Located in the strip mall immediately north of 285 on Roswell Rd (on the left), Chef Rob’s is unassuming from the outside, except for the expensive cars/rims in the lot, one of which has vanity plates that say CHEFROB. Inside, the decor’s reminiscent of the Caribbean, in that it appears sort of unplanned, as if somebody found some cool things here and there and put them all together without any regard for whether or not they go together.
So, I approached the menu with an open but slightly skeptical mind. We wanted two entrees, so we wanted a small/light appetizer, but they all seemed like a fairly large commitment. As an alternative, we ordered a side order of sweet potato fries, which were lovely, salted just right, and served with ketchup on the side. James thought the fries were great without ketchup. I, however, love ketchup delivery mechanisms, and these sweet potato fries served that purpose much better than ones I’ve tried in the past. The entrees appeared just as we were finishing the fries – perfect timing.
Dinner was accompanied by semi-live music. A fellow with a metal drum sang to some sort of karaoke versions of non-Caribbean ’80s music. It sounds weird, but did actually make me feel like I was at a trippy Caribbean resort. And you really can’t beat live music. And the dude’s dreads were awesome.
We split both entrees. The first was pan-fried tilapia with julienned vegetables and jasmine rice. The sauce seemed more Asian than Caribbean (a sweetish, teriaki-ish glaze), but the dish was delicious. I recently read in Cooks Illustrated that tilapia is a bottom-feeder, like catfish, and that it can have a slightly muddy flavor. I’d never noticed that before, but now that the suggestion was in my head, I did indeed taste the muddiness of the tilapia. However, the tasty sauce more than made up for it.
Our other entree was the shrimp and jerk chicken fettucine. It was a little spicy, but certainly not off-puttingly so. In fact, the creamy sauce complemented the chicken and shrimp beautifully, and the pasta was perfectly cooked. When we ordered, we figured we’d need a take-home box, but we pretty much wiped it out.
All in all, this was a tasty dinner. The food was not as interesting as the venue, though. Anyplace that serves a dish called Rasta Pasta invites speculation about what other sorts of ventures might be supported by the Caribbean Cafe’s convenient location…and that was half the fun.
