Eat Great Cheap 2015Five chairs. That’s it. Five chairs and no atmosphere to speak of. You have been forewarned. But here’s what you also need to know: No other place in the area makes jerk chicken the way owners Philip Ajaj and Pierre Stone do—with this tenderness and juiciness, this penetration of smoke, this lip-smacking tanginess, this complexity of spice. Order it at the counter, get it to go, and see if you can resist digging into your Styrofoam container before walking out to the parking lot.
Cuisine: Jamaican
Where you can find it: 9005 Lanham Severn Rd., Lanham; 301-459-5375
Also good: Rice and peas; coco bread; fried plantains.
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
