Caroline's cafe
213 Penn Street
Phone: 410-752-3869
Price: $10-$15
Location: Off Pratt St. between Martin Luther King Blvd and Greene Street
Hours: Tues.-Fri.: 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Sat.: 3 p.m.-10 p.m.
Closed daily from 3 p.m. - 5 p.m.
While small in size, Caroline's CafZ featuring Ras Doobie De Chef Catering is one of Baltimore's hidden treasures, a small restaurant with terrific food at affordable prices.
Located right off Pratt Street near the University of Maryland Medical School, the cafZ serves authentic Jamaican cuisine. With its unique atmosphere and personal service the cafZ offers a homely feel not offered in many larger restaurants.
The cafZ itself is only about 20 feet wide, but extends further back into the building. It has a cozy atmosphere and is decorated with posters and paintings celebrating Jamaica, Africa and the Civil rights movement. The smell of incense and dim lighting adds to the experience.
Caroline, the cafZ's namesake, usually serves as the cashier and in most cases waitress. She's quite the funny one, so expect a few sarcastic remarks, but its all in good humor.
The portions come in $10 and $15 sizes. They are Jamaican-style sizes so a $10 size is more than enough for the average diner.
The portions come with one main platter, known as "earth" and two side dishes called "fire." Among the earth dishes are chicken, fish, goat and vegetarian choices. The chicken comes in jerk, curried, brown-stewed, fricassee or fried. The fish is available in jerk, escoveitched, fried, pan fried, steamed and brown stewed form.
The goat is only available curried. The jerk chicken is mildly spicy, and there is a water cooler in the back for those who cannot handle it.
The restaurant uses mainly dark meat chicken, so don't expect a boneless filet. The curried goat is apparently one of their better entrees. If you are as adventurous enough to try goat, then you might be pleasantly surprised.
Other items may be available depending on the day, ranging from different fish-meals to ox tail.
The fire items available are revolution cole slaw, "ital veggies medley of de day," mixed steamed greens, plantains, Jamaican food pot, orange chips with marmalade sauce, Ras Doobie's rice and peas, white rice, queen Nzinga's brown rice and black beans, pumpkin soup and fish. Highly recommended are the rice and peas, which if in a larger portion, could be a meal itself.
Caroline's cafZ sells a variety of items hard to get outside of Jamaica. In addition to an assortment of Jamaican soft drinks, Caroline's also has red stripe beer, wine and sorrel.
The cafZ makes their own homemade passion fruit juice served with a piece of lime. It tastes amazing. The drinks are the only overpriced items on the menu and are small in size. However, it is a unique experience and should at least be sampled.
The building itself is extremely small, so making reservations beforehand is a must. Do not expect to use a check or credit card, for now the cafZ only accepts cash.
The restaurant was named by City Paper to have the best Caribbean Cuisine of 2001, as well as the best veggie burger in 2001.
While smaller in size than many other restaurants in Baltimore, Ras Doobie de Chef Catering at Caroline's CafZ is one of the smaller jewels located in the city where one can enjoy good food with good hospitality in a unique atmosphere. Just be sure to thank Chef Doobie on the way out.
The portions come with one main platter, known as "earth" and two side dishes called "fire.
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