INTEL: Bless up for our favorite Jamaican spots
Our guide to where to go for oxtail, ackee and stew chicken.
From a Jamaican grocery store with midnight bread deliveries from Queens to Mannish water soup every Saturday or a daily breakfast buffet sold by the pound. Bless up with inner luv for our favorite Jamaican spots - SDP
Roy’s Caribbean — New location at 77 North Lake, Albany + Roy's Caribbean Jerk Center Food Truck.
Octogenarian Roy Vincent is still going strong. His former wife kept their location on Henry Johnson Boulevard but Roy has expanded from his petite 266 Central Ave location into larger space at 77 North Lake that includes TVs and ample space for the new custom-fit bar. (They’re waiting on a liquor license.) Roy’s oxtail and stew chicken, steamed cabbage and rice and peas always hit. Pick up his homemade sorrel and look for ripe mangoes at the counter. The food truck is usually downtown near the Capital at lunchtime during the week.Irie Vybez, 313 Central Ave, Albany
Plan ahead since ackee, saltfish and callaloo are only available for breakfast and daily soups depend which day you go with chicken-foot Tuesday, cow-foot Thursday, and Mannish water, the queen of Jamaican soups, on Saturday. But it’s worth the wait for the shimmering marrowbone rich broth with goat meat, yams, potatoes, carrots and dumplings. Irie Vybez is an unfussy space that’s best for takeout with a few tables inside.Hot Spot Jamaican American Cuisine, 244 Washington Ave, Albany
For daily ackee and saltfish is available all day at Hot Spot in its Washington Avenue location near Lark Street. Owner Vincent Douglas, a native of Kingston, Jamaica, makes his own seasoning blends, sorrel and juices and is fiercely proud of his family recipes. This is a dine-in friendly spot with staff sporting orange uniforms and hats and guests whiling away time at the bar.Good Religion Caribbean Buffet + Grill — 28 N. 3rd Street. N. Albany
With a plant wall the length of the space, an LED sign telling diners to “Eat what is good” and box benches in baby blue embossed with the Good Religion logoass. Owner Abigail Julien and Jamaican-born chef-owner Fredrick Douglas (brother of Vincent Douglas, the chef at Main Street) have partnered up with Douglas serving up an excellent self-service full breakfast buffet until 11 a.m. followed by a lunch and dinner buffet. Grab some friends and dine-in for lunch or takeout for dinner. Tip: Be mindful with large portions and heavy bones — buying lunch by the pound can get expensive.Mearl’s African + Caribbean Market, 526 Central Ave, Albany. 518-472-0141
This tightly packed grocery more recently started serving African and Jamaican food from fufu and soup to Jamaican curried chicken. As unassuming as it is from the outside, the food is always good from goat meat and salt fish, to vegan options.One Dream Jamaican Cafe & Lounge, 211 Central Ave, Albany
Marlon Cotterell, a native of Kingston, Jamaica, came to Albany via Lewisham, London; his chef is Odin Wint, a friend from Kingston who moved from Miami to Albany to run the kitchen. One Dream is an all-day breakfast to late night bar-lounge with a cabaret license for DJs in addition to the menu and bar. Get the conch soup, a Bahamian stew with bouncy conch and Scotch-bonnet kick thickened with okra, carrots, shaggy boiled turnip and dumplings, or Jamican escovitch snapper, ackee and saltfish, oxtail or stewed chicken with rice and peas.First Choice Caribbean, 451 Fulton Street, Troy
Already popular as a vendor at the Troy farmers market, First Choice Caribbean sits quietly next to the Whiskey Pickle and Herbie’s Burgers, serving a steady crowd. The clean, welcoming space has bright orange walls and booths for dine-in meals with a menu including brilled chicken, stew beef, pepper steak and curried goat.Paulette’s Grocery, Warren Street, Hudson. 518-697-9078
On lower Warren, Ms. Paulette Clark of Paulette’s Grocery, (formerly West Indies Natural Food & Grocery) has been serving up home-cooked Jamaican meals for over 30 years. This is the last of the Jamaican groceries on a street that has changed from antiques row to dining destination. Clark's shelves are packed with Jamaican spices, packet Cock soup, tins of ackee and collard greens, fresh coco bread delivered from Queens in the middle of the night, and beef patties in the warm case on the counter. The mother of five and grandmother of 17 has a few sidewalk chairs outside and a single table inside. Place your order with Paulette who’ll ask, "Large or small?" before disappearing into the back to pack up oxtail stew, jerk chicken or curried goat in containers piled with steamed cabbage, plantains and rice and beans.Sylvia’s, 105 Main Street, Poughkeepsie
This hot spot is one of our favorite stops for takeout when catching the train from Poughkeepsie to N.Y.C. Traditional Jamaican curries, stews, beef patties and more in simple space.Top Taste Jamaican, 446 Hasbrouck Ave, Kingston
This family-run restaurant clad in green and yellow shingles is twice James Beard-nominated (2020 + 2022) and locally loved for traditional, homestyle Jamaican dishes from oxtail to jerk chicken, curries and stews. The JB nods means Top Taste has been featured in Bon Appetit, Serious Eats, and Forbes. Open all day 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Reliably good with affordable, generous servings.
INTEL: MORE TO KNOW
• Not to be confused with Jamaican Caribbean, A.J.W. Caribbean on Wolf Road is a superb, buffet-style Haitian restaurant in a former strip mall Starbucks.
• Given a shout-out on opening day this summer by Dave Portnoy of Bar Stool Sports, Crave Jamaican is serving classic Jamaican dishes out of Crave Pizza in Queensbury.
• Yeh Mon Jamaican is finally giving Saratoga some Caribbean soul with jerk chicken, jerk wings and a line up of stew chicken, curry chicken, oxtail, rice and peas, coco bread, beef patties + rum cake. Located in the Knights of Columbus.
• Although Saratoga’s Bjorn Burke is Exec. chef of the new Fillie’s on Phila, the Jamaican chef still occasionally pops up with a Jamaican menu in local spots like The Night Owl in Saratoga and the Whiskey Pickle in Troy.
Got another favorite? Tell us here.