A while back I noticed a new food truck parked on 37th & Broadway on my way to the Comme Ci, Comme Ça truck parked nearby called Sunrise Grill. Shortly after the Midtown Lunch team was all over it and reported in that it was a new Jamaican food truck. Since I usually reserve Fridays for my “splurge lunch” in terms of non-healthiness and price, I checked it out.
After a little internal debate in my head between the oxtail and goat curry, I decided since it was my first time at the truck to the jerk chicken. I mean it probably is the national dish of Jamaica, so if they can’t do that right, why bother with the other dishes?
While waiting to place my order, I also saw on the menu “fry dumplings” for 50 cents each. Jamaican dumplings? Interesting. All the dishes come in three sizes for $7, $9, or $11. I ordered the medium size of jerk chicken. I wasn’t sure how big the medium would be so I thought about ordering a side of the fry dumplings. I asked the guy what they were first and he basically said “oh they’re just fried bread, here try one.” So while I waited for him to put together my order, I munched on the dumpling which was simply a ball of fried dough. It was pretty dry, so I don’t think it was meant to be eaten on its own. Regardless it was really nice of the guy to give me one to try rather than buy one and be disappointed. Since I only spent $9 I ended up just letting the guy keep the change as tip as a thank you for the good service. I am of the group who don’t usually tip at food trucks especially when the server is the owner. Tip jars have overrun society and need to be stopped!
On to the jerk chicken!
For a “medium” size, the portion was HUGE. There was a lot of chicken with a couple sweet plantain, rice & beans, and a warm cole slaw. The chicken had a good amount of char from the grill that reminded me of cooking in the backyard. It was covered in a savory jerk sauce that had just the right amount of sweetness. I could have used a bit more spice as I expect jerk chicken to be spicy, but I guess the cook wants to cater to the masses. The rice and beans were pretty al dente, but I ate them anyway to get as much sauce in my belly as possible. The plantains were pretty good, although nothing special as expected. The warm slaw was strange. It was not seasoned at all. I am no expert on Jamaican food, so I’m not sure if it was supposed to be like that. If you know, let me know in the comments.
Rice & Beans
BONUS(I ended up returning a 2nd time before the post went live).
I returned to the truck for another lunch with one thing on my mind: Goat Curry. I went with another medium portion so it set me back $9. It came with the same side of rice & beans, warm slaw and plaintains.
I also grabbed a little container of hot sauce since I was a little under-whelmed by the spice in the chicken last time.
Once again, the portion was HUGE! That’s a lot of meat. It was super tender and fell off the bone. I was surprised I wasn’t given a knife, but I didn’t need it. The goat was not gamey at all. It had great flavor with the heat from the spice sneaking up the back of my throat. I promptly discarded the container of hot sauce since it was not needed. Be careful of the bones, some of them were pretty small. I could tell that this had been slow cooked in the oven for hours and hours. I would love to be able to make this. The rice and beans were cooked a lot better this time, but were also helped by the generous ladles of sauce over it. The slaw worked well when also eaten with the sauce. This was at least 10x better than the chicken.
All in all, I was quite happy with my lunch from Sunrise Grill. While not everything on my plate was great, it was still pretty good and relatively healthy. Having a friendly server was also very important. Go for the goat curry, skip the jerk chicken. Check back on Thursday when I visit another food truck just a block away.
Sunrise Grill Truck
parked on 37th bet. Broadway & 6th
Feisty Foodie says
Looks great! About the ‘warm slaw’ – I’ve had Jamaican food from trucks a few times, and I was given the impression it was boiled cabbage/veggies, not much to it, and it’s been relatively salt-free when I’ve eaten it. Don’t know if that’s just the trucks I went to (downtown, Veronica’s and one other). Anyway, this looks great!
Dunno why you say it’s relatively healthy though 😉
CT says
I may have to argue the “relatively healthy” statement, but regardless that goat curry looks awesome!
The chicken looks good in the pic…too bad it wasn’t that spicy.
TT says
grilled chicken and stewed meat with rice. how is that bad?
chakrateeze says
First time I had goat was in India. Man, was it good! In Memphis, the only place I can get goat meat is at one, lonely Halal market. Why? Goats are easy to raise, require less grazing area than cattle and the meat is very lean (I saw this program and goats only store fat around their kidneys, not within their flesh).
Maybe we should reconsider the Mexi-Korean food truck idea, TT.
Tracie
david says
Another Memphian? What are the odds?
Sometimes the Winchester Farmers Market has goat available, so that could be an alternative to the Mediterranean Market on Park (I assume that’s the place you’re talking about). Probably a lot farther from your residence, though.
Plus you can at least get prepared goat at the Indian places, a few of the Mexican places, and the Ethiopian place on Poplar. Probably some other places, too.
I’m definitely with you that I wish it was more easily found, though. Maybe if we can get enough like-minded people together we could approach a butcher or grocery and start making friendly suggestions?
chakrateeze says
I was talking about the halal meat market on Sycamore View (I live in Bartlett). I didn’t know about the Farmer’s Market, thanks for tip! I love the Ethiopian place, Absynnia, and I’ve had goat there. And in a few Mexican places. But, I kind of meant it should be chef’s new darling. Be the new pork belly.
Yeah, let’s band together and see what we can do.
Tracie
david says
This may be blasphemy, but I would really prefer goat to pork belly. Or maybe I’ve just never had amazing pork belly.
And be warned (in case you were unaware), the Winchester Farmers Market is actually a grocery store, not a farmers’ market. Amazing selection of stuff and great prices. It’s in a shopping center at the corner of Winchester and Kirby (on the East side of Kirby/North side of Winchester).
T.C. says
MmmMmm I miss jerk chicken. I want some!! The cabbage&carrots is a standard side, along with rice&peas, and plaintains! I wonder how they compare to the Dutchy cart.
Oh, jamaican fry dumpling is basically a fried piece of dough. No meat in it. I don’t eat them but I would describe them as a fried bun than any dumplings I’m used to.
deanlo says
Points for calling it rice and peas instead of rice and beans!
Extra kudos if you pronounced it rassenpees in your head like I did.
Hungry says
Woah! This looks really good. Too bad I try to save money and bring my own lunch. I will put this on my splurge worthy days though…and make my coworkers jealous!
TT says
it was only $9 for a medium, which was HUGE! the small is $7, which I’m sure is quite sizeable
stephanie says
Hey
just went looking for the truck and it’s not there. is it there only on certain days?
TT says
Stephanie- Sorry to hear that. I thought it was on 37th & Broadway everyday.