The Kinda Jerk I'd Like to Meet

I always believe that sharing is caring, but that was not the philosophy of my friend Sharone.  We went to dinner a couple weeks ago and I asked him to pick the place, so he picked what he says is his favorite restaurant in his neighborhood, Lincoln Park.  He chose Ja Grill (http://www.jagrill.com/), which coincidentally was on my list of places to check out from many many months ago, so of course I was excited.  It was a Monday evening, so the small venue was far from packed.  As is customary, with my pickiness, I had perused the menu hours before so I already knew what I was going to order. 

Curry Chicken Entrée

The menu is basically a choice between curry or jerk meat for entrees.  They also have stew entrees but I thought for this initial visit I'd steer clear.   Because my safe eating instincts would normally tell me to go for the jerk chicken, I decided to go for the curry chicken. And I'm glad I made that choice, it was definitely different than anything I'd ever had and it was tasty, too. 
The entrees are served with a side of cabbage, rice & peas (they looked like beans to me), and a couple of plaintains.  Despite my disdain for beans (the menu says they're peas but I don't like those either) I did not stay completely clear of the rice, I just ate around the beans/peas.  When you've been selective about what you eat for as long as I have, maneuvering around the food non grata becomes a skill.

Jerk Chicken

Sharone ordered the jerk chicken, which is where the non-sharing portion of the evening began.  He explained to me that he doesn't share, but as anyone who volunteers to go to dinner with me knows, sharing is definitely part of the deal.  So after a few minutes of using our long-term friendship as a guilting mechanism he relented and shared.  And I pretty much came to the conclusion that I liked the jerk better than the curry chicken.  I will definitely be sure to order my own jerk chicken, especially if I'm in the company of non-sharers. 

Overall I liked Ja Grill.  I wouldn't necessarilly go out of my way to eat there, but if I was in the neighborhood it would defintely be on the top of my list.  I'd love to go back and try some of the appetizers, especially the Honey Wings and Curry Shrimp.  Adrienne mentioned she'd only had drinks there before, but the server recommeneded the Red Stripe Light, of which I wasn't a fan.  I know light beer has less calories, but when I lose the flavor and it tastes like watered down beer, I'd rather just stick to water.