Jamaican, Hot Spot, Diner
http://misslilysnyc.com/
132 W. Houston St. @ Sullivan – West Village

All of the hype surrounding Miss Lily’s is well-deserved.  First, the atmosphere feels truly like a Jamaican beach shack.  The decor is brightly colored with the bar looking like a take out stand and vinyl booths like a classic diner.  The walls are adorned with Reggae albums.

Paul Salmon, the proprietor, owns Rockhouse Hotel Negril and was a founder of New York’s famous Joe’s Pub.  His partners, the Jakupi brothers are involved with Bungalow 8, 1Oak, and The Box. And finally, Serge Becker designed spots like La Esquina, Lure Fishbar and Cafe Select. The result is a casual Caribbean vibe with cool tunes, a club-like atmosphere in the back and fantastic, authentic Jamaican fare.

Because of the again sweltering temperatures, we’ve been opting to try a few appetizers instead of full entrees.  We made a nice dent in the list last night!  We paired our meal with Red Stripe.  I had the Ting A Ling, which is Grapefruit Ting Soda with Red Stripe over ice.  Refreshing!

We loved every item, however the two callouts would be the Fish Tacos really aren’t tacos, they are on sliced Jicama.  This isn’t a bad thing, but if you want genuine tacos go with the Jaquitos, which are fantastic.  Second, I loved my watermelon salad, but felt $12 was a bit steep for greens and watermelon.  That said, everything else was damn reasonably priced so it really didn’t matter.  Our absolute favorite was the Grilled Jerk Spice Corn on the cob.  This is reminiscent of the Mexican version of grilled corn, but WAY better with the toasted coconut.  We made it our dessert!

FISH TACOS escovitch fish on jicama 12

JAQUITOS (three Jamaican style mini tacos, choose one) 9

jerk chicken & avocado

curried lobster

JERK GRILLED CORN with toasted coconut 5

Watermelon Salad (Special Appetizer)  12

We will very likely go back to Miss Lily’s again before the end of the summer.  I saw a few things that must be tried like the whole fried snapper and the lobster platter!