Maxine’s, situated in a drab single-story building beside a carryout seafood store on ever-busy 87th Street, doesn’t look like much from the outside. Things improve inside, but there’s no denying this Maxine is dressed in frayed clothing. Booths and tables provide seating, but there often is a line awaiting carryout orders at the cash register in front. Sit-down customers are made welcome and served well by a casually dressed staff that marches to its own drummer.
A lengthy menu has a Jamaican accent, but some of the items are not available: Our server shook her head “no”when we requested soup and a beef patty side order “We never have everything,”she said. “People don’t eat much soup in the summer, so we stopped serving it.”
So we tried another tack: “What do you have today?”That led to our being served an order of plantains ($1), kingfish steak ($6 for a weekday lunch portion, $10 for a dinner portion in brown stew), curried goat ($6 for lunch, $9 for a dinner portion) and jerk chicken (also $6 and $9). Fresh carrot juice ($3.50) served on ice was delicious, and Jamaican kola ($1.25), a carbonated soda, had an innocuous vanilla taste.
Jerk chicken was the outstanding dish. Half of a bronze-skinned bird, thoroughly cooked and hacked into small pieces, was presented with an ample serving of very tasty, fluffy brown rice with pigeon peas and an iceberg lettuce salad. A packet of dressing came with the salad. The chicken had been seasoned with jerk, the famous dry rub native to the island of Jamaica. There’s considerable latitude in preparing the rub and this version was relatively tame, though reflecting goodly amounts of garlic and such fragrant spices as cinnamon, allspice and clove. There was nothing tame, though, about the dark pool of brown sauce presented on the side. Salty and fiery hot from chilies, it would be best to sample a small amount on the rice and chase it with a bite of sweet, starchy plantain. After this test, use it in whatever quantity is tolerable.
Though it is a very tough sell in America, goat meat should please diners who like lamb. It is best roasted or, in this case, stewed. The mixture of spices and seasonings in a Caribbean curry is less complex than it is in the curries of India. The meat was well cooked, firm and still moist, but the sauce was marred by a burned taste.
The kingfish steak was fried on both sides then cooked in a broth with tomatoes, onion and other vegetables. The flesh was firm but not very flavorful.
Other popular dishes include the beef and spinach patties ($1.50), fish fritters ($1.50), the aforementioned plantains, jerk catfish ($9), and oxtails and beans ($9). The menu’s desserts include Jamaican fruitcake ($2.50), coconut cake ($1.50) and bread pudding ($2).
Maxine’s serves no alcoholic beverages, but you can bring your own.
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Maxine’s Caribbean Spice
(1 fork)
1225 E. 87th St.
773-933-4714
Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Mon.-Thurs.; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sun.
Credit Cards: D, M, V
Noise level: Conversation friendly
Ratings key:
4 forks: Don’t miss it
3 forks: One of the best
2 forks: Very good
1 fork: Good
Reviews are based on anonymous visits by Tribune staff members. The meals are paid for by the Tribune.
