Just over a year ago my wife and I were enjoying our honeymoon, lounging on Caribbean beaches and sampling Caribbean food. Just over a week ago, my wife and I were enjoying a Caribbean dinner in LA, at Cha Cha Chicken.

Cha Cha Chicken is at Pico and Ocean in Santa Monica. It’s a walk up joint, with a broad counter which spans the length of its patio. The menu boasts a number of Caribbean dishes, with the usual jerk sauce options (the jerk store called, they’re running out of YOU!) and some other creative dishes like ropa nueva and vieja (new and old clothes).

Unfortunately, Cha Cha Chicken doesn’t sell beer, other than ginger beer. Not that beer is a necessity, mind you, but come on, spicy food + beer = mandatory. You are allowed to bring your own, but we were empty haded so I opted to drink a Ting. Ting is essentially Fresca from Jamaica. It is pleasantly refreshing with a light grapefruit/citrus flavor. Of course, we made the obvious unfunny jokes, “what’s in this Ting?”, “do you want to taste my Ting?”, like I said, unfunny.

The way it works at Cha Cha is that you order at the counter, then grab a seat on their outdoor patio (no indoor seating available) and wait for your order to come around. I ordered the jerk chicken wings (whole pound) which also comes with plantains and dirty rice. Dirty rice is rice with black beans and onions mixed in.

My wife chose the “ropa vieja” which is beef stewed in a tomato sauce with onions and veggies. Her dish also came with plantains and a few tortillas on the side.

I really liked the wings, they were breaded with a coconut shavings. The jerk sauce had spice, but they weren’t too spicy and the coconut was a nice contrast. A whole pound was a lot of wings, I didn’t finish them all, but I got a little help so that none were wasted. We have become pretty picky about our plantains and I am happy to say that Cha Cha Chicken passed the test. Just barely carmelized on the outside and soft and sweet on the inside.

For dinner this place is cheap. We were stuffed with great tasting food for right around $20. Service is quick and friendly.

1906 Ocean Ave.
Santa Monica Ca. 90405

We called ahead to see if we could get reservations, but they weren’t taking any more. We were told that we probably wouldn’t have to wait much longer than 30 minutes and that there was a bar that we could wait in. Sounded good, so we were on our way.

When we got to Cha Cha Cha, it was full and bustling with activity. The host was very friendly and told us that the wait would be about twenty minutes. “See that table over there?”, he asked “they are finishing up and I will shoo them out”.

We ordered a round of sangria from the bar and about thirty minutes later, the seven of us were seated.

The menu is deceptively large. There are about two dozen Tapas to choose from, in addition to the appetizer, pasta, paella and main menus. We did have a debate over what makes a small dish an appetizer versus a tapa. Unfortunately, we have no answer.

With seven hungry stomachs, we were able to order a variety of dishes, and ultimately decided that a second visit would be needed in order to taste the ones we missed. I started with the Spicy Corn Chowder. It was spicy indeed, in a good way.

Corn Chowder

A couple other dishes that came in the first round were the Guacamole and Dirty Chips, Banana Boats, and Ceviche Guadalupe. The guacamole was chunky, the dirty chips spicy, the ceviche had nice sized chunks of marinated fish served in a coconut and the banan boats (plantains stuffed with ground beef and vegetables) got rave reviews from our table.

Guacamole and Dirty Chips

For round two, some of us stuck with the Tapas, while others went for the main dish. I ordered the Mejillones Costa Brava - Steamed Mussels with Tomato, Garlic, Basil and White wine and some yuca fries on the side.

Mejillones Costa Brava

The mussels were huge. This can be good and this can be bad. Sometimes big mussels come out chewy, particularly is they are over cooked. These mussels came out perfect. Meaty and tasty, and the broth was thick and flavorful. The yuca fries and left over bread was great for dipping.

Platano Frito

Everyone was stuffed before the food was gone. We had assumed that the tapas would be smaller plates, but they were pretty hearty. Next time, we will be able to order better.

One downside was the service. The waiter was nice, but obviously very busy. Also, the kitchen was way overloaded and the food was a bit slow to come out. We managed, munching on the bread and appetizers. The table next to us gave up though and ended up confronting the manager. Ultimately, they left before their food came out and didn’t have to pay for their drinks. I’m not sure if it is normally like that, it did seem very crowded that night, even as it got later.

There are two Cha Cha Cha locations, one in West Hollywood (where we went) and another in Silver Lake. There are slightly different menus between the two. The Silver Lake location has more options, including a brunch menu. Both menus are online at their website (with prices!)

