Christie's Article in today's NY Times

Subject: Christie's Article in today's NY Times

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To Grab and Run, or to Linger Over
Shannon Greer for The New York Times
Christie’s serves Jamaican favorites in Prospect Heights.


By PETER MEEHAN
Published: July 19, 2006
THE tables at the new Christie’s aren’t used much yet. Most customers dash in for a patty to go, maybe because they never saw a table at the old quarters of this 40-year-old Prospect Heights stalwart, which recently moved half a block closer to Prospect Park on Flatbush Avenue.

The Jamaican patties — beef and otherwise — are hefty but not unmanageable with one hand. I imagine that many I saw brown-bagged for police officers and other people eyeing their idling cars were ultimately consumed behind the wheel.

But just because you can eat a patty, which is practically a meal in itself, on the go doesn’t mean that a good one isn’t worth sitting down and contemplating. And Christie’s new spot — modestly appointed, brightly lighted and even more brightly painted, in a manic shade of yellow — is a fine place to do it.

The meat fillings at Christie’s are encased in a turmeric-yellow pastry, made with a fair amount of suet. The suet helps give the dough its savory appeal and, more important, its flaky texture. Like any good pastry made with ample fat, it splits into layers and shards when you bite into it, revealing the moist, nearly puréed meat filling within.

Unless you have some reason to shun it, beef is the best filling choice. It is moister and more flavorful than the very respectable chicken patty. (Both are $1.85.) Allspice lends an aromatic note to both; ground black pepper and chopped Scotch bonnet peppers tag-team for a double-fisted — but not overwhelming — punch of piquancy; and a splash of vinegar tempers the fattiness of the meat.

A vegetarian version of Christie’s patty ($2), made with a less fatty, less flaky pastry dough and stuffed with a cabbage-heavy vegetable mix, is very popular. (I was behind one man who ordered four, perhaps some headed for the freezer.)

Regardless which patty you choose, if you can handle the heat, I recommend anointing it with a dash or a splash, or even more, of the bottled Jamaican hot sauce on hand (also available for sale at $2 a bottle). Beyond the incendiary sear, it has the alluring, multifaceted flavor of the Scotch bonnet, at once fruity and faintly vegetal.

To tame that fire, a full selection of Jamaican bottled drinks are on hand. Ice-cold cucumber juice — spiked with, I suspect, lemon and ginger — was refreshing and unusual; Stagga Back, made with Irish moss (actually a seaweed) and ground nuts, was a little bit too manly a man drink for me.

Beyond the patties — and there is a full menu, at $5.50 to $7.50, beyond the patties — the offerings are less even but not without merit. The best was the jerk chicken, which traded away the smoky, crisp-skin attributes most closely associated with jerk for a sort of preternatural moistness. I might call it “allspice baked chicken” instead of jerk, but I recommend it all the same.

The restaurant’s rendition of curried goat is simple, and an equally one-dimensional curried chicken is on offer. Braised oxtail had a sweetness I most closely associate with Chinese takeout.

And then there’s the restaurant’s assortment of baked goods, made in the back, to sort through: slices of sweet currant rolls, loaves of moist spice cake, whole puffs of doughy coco bread. Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of options — Should I try the carrot cake? What about the coconut gizzadas? — I listened to what others in line were ordering.

Patties and coco bread for one. Patties and coco bread for the next. Patties and coco bread for me, too, with a bottle of ginger beer and a chair outside on Flatbush Avenue to watch the summer day go lazily by.

Christie's Jamaican Patties

387 Flatbush Avenue (Carlton Avenue), Prospect Heights, Brooklyn; (917) 682-2848 or (718) 636-9746.

BEST DISHES Beef patties; chicken patties; jerk chicken; coco bread.

PRICE RANGE Patties, $1.85 to $2; entrees, $5.50 to $7.50; baked goods starting at $1.25.

CREDIT CARDS Cash only, for now.

HOURS 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS One step up. Restroom is inaccessible.