Kamala Harris Inaugurated As California Attorney General

California Attorney General Kamala Harris (left) with U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein

Kamala Devi Harris was sworn in as the first female, first African-American and first Asian-American state attorney general today.

Harris, 46, was San Francisco's District Attorney from 2004-2011, and is the daughter of a Jamaican father and a Tamil Indian mother. She is unmarried.

Eye Candy: Keston Karter

Today's Eye Candy model is Keston Karter, a model/actor who was born in the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago (West Indies in the house!) and now lives and works in New York City.

In 2009, he was in a faux scandal where he was rumored to be the gay boy toy of a professional athlete. He denied the gay rumors in an LGBT-supportive way, which I give him much props for.

He has also been a featured Eye Candy model at Essence.com. He is on Facebook, Myspace and Twitter.

Hat/tip to Ebony Swag.

FOOD REVIEW: Juicy's Restaurant (Los Angeles, CA)

Juicy's brown stew chicken and beef short ribs.

Readers of this blog will be aware of my longtime quest for the best Caribbean food in Los Angeles (for background, see here and here). During my quest a friend of mine took me to Juicy's Natural Restaurant near Washington and Arlington just North of the 10 freeway. I hadn't even heard of the place, so I was happy to try it out. Next door they have a West Indian grocery store for products that you may be missing from the islands.

Unfortunately, I was not very impressed with the food at Juicy's. One of my favorite aspects of West Indian food is the peas and rice, and Juicy's was simply overcooked to the point of being bland. The brown stew chicken should be intriguingly spicy (piquant, not picante) but theirs was not really distinctive in any way. See my review of Joan & Sisters for some good brown-stew chicken and rice and peas. Although that place does not qualify as a West Indian restaurant; they are a Belizean restaurant and an excellent one at that.

I'm actually not sure if Juicy's roti or not (one criteria for my quest for an excellent Caribbean/West Indian restaurant is that it should sell roti; another criteria would be having the drink sorrel on the menu).

If you are really craving some good Caribbean food I would recommend heading out to Leimert Park to check out Ackee Bamboo or stopping by the Beverly Center and experiencing Kassava.

Name: Juicy's Restaurant
Location: 3426 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90018.
Contact: (none).

AMBIANCE: B.
SERVICE: B+.
VALUE: A-.
FOOD: B-.

OVERALL: B.

Eye Candy: Ulisses Williams

Ulisses Williams, Jr. is a 34-year-old natural bodybuilder of West Indian and West African descent (according to Black Flex) who lives and works in New York City.

June is also Caribbean-American Heritage Month!

The President has proclaimed June LGBT Pride Month. However, he has also recognized it as Caribbean-American Heritage Month:

Presidential Proclamation--Caribbean-American Heritage Month

Our Nation is linked to the Caribbean by our geography as well as our shared past and common aspirations. During National Caribbean-American Heritage Month, we pay tribute to the diverse cultures and immeasurable contributions of all Americans who trace their heritage to the Caribbean.

Throughout our history, immigrants from Caribbean countries have come to our shores seeking better lives and opportunities. Others were brought against their will in the bonds of slavery. All have strived to ensure their children could achieve something greater and have preserved the promise of America for future generations.

During the month of June, we also honor the bonds of friendship between the United States and Caribbean countries. This year's devastating earthquake in Haiti has brought untold grief to the Haitian-American community, many who continue to mourn the loss of loved ones as they help rebuild their homeland. These families and individuals remain in our thoughts and prayers. The United States has proudly played a leading role in the international response to this crisis, which included vital contributions from countries throughout the Caribbean. As Haiti recovers, we will remain a steady and reliable partner.

This month, we celebrate the triumph of Caribbean Americans, a diverse community that encompasses many nationalities and languages. They have become leaders in every sector of American life while maintaining the varied traditions of their countries of origin. Caribbean Americans enrich our national character and strengthen the fabric of our culture, and we are proud they are part of the American family.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2010 as National Caribbean-American Heritage Month. I call upon all Americans to celebrate the history and culture of Caribbean Americans with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.

BARACK OBAMA

Gay Rights Parade in Cuba

Photo credit: Franklin Reyes

Ever since I visited Cuba for two weeks in 2006 (see pictures on Flickr) I have been interested in the island, especially in the progress of the nascent LGBT rights movement I interacted with while there.