ChaChaCha
7953 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046

First, the system of getting a table must be cleared up. Versailles doesn’t take reservations and rather than put your name down on a list, you stand outside in a line and people are seated as tables open up. It creates almost a clubbing atmosphere where you’re waiting for the bouncer to let you in. But, the line moves briskly because the food is brought out quickly and it is not the type of place where you lounge around after finishing your meal.

Given this attitude towards the meal, the service is not exactly three star. However, given the food, I’m willing to let it slide. You start off with a basket of warm buttered bread. Since I underestimated the wait (as I’m sure many others do), this was the perfect way to quell my hunger. The bread was had a crispy crust but the inside was fluffy and soft. Out of all the free pre-dinner offerings I’ve had, this is probably my favorite. It’s that good.

For my entree, I decided to go for the Roast Chicken and Pork combination. Before I even had time to settle down, the food was placed in front of me. I immediately dug in and was overwhelmed by the juiciness of the chicken as well as the infusion of garlic and lemon. Now this was not a bad thing, but for the unprepared eater, it may come as a shock. Once the burst of flavor wore off, I continued to tear into the rest of my food. The pork was very similar to pulled pork except that it was drenched in a lemon-vinegar sauce. As much as a I liked the combination of this flavor with the extremely tender pork, I found that after a few bites, the lemon-vinegar taste was too much. It would have been better if they had drained the pork slightly before putting it onto the plate.

The plate also comes with a bowl of black-beans cooked with bay leaves as well as a generous portion of white rice that goes extremely well with the lemon sauce (but that may only be because it helps to taper down the strong flavor). However, the best side dish has to be the grilled plaintains. Sweet and soft yet somehow a little firm, I left these until the end to cap off a very filling and delicious meal.

Versailles also offers various other meats and dishes, but I would highly suggest sticking to the chicken and pork. I tried some lamb and while I found it to be very flavorful, it was also quite tough. You can also order a variety of alcoholic drinks to accompany your meal. I saw people ordering wine, beer, mojitos, and a mango/soju concoction. However, my suggestion would be to get a pitcher of sangria, which my party did. My party of five each had two wine glasses full of sangria for a total of $16.

Versailles
10319 Venice Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90035

I have had plenty of jerk, so I decided to expand my knowledge and order the national dish of Jamaica: Ackee and Salt Fish.

For those who know me, my advice is always avoid ‘local delicacies’ and ‘national dishes’. They typically can ONLY be appreciated by the people from that region, and Ackee and Salt Fish is no different. What I got did not resemble fish in any way. It was a steaming pile of hash, comprised of tiny, slimy bulbs that looked like miniature yellow vital organs–the Ackee. They had the texture, in fact, of liver. Somewhere mixed in this distopia of flavors was onion and fish. What I found amazing, is that Ackee and Salt Fish exactly describes the flavor. Ackee, salt and fish. There was no other distinctive flavor in this dish at all. It was also served with three weapons euphamistically refered to as ‘dumplings’. Flat, beyond dense, and tasteless, the hard-tack eaten by confederate soldiers would have been more desirable. To top it off, guess what, they were out of fried green bananas that was specified in the menu. So, for $14.95 lunch portion, I was handed a plate of mush accompanied by white dough pucks, and was asked if it was ok that the third major component of the dish was absent. ‘Fine, yeah, sure, no problem.’ I didn’t even ask for a discount, as they informed my friend that lemonade refills were NOT free and that he would be charged for another one.

It really doesn’t even matter what he ordered because all those things conspired to ruin what was already an amazingly mediocre lunch experience. I even took pictures of the decor, but why dignify the experience by adding visuals.

Not a bad deal, actually. It’s such a summer liquor - rum is. And though I love a minty mojito, a classy cuba libre, and I might even reduce myself to a blended *gag* daiquiri (or is it pina colada?), I love rum in desserts.

A bit of the rum went straight into a glass with ice first (that’s my appetizer), then into a sauce pan with brown sugar, butter and fresh pineapple. They say you should cook off all the alcohol, but why?!?! Just cook it long enough to get those pineapple drunk.

And of course, as it is summer, you can make rum sauce on the stove without the pineapple first, then add pineapples that have been grilled later. That’s even better, but seeing as how this is L.A. and I live in an apartment with a teeny tiny balcony that could hardly fit even a hibachi, I stick with the saucepot.

All the rest is pretty easy to figure out from the picture - a slice of gingerbread (this one I baked, but you can buy it from a bakery), a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and candied ginger for a little kick. If you need more guided information than that, well then, I don’t think we can help you. :)

Ah, summer as a sundae.