September 17, 2018
Windsor Hills (Los Angeles), California – While driving through the area, I saw the sign for this place. Any sign advertising a Jamaican restaurant is bound to catch my eye. There was no question I’d eventually visit this place. So I made plans to visit after an appointment the next time was in the city.
The sign for Little Kingston Jamaican Restaurant can be seen from a distance. Getting to the restaurant itself can be a bit of a challenge. It sits in a small lot behind Wienerschnitzel. My advice is to park on Ladera Park Ave (note that it’s a one-way street), on Slauson, or on La Brea. I wouldn’t recommend trying to park in the tiny lot. It only has a couple of spaces and it is not very easy to get out once you get in.
As you walk up to the restaurant, you’ll pass a huge menu on the outside window. The patio is right out in front of the door. It has two umbrellas providing shade to a round table and circular bench seats. There are two more umbrellas but these cover tables that sit on barrels. These are attended by chairs ingeniously cut from barrels and brightly painted.
Once you enter the restaurant, you’ll notice the walls are painted green, yellow, and black – the colors of the Jamaican flag. There are a handful of framed posters, including, of course, Bob Marley. Along the walls are a couple of red vinyl bench seats. A half-dozen or so wooden tables with metal posts each have two faux wicker chairs. Two flat screen televisions hang on the wall. Jamaican music plays over the speakers. The display case is filled with Jamaican snacks, coffee, sauces, drinks, trinkets, and Little Kingston gear. Along the west side are three tall tables with modern wood and metal chairs.
I stepped up to the counter and placed my order. Since this was my first time here, I knew I had to try their jerk chicken. I decided to get the Small Jerk Chicken Plate ($13), and the Small Short Rib Plate ($16). Beef patties are a must, so I got one beef and one chicken patty ($3 each or 2 for $5). For drinks, I got one Tropical Rhythms Fruit Punch and one Tropical Rhythms Ginger Sorrell.
(On subsequent visits, I’ve noticed they occasionally have a run on popular items, and at times run out. Grizzada and roti are the two they seem to be out of by time I get there late in the afternoon. “It’s finished,” is usually what I’m told).
I got all this to go. It would serve as lunch and dinner for the next few days.
After I arrived home, the first meal up was the jerk chicken plate. The plate comes with steamed cabbage, rice and peas, plantains, and festival.
The perfectly steamed cabbage has carrots, a few peas, Lima beans, green beans, and a few kernels of corn. Even with being steamed, the vegetables retained a bit of crunch. I could taste a slight hint of seasoning. This brought the flavor up a notch.
I am not really a fan of plantains, but they came with the meal. They did have some firmness, which is good. Even though I’m not a plantain fan, I especially dislike soggy ones.
Rice and peas? Delicious! I could actually taste the rice and it was seasoned nicely. The peas (beans) were firm and tasty. Just about perfect. A sprig of thyme was added on top for good measure. The festival was a bit small but still good. I liked the slightly sweet taste. It helps to slightly temper the heat of the jerk seasoning. Slightly.
When I tasted the chicken, I was pleased to find it was tender and boasted a smoky flavor from the grill. Next, the jerk seasoning hit. Careful. That jerk spice hangs back a bit before it rushes your taste buds…and your lips.
The chicken is good enough to eat just as it is. But Little Kingston gives you a small container of jerk sauce on the side. Remove the lid and the heat from the spice hits your nostrils. Are sure you want to do this? Absolutely! Bring it on! (A word of caution: If you prefer a milder level of spice on your food, do not add the jerk sauce).
This sauce does bring it. It goes very well with the chicken. Had my mouth singing its praises for several minutes after I finished. Ok, feeling the heat for several minutes afterward.
The beef patty and the chicken patty were both very good. The pastry shell was nice and flaky, just as it should be. The ground beef and the chicken filling were both creamy and nicely spiced. I wish I could tell you some of the spices in there but I just can’t distinguish any of them.
The short ribs plate also comes with steamed cabbage, rice and peas, festival. The ribs were tender, though not quite fall-off-the-bone tender. But the bone pulled away from meat with no effort. It is a bit hard to describe the sauce, but it complements the meat well. I had some Grace Jamaican Jerk BBQ Sauce at home and decided to put some of that on the ribs. Oh, man! What flavor! (Shhhh. Don’t tell Little Kingston I did that).
The first time I had jerk barbecue ribs was in a hotel in Ocho Rios. They were mind-blowing. I made some at home using the Grace barbecue sauce. They were mind-blowing, too. These short ribs, after adding the Grace sauce, were better than both of them.
Grace Jerk BBQ sauce is good enough on its own. It almost makes you want to drink it straight from the bottle and bypass the middleman, er, meat.
Let’s talk about the Tropical Rhythms drinks for a moment. Starting with the fruit punch, it has mango, guava, pineapple, grape, orange, lime, passion fruit, and papaya juices. I could taste almost every one of those fruits in there. It has the consistency of a thin puree. Only thing missing is the rum. Hmmm. That gives me an idea…
I would love to tell you how the ginger sorrell tastes. Heck, I’d like to know how the ginger sorrell tastes myself. But I was goofing around, spinning the bottle on my palm and flipping it into the air while I waited for the meal to warm up…and dropped it. Fortunately, the bottle itself didn’t break into too many pieces, but the contents went all over the kitchen floor.
Dining in is nice. You get the full atmosphere with Jamaican music and a lot of Jamaican Patois being spoken. But be forewarned, Little Kingston does a very brisk take-out business. Sometimes it can get quite crowded as people come in to pick up their orders.
Though I’ve been to Kingston, Jamaica a couple of times, I’ve never dined in any of the restaurants there. So I can’t vouch for whether or not Little Kingston brings the taste of Kingston. But I have dined in Ocho Rios many times, including roadside jerk centres. Little Kingston’s fare tastes more like the food in Ocho Rios; closer to it than any other Jamaican restaurant I’ve tried in the States.
Little Kingston Jamaica Restaurant – 5 forks. Very highly recommended. Big up, Little Kingston!
Kanale Eats 