Today comes multiple news reports of a march in the Vedado section of Havana (which is where I stayed) in support of gay rights in honor of tomorrow's International Day Against Homophobia.

A lot of the progress is due to Mariela Castro, President Raul Castro's daughter, who has long been an advocate for LGBT equality in Cuba. She was quoted by the Associated Press saying "We have made progress, but we need to make more progress,"

Hat/tip to Rod 2.0.

Eye Candy: Jhonatan Z

Another great find from the discerning eye of David Dust: Jhonatan Z. He's a Dominican Republic-born 26-year-old model currently living in New York City. I love how David not only shows some hot shots of his choices but also has personal identifying information about them. Jhonatan has a Bachelor's degree in computer information systems.

Celebrity Friday: Nhojj

Nhojj has the #1 video on MTV's Top100 list. And he's openly gay. Born in Guyana but raised in Trinidad, he has a degree in Economics from NYU. And now he is being considered the vanguard of a gay music revolution by Billboard magazine. Represent!

Here's the award-winning video for the song called "Love."

SASOD Files Lawsuit Against Guyana Cross-Dressing Law

Official flag of Guyana

Guyana's Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of that country's archaic law against "cross-dressing."

In a series of crackdowns last year between February 6 and 7, the Guyana police arrested a number of male-to-female transgender persons (MtF Trans) and charged them for ‘cross-dressing’ under the archaic Colonial section 153(1)(xlvii) statute. Unrepresented and completely unaware of their rights, the defendants were detained in police custody over the week-end and then hustled through the legal system. When they appeared before Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson on February 9, 2009, they were further ridiculed and told that they are men not women, before being fined by the learned Chief Magistrate. Seon Clarke, also known as Falatama, one of the persons arrested, said: “It was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life. I felt like I was less than human.” The motion also pleads that the Chief Magistrate was improperly influenced by irrelevant considerations, discriminated against the MtF Trans on the basis of religion, and violated a fundamental norm of Guyana as a secular state. Vigorous and wide-ranging calls within and out of Guyana for the repeal of these discriminatory laws which facilitate such injustices have been ignored by the government.

Since then, SASOD has forged partnerships with human rights interests in the local and regional arenas who have been working collectively and consistently on a voluntary basis over the past year to assist this marginalized group to obtain access to justice for the atrocities endured at the instance of the law enforcement authorities. The 2009 ‘cross-dressing’ crackdowns and prosecutions provided clear illustrations of how discriminatory laws are facilitating grave human rights’ abuses, in spite of the existence of an entrenched regime of human rights protection in the Guyana constitution. Leading the research initiatives to support strategic-impact, human-rights litigation in the region, Tracy Robinson of the University of the West Indies Rights Advocacy Project (U-RAP) based at the Cave Hill campus’ law faculty in Barbados described the arrests and prosecutions as “an unfortunate embodiment of the patriarchal use of coercive state power for no clear or rational purpose,” highlighting the need for law reform to ensure social justice and gender equity in Guyana and across the region.

SASOD has mobilized support from local and regional human rights attorneys to provide representation in what amounts to a ground-breaking constitutional case. According to Dr. Arif Bulkan, also of U-RAP and one of Guyanese attorneys involved in the litigation, “unless the wide-ranging constitutional reforms conducted in 2001 and 2003 are to be dismissed as pure window-dressing, then the emphasis placed on non-discrimination during that process should guide the High Court to interpret the expanded equality rights generously in order to protect one of our society’s most marginalised groups.”

Veronica Cenac, a St. Lucian attorney who serves as the human rights focal point on the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition board of governors, lauded SASOD for spearheading the case. “For way too long, we have allowed abuses against the most affected populations to go unchallenged,” she said, quoting the closing words of the UN Secretary-General’s message: “Lack of social justice anywhere is an affront to us all.”

At last year's Global Arc of Justice conference at UCLA Law School I met some Caribbean LGBT activists and heard first-hand from them about some of the indignities suffered by members of the LGBT community living in the British Caribbean countries (like Barbados, Grenada, Trinidad, Jamaica, Guyana etc) as well as their plans for redress.

I am glad to see the resistance to institutionalized homophobia in these jurisdictions is starting to reach a heightened level of activity (and even mainstream press coverage!) I will endeavor to keep track of the progress of this lawsuit and other efforts to combat homophobia and transphobia in the Caribbean.

