Take Us to the Islander
With all the great Ethiopian and soul food restaurants arrayed along U Street, it can be easy to overlook The Islander, whose kitchen has been preparing the Trinidadian take on Carribean food for 30 years. Characterized by slow-cooked stews, curried goat and oxtail, all of which can be bundled within a blanket of roti, Carribean cuisine is a colonial fusion of African and South Asian cuisines.
Though the sparsely decorated interior is hardly transporting, the large party that filled the restaurant on a recent Sunday succeeded where the decor did not. We unwittingly stumbled into the middle of what seemed to be a post-church family luncheon/birthday party. About 30 Caribbean revelers occupied more than half the restaurant, talking, passing around family photos, and greeting late-comers with big hugs. At first, the situation bordered on uncomfortable, as we actually felt like we’d just insinuated ourselves into someone else’s life. But, as it says on the menu, chef Mama Addie’s philosophy is that “we cook for ourselves, and we invite you to join.” So we did.
We started out with a small cup of callaloo, a soup blending leafy greens such as spinach and dasheen, the latter of which is also known as the more familiar taro leaf. This hearty stew of green veggies was warm, garlicky, and packed with spices, the combination of which felt positively restorative.
Though a number of entrees were enticing, we figured the curry goat and brown stew chicken might best showcase the kitchen's skills. The curry goat was conservatively spiced with curry—just enough to get the point across—and must have been cooked for a day, as the bones were already bare by the time the food reached our table. The rice and peas (the peas are actually bean-like pigeon peas) were spicy and delicious with an appealing dirty rice effect enhancing their savor. Although we realize dishes that use the word “delight” in their name are usually anything but delightful, the cabbage delight was an exception. Lightly pickled red and green cabbage, as well as red pepper, were sufficiently briny and crunchy, serving as a cold counterpoint to the steamy stewy goat.
The brown stew chicken easily had the more impressive presence of the two entrees. Brown stew chicken is slow cooked in a sauce that often includes, among other things, Worcestershire sauce, coconut milk, and brown sugar. And at first glance, the sauce's deep mahogany hue lent it the appearance of greater power than it actually had. Instead, the sauce is lightly sweet with a subtle kick (which the kitchen is willing to ampify), and those flavors completely infuse the tender chicken. The accompanying curry potatoes were a bit saucy for our taste, and not even half as powerful as a typical Indian currry. Still, we appreciated their judicious use of the yellow spice.
While the entrees offered subtle spicing, their beverages were anything but subtle: We opted for a syrupy glass of sorrel, a bright red hibiscus drink spiked with a bit of allspice, and a very spicy pull of their homemade ginger beer, which really tasted like an entire fist of ginger root was incorporated into the mix (which it probably was). Should we require a more curative quencher next time, we'll have a go at their version of mauby.
For dessert, we were initially bummed to hear that all that was available was cake, which is usually our least favorite dessert option. However, we figured this could provide an entirely new frontier for our palates, so we ordered a slice of the only cake they had available that day. And indeed, the insanely eggy wedge of pineapple cake that came our way was a dessert revelation. This extremely moist slice of heaven came loaded with a sweet and tangy pineapple topping. It managed to be both dense and refreshing at the same time. The Islander's cake-making prowess is clearly their kitchen's secret weapon.
And though nearly every bit of available intel on the Islander led us to expect service that would be, at best, glacial in its pacing, our server that day was supremely efficient. This may have been an anomaly, so those interested in checking out this restaurant have been forewarned.
Know of other quality Caribbean? Let us know in the comments.
The Islander
1201 U Street
(202) 234-4971