. It got to the point where I couldn’t even glance at the menu without giggling like an idiot.
D.Rough is familiar with some Caribbean food as she had Trinidadian and Tobagan friends in college and her Bahamian friend, SecretMeat, currently lives in the Twin Cities. She said we needed the Doubles (which we didn’t know if we were supposed to order A Doubles or SOME Doubles. It’s hard to tell from the menu). We got a doubles – luckily the waitress knew what we were talking about. D.Rough ordered the Callaloo with beef, and I needed some help deciding on what I wanted. Despite the fact I wanted to try everything on the menu, the waitress helped me get to an order of Jerk Chicken. I’ve had Jerk Chicken at other places and always liked it, but I thought it might be a bit more authentic here. D.Rough got a Ting soda (grapefruit flavored pop) and I got a Soursop blended drink (no alcohol – sadface).
The drinks came out and we sampled each other’s order. I REALLY liked the Ting - much more than I thought I would. I’ve had some grapefruit flavored things before and they always taste a bit too sour for me, but this was perfect. Almost like an Orangina, with some small bits of pulp in it. Delicious! My Soursop was also top notch. It had some cinnamon in it, which tasted delicious with this fruity tropical drink. I loved it. It was also in a giant glass and came with a specific giant straw. I did well ordering this, fo sho.While waiting for our food, we saw this short man eating at a booth across from ours. He wasn’t a dwarf or anything, but his feet didn’t touch the ground while he was sitting in the booth. This contributed to the hilarious-ness of him eating. Every bite he would take, he would lean forward and lift his legs straight out in front of him. It’s like watching a 4-year-old eating. Very funny! [D.Rough chided me – yes, I said “chided” – for making fun of this guy.]
Our Doubles came out. Or is it one double? We have no idea. The Double(s) is/are like a mixture of chickpeas and green salsa curry on two deep fried bread patties. It doesn’t sound like much, but it absolutely delicious. We both really liked this. I’d love half a dozen of these things while I’m chilling out watching a movie or something. I have the feeling they take way more effort than I’m willing to put into the whole thing though. Thankfully, Marla will make them for me and I don’t have to bother! I spilled as many chickpeas as humanly possible onto the table, but none of them managed to hit my clothing – I call that a win.We waited a while for our food (which did seem to take a while). But based on our appetizer, we had a feeling they weren’t lollygagging – they were putting serious effort into making our food, so we won’t ever complain about that. When the food came out, we knew it was going to be worth the wait.
D.Rough’s Callaloo was pureed okra, spinach, crab [D.Rough claims there wasn’t crab in her version, but with it pureed, how could you tell?], and coconut milk normally served with rice but in this case, they were out and replaced it with Yucca. I know this sounds like a weird combination, but it was really quite good. I liked it a lot. It had a mild flavor, but wasn’t bland at all. Just more subdued, especially with the neutral flavor of the Yucca. The beef pieces were almost all fantastic and not gristly and were perfect bite sized pieces that didn’t require cutting. This dish was really good, especially if you’re not into blazing hot food. 
Speaking of blazing hot food, let’s talk about my Jerk Chicken. This dish comes with either white rice or red beans and rice. I’ve been a long time fan of RB&R, so I went with that. The first couple bites of the rice were fantastic – lots of seasoning, but you could still taste the beans. The heat began to build a little bit. Even after the first few bites, I had already declared it well past Popeye’s red beans and rice – which I know is going to anger a lot of people, but I don’t care. I love the RB&R at Popeyes (I DO own stock in the company)and compare all other places to that. Marla's RB&R had whole red beans mixed in with seasoned rice and you can tell some effort went into these. They were amazing… and the heat continued to build. The first few pieces of chicken were the same way. About 3 or 4 bites in, I was hooked – the best Jerk Chicken I’ve ever had. Tangy, delicious, borderline-sweet sauce, until about bite number 5. Then the first bead of sweat appeared on my brow. About bite number 7, my nose started running. The back of my throat was on fire, but sadly, I couldn’t stop eating. It was delicious. The heat is very sneaky on this one but I wouldn’t change a thing. I LOVE the fact that I was sweating and eating delicious food. These people don’t care at all about what “Minnesota Spicy” is – they’ve far surpassed that, thankfully. Well done, Marla. Tastiest food I’ve had in a while.Thankfully, the Soursop and a couple glasses of water chilled my face out for a bit (as did a couple bites of Yucca from D.Rough’s plate). Marla came over and made sure we were doing alright and was happy to hear we loved it. We told her we’d be back and I’m already trying to figure out how I can swing a long lunch again. This place is a hidden gem of the Twin Cities, especially if you think Minnesotans can’t make spicy food. This will change your mind. We will be back – sooner rather than later.
Top 5 things about Marla’s Caribbean Cuisine
1. Jerk Chicken and Red Beans & Rice
2. Doubles
3. Callaloo
4. Soursop
5. Super nice staff were very helpful and friendly
Bottom 5 things
1. Food took a while to come out – but was worth it
2. Closed Sunday and Monday
3. If you don’t like spicy, you may want to be cautious
4. There aren’t any bad things about Marla’s – we loved it!
www.marlascuisine.com
No comments:
Post a Comment