Usain Bolt Breaks 200M World Record (Again)!

Following up on his stunning 9.58s turn in the 100m dash earlier in the week at the World Championships in Berlin, 22-year-old Jamaican track and field sensation Usain Bolt broke his own world record in the 200m by running a ridiculous 19.19s, again .11s better than the previous world record.

Bolt humiliated the field, winning by .62s ahead of second-place Alonso Edward of Panama (19.81s) and the pulchritudinous Wallace Spearmon of the United States (19.85s).

In his last 5 championship races, Usain Bolt has set 5 world records.

Usain Bolt DESTROYS 100M World Record: 9.58s!

Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter who won the 100m and 200m Gold medals in world record time (19.30s and 9.69s) at the Beijing Olympics one year ago shattered his own record in the 100m dash with a staggering 9.58s run yesterday at the World Championships in Berlin. See the video above.

Tyson Gay, the top American sprinter, ran a career-best 9.71s, the third-fastest time in history, but even that time would not have beaten Bolt's time from last year, and was nowhere close to the Jamaican 22-year-old's stunning mark of 9.58s, a full .11 second faster than the previous world record. The largest delta (or change) in the history of digital record keeping which began in 1977.

Hat/tip Rod 2.0

FOOD REVIEW: Derrick's Jamaican Cuisine

coconut shrimp


brown stew chicken

MadProfessah checked out Derrick's Jamaican Cuisine (6806 La Tijera Blvd. Los Angeles, CA, 90045; 310-641-7572) the other day and was pleasantly surprised.

As regular readers of the blog will know, I have a long standing quest to find authentic, cheap, good West Indian/Caribbean food in Los Angeles. So far, the best Caribbean food in Los Angeles County I have found is Ackee Bamboo in Leimert Park.

I had visited Derrick's a long time ago (before this blog started) and was not terribly impressed. However, this visit was different. I ordered the coconut shrimp as an appetizer, followed by the brown stew chicken (which is a traditional and very common West Indian dish).

The coconut shrimp was deliciously crunchy and was matched with a delicious sweet, spicy and tangy sauce for dipping. The brown stew chicken was also excellent, well-matched with rice and peas, fried plaintains and some pretty sad steamed vegetables. The brown stew chicken is not overwhelmingly spicy-hot (that would be the jerk chicken) but instead is filled with what seems like dozens of subtle spices that delight the senses. It is also perfectly cooked, moist and falling off the bone.

Derrick's is definitely a place to get decent Jamaican and Caribbean cuisine, with a fancier (and less authentic) ambiance than other sources of West Indian fare in Los Angeles, like the Caribbean Treehouse, Juicy's and Wi Jammin that MadProfessah has also sampled recently.

AMBIANCE: B+.
SERVICE: B+.
VALUE: B.
FOOD: A-.

OVERALL: B+.

Today is National Caribbean-American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Today, June 8, is National Caribbean-American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. MadProfessah was born in Grenada and grew up in Barbados so I consider myself Caribbean-American or West Indian. Here are some facts about HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean and among Caribbean-Americans:

* HIV infection rates in the Caribbean are the highest in the world outside of Africa, with an estimated prevalence of 2.1%

* Unaids estimates that there are 440,000 adults and children living with HIV/AIDs in the Caribbean

* Haiti has the highest prevalence rate - over 6% of the adult population is living with HIV/AIDS

* AIDS is the leading cause of death among sexually active adults in Haiti and other Caribbean countries

BOOK REVIEW: Junot Diaz' THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO

Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is an amazing first novel which won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Mad Professah read the book during my trip to Italy in January 2008.

As readers of this blog may know, I follow the winners of the Hugo and Nebula awards pretty closely. These are the awards for speculative fiction, which is a great pastime of mine.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is not a science fiction or fantasy book, but it is about the people who read those kinds of books and will especially resonate more intensely with people familiar with the classics of those genres.

The story follows Oscar, a 300-plus pound Dominican "nerd" who is obsessed with science fiction and fantasy as well as unlucky in love.


However, the book also weaves in the story of Oscar's family, especially his mother and sister, and in so doing vividly depicts life on the island of Santo Domingo as well as the barrios of New Jersey. In a somewhat controversial stylistic choice, the author uses footnotes to includes fascinating historical details on the Dominican Republic as well as the liberal inclusion of several Spanish words throughout the text which he does not translate, but leaves to the reader to obtain their meaning from the context (which is usually possible). I imagine that a Spanish speaker would have an even more resonant experience with the work.

