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Ya Maka me hungry: Sample Caribbean foods in The District
Originally Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2009, 4:42 pm
Last Updated: Aug. 11, 2009, 9:50 pm
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Print this story | Email this storyLast Updated: Aug. 11, 2009, 9:50 pm
By Brandy Welvaert, bwelvaert@qconline.com
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From mild to wild, there will be something for every taste at Ya Maka My Weekend, the Caribbean festival with music and food that starts at 5 p.m Friday and noon Saturday in The District of Rock Island. Chef Jerry Bergheger, who owns Atlante Trattoria in The District, will offer Caribbean specialties like curry goat, jerk chicken, fried plantains and shrimp, and beans and rice. But Chef Bergheger also will serve "family-friendly" eats like pizza and nachos for those with less adventurous tastes, he says. New at the festival this year, Junior's Caribbean Delight will sell jerk-chicken sandwiches, red beans and rice, and curry chicken. Owner Lawrence "Junior" McPherson, based in Benton Harbor, Mich., says he's thinking about adding a jerk cheeseburger to the menu, too. Returning to Ya Maka after a long absence is local Chef Eudell Watts III. "We will have our traditional, award-winning barbecue-pork sandwich, which we had downtown in the 1990s," Chef Watts says. He also will sell beef pasties, jerk chicken with coconut rice, and his new Montego Bay burger -- a burger with jerk sauce (a spicier barbecue sauce). Chef Watts says that while the foods at the festival usually are traditional, they're also approachable. "You'll find that most people who do this, they do it in the traditional sense -- but they try to hold it down a little bit," he explains. "People here are just not used to that kind of heat. So we will make a jerk sauce, but it won't be quite as 'hot' as if if we were in Jamaica. We will have the spices there so that if they want it that hot, we can do it for them." Rex Scott, who owns Jamaican Jerk Hut, based out of Columbia, Mo., agrees. Mr. Scott says that his jerk chicken "still (is) gonna be palatable to most people, but we reserve the right to bump things up a bit, especially if people ask for it. We do (get) the purists who will ask for it the way we do it in Jamaica, and we always ask (them) three or four times, 'Are you sure want it?' If they say yes, we are happy to oblige." Jamaican Jerk Hut, which was at the festival last year, also will serve jerk pork, curry chicken, beef pasties (pastries stuffed with spicy beef and potatoes), and a new "reggae" burger, which "will have a vegetable mix and special sauce on it," he says. Also returning to the festival is Jamaican Cafe out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Owner Patrick Rashed will prepare jerk chicken, red beans and rice with smoked turkey, and his best-selling dish, curry goat. "It's actually our most popular item. We were really surprised that it was," Mr. Rashed says. "A lot of people are curious about it. The people who recognize it, who have had it before, love it." If you go -- What: Ya Maka My Weekend -- Starts: 5 p.m. Friday, noon Saturday. -- Where: The District of Rock Island -- Cost: $8 per day. 
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