Best Jamaican Restaurant

It doesn't look like much. The décor is akin to a '70s diner, the color scheme predominantly brown. Entrées arrive unadorned on standard-issue dishes. But nothing detracts from the Cooke family recipes. Even the flavorful sauces boost, rather than bury, the meats. Oxtail is marinated in soy sauce, garlic, and ginger for an unexpected delicacy. Jerk chicken has the requisite spiciness while skirting stereotypes. The piquant tenderness of a whole snapper belies its steely stare. Complementary rice and "peas," red kidney beans, cut the spices with coconut. Plantains are sliced to poker chip-width so they plunk, not sink, in your stomach. But the pièce de résistance is the sweet-potato pudding, served in dense, sumptuous squares drizzled with Bailey's Irish Cream. Merton Cooke knows the power of his pie and plies it with charming persistence. Lingering beside the table, he speaks lovingly of his hometown, Montego Bay, where he runs another Cooke's Goose. "Have you been to Jamaica?" he inquires. Almost.