I was completely enchanted with this book. Not only is it enjoyable by people familiar with Hobbits, Star Trek, Star Wars and other science fiction tropes but I would also recommended it to people with an immigrant or bicultural background, who have enjoyed the works of Jhumpa Lahiri (whose The Namesake was one of my favoite books in 2006).


One aspect of writing reviews of book for this blog that I have noticed is that books that I really, really like often take the longest for me to sit down and complete an official review. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is definitely in that category, but it is a book I think about often even though I finished it nearly 16 months ago. And how many books (or, really works of art, period) can one say that about?

PLOT: A.
IMAGERY: A.
IMPACT: A+.
WRITING: A+.

OVERALL GRADE: A/A+.

Jamaican LGBT Activist Opposes Jamaican Boycott

There's a large debate going on in LGBT activist circles about the call by three white gay male activists (Wayne Besen, Jim Burroway and Michael Petrelis) calling for a boycott of Jamaica due to the rampant, state-sanctioned homophobia on the Caribbean island nation.

However, local LGBT activists on the ground in Jamaica and expatriate Jamaican activists have released statements opposing the move by the Americans. Last night, after the Boycott Jamaica folks had a "rum dump" at the Stonewall Inn in New York City, former spokesperson for the Jamaican LGBT group (called J-FLAG) Gareth Henry released a statement:

END THE CALL TO BOYCOTT JAMAICA

I think it is disingenuous of Michael Petrelis and the group in San Francisco to use my release of last year to support your boycott issues of this year.

I was part of the Canada-based attempts at a boycott last year. We learned numerous lessons from that attempt, not least among which is the fact that the lives of LGBT persons in Jamaica are at risk. I have therefore changed my strategy and will do nothing without the inclusion of my colleagues in Jamaica. I implore you to do the same and do not support your present efforts.

The struggle to gain rights and freedoms for the LGBT community in Jamaica will never be won by groups acting independently, but through a coordinated effort of selfless persons, groups and organizations, both locally and internationally.

This call for a boycott of Jamaica is outrageous and counter productive. The attack on Red Stripe is appalling and unacceptable; of all the corporate organizations in Jamaica, they were the ones who were willing to stand out and denounce violence against any group of persons.

This self-seeking effort/campaign of the group in San Francisco needs to end now. JFLAG has stated they do not support the boycott and that needs to be respected. If the community that you claim that this boycott will benefit is not in support, what is your purpose of continuing?

It is only when we work together we will make the difference.

Gareth Henry
Former Co-Chair and Program Manager
Jamaica Forum for Lesbians All-Sexuals and Gays

Boycotts are difficult to pull off at the best of times, but generally the first rule of doing international LGBT activism is to "First do no harm" and it is always important to get the support of the local activists in the country in question. It looks like the "Boycott Jamaica" folks are either uninterested or deliberately dismissive of the opinions of actual Jamaican LGBT people on their proposed actions.

Hat/tip to Alex Blaze at Bilerico for the text of the Gareth Henry statement.

Obama Administration Lifts Some Cuba Travel Restrictions

The Obama Administration has announced that they are making some minor changes to the current restrictions on contacts with the Communist island nation of Cuba. According to the Huffington Post:

In a measured break with a half-century of U.S. policy toward communist Cuba, the Obama administration lifted restrictions Monday on Cuban-Americans who want to travel and send money to their island homeland.

In a further gesture of openness, U.S. telecommunications firms were freed to seek business there, too. But the broader U.S. trade embargo remained in place.

The White House portrayed its changes, which fulfilled one of President Barack Obama's campaign promises, as a path to promoting personal freedom in one of the few remaining communist nations. They also marked another major step away from the foreign policy priorities of the Bush administration.

But the moves fell far short of the more drastic policy adjustments that some _ including Republican Sen. Richard Lugar _ have argued are required to promote U.S. interests in Latin America and to bring about change in Cuba. For most Americans, Cuba remains the only country in the world their government prohibits them from visiting _ a barrier to potential travelers as well as to the Cuban tourist industry that would like to see them.

Washington Note blogger Steve Clemons was not impressed.

