Coal Pot Cuisine: Restaurant Review

Coal Pot Cuisine ( 381 Bridge St, Brooklyn, NY, 11201, 718-522-3600)

Note to all Jamaican eateries on Atlantic Avenue and in Crown Heights : You Got Owned! By a tiny second-floor lunch spot on Bridge Street, just off the hustle-and-flow bustle of Fulton Mall in Downtown Brooklyn. Conveniently located 5 minutes from the Crooklyn Supreme Court of New York building, Cafe Drake stumbled upon this unpolished gem in a recent tour of jury duty. (Editorial Note: As it's inevitable each of you will be summoned to civil service at some point, the best advice is to keep your head low, bring plenty of reading materials - thankfully, this is a place where mobile phones are strictly forbidden - and answer the prosecutors/defense attorneys' questions honestly. Anyone with a vague opinion is passed over in the two days of auditions. We simply stated that we're prone to believe all are innocent until proven guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt, and this adherence to our Constitution was regarded as Potential Juror Poison.)

Savor the short lunch break (or by all means make a specific trip to dine here) by climbing the steep stairs to Coal Pot Cuisine. Inelegantly named, and decorated in shades of dirty white and institutional steel, the flavors growing here belie the unsavoury surrondings. Hit the cafeteria-style line and choose from any number of boiled, stewed and grilled meats. $6 got us a plate of West Indian Mac and Cheese, 1/4 of an excellent jerked chicken (not hot, but house-made sauces allow you to add the fire), fried plantains (alas, sweet, not our beloved salty tostones variety) and a heaping dollop of sauteed cabbage and green peas. And it tastes better than it even sounds. Tables are grouped around a picture window, but the charm lies in the friendly clientele dining elbow-to-elbow (yeah, this place is TINY) : a communal conversation welcomed Cafe Drake's opinions on the topic du jour; namely, whether or not Jay-Z was still relevant to the streets he has abandoned for CEO stardom.

Never fans of roti, we snagged one on the way out for an easy supper, and found the chicken coconut version to be an intriguing mix of West and East Indian flavors. Still not a convert, Cafe Darke can't imagine one from any place else we'd scarf so willingly.