Front Page: From Jamaica to LAX without the plane flight

Some of the best eating in Los Angeles can be found in the nondescript strip malls that dot the region.  The ordinary exterior of Front Page Jamaican Grille belies the riches that await inside.  To say that it is a small restaurant is to make it seem grander and larger than it really is.  A little spot with more takeout business than dine in, the seating consists of half a dozen tables inside and a few outside.  The Inglewood restaurant near LAX has not gone unnoticed, as the menu's front cover highlights a positive review by Thi Nguyen that appeared in the LA Times in August 2010.  I had meant to try it, but had forgotten about Front Page Grille until I saw a writeup about it in the excellent new blog Aerospace Lunch.

The menu has a large variety of meals that all come with rice and beans, mixed steamed vegetables and fried plantains and can be ordered in small or large.  In addition to the typical Jamaican meat dishes such jerk chicken, oxtails and curry goat, they also have a large selection of fish on the menu.  (Note that fish dishes should be ordered 30 minutes in advance, so plan ahead if you want to order them or be prepared to wait.)

I began a recent visit with a Beef Patty ($2.50).  The crust was light and flaky and the ground beef inside had a good consistency but it wasn't as flavorful as I had hoped.  The appearance and texture were spot on, but it the patty needed a little kick to it to make it great.  Chicken, veggie and fish patties are also available.

One of the signature offerings is the Jerk Chicken.  You can get it breast only, which I did.  The small pictured below ($8.50) was more than ample.  The chicken was juicy and flavorful with just the right amount of spices.  Not a four alarm fire but with more than a little bite.  The chicken sat on a bed of rice and beans mixed together with a small portion of fried plantains and some cabbage on the side.  The chicken juice/sauce was delicious and enriched the flavor of the rice and beans.

A return visit offered the opportunity to try the much lauded goat.  The curry goat ($9.75 for a small)  was a healthy portion of falling off of the bone tender goat.  The goat meat lay on a bed of the rice and beans, with several plantains on top and some of the cabbage on the side.  Goat meat can sometimes be chewy or hard to get off of the bone, but the meat was well prepared and tasted like it had been simmering in the sauce for hours as the flavor of the curry imbued every bite.  While certainly not for everyone, if you enjoy goat meat, the effort to separate the goat from the small bones is well worth the reward.

 I have yet to try the fish dishes as they require half an hour's advance notice, but am already debating whether to get the oxtails or the fish on my next visit.  Next time I land hungry at LAX, I will forget about In and Out and head to the Front Page.

Front Page Grille: 1117 West Manchester Blvd, 1 block East of Aviation.  Phone: (310) 216-9521.  Website: http://www.frontpagejamaicangrille.com/index.html

Natraliart - Bring on the Jamaican Patties

Natraliart is a small Jamaican grocery with a cafe attached. The vibe in the cafe is mellow and unpretentious and there is waiter service as well as a TV set on the wall, conveniently tuned to the World Cup the day I visited.

Note that none of the dishes at Natraliart contain pork, as the owner/chef is a practicing Rastafarian, and as such abstains from all pork products.

On prior visits I had enjoyed the curry goat, the jerk chicken and the beef patties. On a recent visit, my dining companion had the stewed peas and rice and I had the jerk chicken. The beef patties were not ready so we had chicken patties. The jerk chicken was not as spicy or flavorful as it had been on prior visits. It lacked the essential kick of the dish. It was served with plantains, rice mixed with beans,and some vegetables. Before the main dishes arrived we had the chicken patties, which were delicious; the best part of the meal. Salads were also brought at the same time. They were fine but perfectly ordinary.



No alcohol is served, although an extensive menu of juices is available. The lunch items were around $11 or so. Not particularly inexpensive considering the location, atmosphere and ingredients. If this was my first visit, I would not likely return, but as I have had several great meals here, I hope this was an aberration and not the new state of things at Natraliart. I would continue to highly recommend the patties. One could make a meal out of them and be very happy.



Natraliart is located at 3426 West Washington Blvd, at 5th Avenue. Phone: (323) 737-9277. Website: www.natraliart.com

Stone's Market

Continuing on my quest for goat, I visited Stone's Market, a small takeout operation attached to a Jamaican grocery in Inglewood near the intersection of Crenshaw and Florence. The market is pictured and the restaurant is in a shack to the left.

The menu consisted of 5 items: fish brown style, jerk chicken, oxtail, curry goat, and brown style chicken. Beef, chicken and veggie patties were also available.

I believe the food is prepared in large batches in the kitchen as my food was delivered in a to-go container within 5 minutes.

Portions were large so I got a small order of goat curry and some beef patties. The patties were good but not as flaky as those at Naturaliart, which continues to be my pinnacle for Jamaican cuisine in Los Angeles.

The goat was plentiful and was served with rice and beans, plantains, salad and a banana. Some of the goat curry was on the bone and some was off the bone. The curry gave the rice a savory flavor.

Overall recommended if in the area but as mentioned above, Naturaliart is the superior option overall both due to the quality of the food and the availability of tables to eat at. Centinela Park is located nearby and has picnic tables, so is a good spot to eat takeout from Stone's Market.