So, applause for the Cuban-American oriented efforts. Better than nothing -- but not nearly enough. And the precedent is worrisome and disconcerting.

We did not open up relations with Vietnam by restricting travel to Vietnamese-Americans. We really should not be doing this with Cuba either.

What is happening is that Barack Obama has started the ball moving forward -- and is opening up something he knows many will find completely unacceptable and discriminatory.

Separate is not equal -- and that is what Barack Obama's team has just moved forward.

[...]

Obama has also eased up restrictions on humanitarian gifts and packages to Cuba -- which was really needed after the recent devastating hurricanes this past year. Humanitarian relief has been something we should have eased long ago -- and this was a good step.

Now, my hunch is that Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod see that they have "done enough" to check off the boxes for what they have promised the right wing, moderates, and even left wing of the Cuban-American community that felt collectively strangled by the tightness of the Bush administration restrictions.

As one of the few Americans who have visited Cuba on an academic travel waiver to participate in a conference and do research on the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools I completely agree with Steve Clemons, who is a well-known foreign policy expert on Latin America and the Caribbean.

Interestingly, the policy was announced just days before President Obama travels to Trinidad and Tobago for the 5th Summit of the Americas (in which Cuba is not allowed to participate) this weekend.

Caribbean Athletes (Nearly) Sweep 100m Medals

Caribbean-born athletes are beginning to sweep the most prestigious track and field events at the Beijing Olympics. Usain Bolt of Jamaica set an Olympic and World record of 9.69s in the 100m dash, ahead of Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago (9.89s) and American Walter Dix was third in a person best of 9.93 seconds. Bolt, is a 6-foot-5-inch 21-year-old (lawd have mercy!) who just started running the 100 meter dash in 2008--his speciality is the 200 m dash. Former world record holder Jamaican Asafa Powell placed 5th with 9.95, behind Churandy Martina of the Netherland Antilles with 9.93. Another Jamaican, Michael Frater was 6th with 9.97, the first time 6 of the 8 competitors ran sub-10 second times in the Olympic gold medal100m final.

In the women's 100 meter final Jamaicans (Shelly-Ann Fraser, Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart) swept the top 3 positions.

Gay Jamaican Man Wins Asylum in U.S.

Mad Professah just received a press release from reporter and blogger Rex Wockner about the granting of asylum in the United States to a gay man from Jamaica by law students at Columbia University Law School's Clinic on Gender and Sexuality:

NEW YORK (November 8, 2007) - Today, Columbia Law School's Sexuality and
Gender Law Clinic secured asylum for Ven Messam, a gay man who feared
persecution if forced to return to Jamaica because of his sexual
orientation. The grant of asylum, issued by the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security, comes at a time when conditions for gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) people in Jamaica are getting more
dangerous by the day.

Within just the last month, gay Jamaicans have been murdered and the
government has not intervened. Rampant rumors that hostile groups are
plotting the social cleansing of hundreds of gay people by year's end have
forced countless GLBT people into hiding. Far from a tropical paradise,
this Caribbean nation continues to imprison and kill its gay citizens with
relative impunity.

"I am grateful to the United States government for saving my life," said
Mr. Messam. "My life in Jamaica was constantly in danger, with angry mobs
carrying machetes, stones, knives, and guns, threatening to kill me
because I am gay. When I tried to contact the police for help, the police
instead threatened to arrest me and told me to leave the country if I
wanted to stay safe."

"This asylum grant highlights the particularly severe dangers facing gay
Jamaicans. From election campaigns that use songs which promote burning
and killing gay people to police support for violent, anti-gay mobs, the
Jamaican government is actively menacing and endangering its gay
citizens," said Professor Suzanne B. Goldberg, director of the Sexuality
and Gender Law Clinic.

"Mr. Messam's personal story, and the stories of countless other Jamaicans
demonstrate the terrifying situation facing GLBT individuals in Jamaica"
said Simrin Parmar, one of the Columbia law students who worked on this
case. "We are thankful that Mr. Messam will be able to live openly as a
gay man--safe from government-sponsored persecution," remarked Jennifer
Stark, another Columbia law student who worked on this case, "but it is
alarming to think about the fate of other GLBT people in Jamaica who are
not as fortunate."

Mr. Messam was referred to Columbia's Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic by
Immigration Equality, a national organization focused on immigration
rights for GLBT individuals, which provided important assistance in the
case.

