This New Jamaican Restaurant Is St. Paul’s Best-Kept Secret | Eater Twin Cities

"In a tidy building on Rice Street that replaced a longtime local spot, Chef Okkoy Graham runs a succinct menu he perfected over more than two years, often arriving at 4:30 a.m. to do all the cooking himself. The menu includes braised oxtail stew—marinated for a day or two, quickly seared, then simmered with spices and vegetables until the meat is succulent and clings gently to the vertebrae—served with a soft, tempered cabbage slaw; whole red snapper escovitch fish, shallow-fried until the skin crisps into a fatty, silvery sheath and topped with a vinegar sauce of sliced peppers and onions that cuts the fish’s natural fattiness; jerk chicken and pork; country-style curry goat; festival dumplings; beef patties; and a vegan ital stew of root vegetables in a buttery-feeling coconut broth with little globules of fat floating to the top. Graham learned to cook from his mother in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and he emphasizes cultural context—offering ital stew as a reflection of Rastafari food traditions—and says he’s received a warm welcome on Rice Street. Find it at 969 Rice Street, open Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday 11 a.m.–8 p.m., and Friday and Saturday 11 a.m.–9 p.m." - Justine Jones