Since this past September, four students from Columbia's Sexuality and
Gender Clinic--Simrin Parmar '08, Jennifer Stark '09, Jonathan Lieberman
'08, and Eileen Plaza '09--have provided legal assistance in preparing
their client's application for asylum. The students spent many months
conducting interviews, drafting affidavits, researching country
conditions, filling out necessary forms, accompanying their client to the
New York asylum office, and providing assistance during his interview.

"This experience--where students are responsible for working through the
challenges of a case that makes a real world difference in an emerging and
important area of law--is what the Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic is all
about," said Professor Suzanne B. Goldberg. "Thanks to the students'
work, we can now provide supporting materials to asylum advocates for gay
Jamaicans anywhere in the world," she added.

Columbia Law School's Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic began in September
2006 and currently has eight students. Under Professor Goldberg's
guidance, students have worked on a wide range of projects, from
constitutional litigation to legislative advocacy to immigration cases.
Through the broad scope of its work, clinic students have had the
opportunity to serve both individual and organizational clients, and they
have devoted over 6,500 hours to cases involving issues of sexuality and
gender law. For more information, please visit
http://www.law.columbia.edu/focusareas/clinics/sexuality.

With the movement of IGLHRC's Asylum Project to another organization a few weeks ago, it is heartening to see other organizations stepping up to conduct this very important work.

Update on gay rights in Puerto Rico

Andrés at Blabbeando has a great chronological summary of the current struggle to pass gay rights legislation in Puerto Rico. The latest development is that the Archbishop of Puerto Rico Roberto González Nieves has endorsed domestic partnership legislation (El Nuevo Día)

En un giro inesperado, el arzobispo de San Juan, Roberto González Nieves, comparecerá hoy por segunda ocasión ante la comisión revisora del Código Civil para proponer una variante de las uniones de hecho, que definió como “uniones domésticas”.

Una “unión doméstica”, según González Nieves, está constituida por dos o más personas que residan bajo un mismo techo y que exista entre ellas un conjunto de derechos y deberes que nacen de la vida en común o de un pacto expreso.

According to babelfish.altavista.com, this translates as:

In an unexpected turn, the archbishop of San Juan, González Robert Nieves, will appear today for the second time before the revisory commission of the Civil Code to propose a variant of the unions in fact, that he defined as "domestic unions".

A "domestic union", according to González Nieves, is constituted by two or more people tha[t] reside under a same ceiling and that exists among them a set of rights and duties that are born of the life in common or of an express pact.

The Quest Is Over: Good Caribbean Food Found In Los Angeles

BBQ ribs with plaintains, rice and peas, steamed vegetables and johnny cake.

Brown stew chicken with fried plaintains, rice and peas, steamed vegetables and johnny cake.

MadProfessah's long nightmare is now over. My ongoing quest for good Caribbean food in Los Angeles has been completed. I have finally discovered Ackee Bamboo restaurant in Leimert Park. Aparently it's been around for over a year beause I saw a commendation signed by former Inglewood City Councilman (now Assemblymember) Curren Price dated November 2005 praising the restaurant's commitment to the Best of Jamaican cuisine.

Last week, I went to 4305 Degnan Boulevard (at the corner of 43rd Street) and ordered the Special of the Day (barbecue ribs) as well as the brown stew chicken for takeout. Both meals came with fried plaintains, rice and peas, steamed vegetables and johnny cake. The portions were quite generous. The ambience is very simple, with medium-sized photographs of indigenous Caribbean fruits and flowers dotting the walls above cheap but functional furniture.
You come here for the food,m and it does not disappoint.

Both meals were delicious, but particularly the brown stew chicken is something I intend to make a regular habit of ordering. It is moist, tender and spicy without being overly hot. The plaintains were not overly sweet and contrasted nicely with brown stew. The peas and rice were pleasantly starchy as I remember from home-cooked meals. I even ate the steamed vegetables and (what appears to be suspiciously deep fried dough) johnny cake. I found the sauce of the barbecue ribs a bit too sweet, but the meat absolutely fell off the bone, which Leenah enjoyed immensely.

If you are in the Leimert Park area (and even if you aren't, it's worth a special trip during an off-peak traffic hour) to check out the food at Ackee Bamboo.

GRADE: A