Down in the Strip District is a relative newcomer to Pittsburgh. Called the Thin Man Sandwich Shop, the name really called out to me because I often feel like a fat man trapped in a thin man’s body. It’s a curse, I know. But I digress. Back in the sandwich shop, I immediately impressed by the options they had listed on their chalk board. If nothing else, they were creative with such seasonal sandwiches as Braised Beef Cheeks, Jamaican Jerk Goat Curry and Cashew Butter. I was eager to see if the creativity translated to eatability, which, as we all know, is not a word.

I opted for the Jamaican Jerk Goat Curry for little reason other than the fact that I had never before eaten goat in a sandwich. Also, consisting of coconut milk, habaneros, rice and beans, it appeared to be fit for an unvegan. And it was certainly as delicious as it was creative. Served in a pita, the flavors in this sandwich were nothing less than awesome. The habaneros gave it a great kick, but the flavor of the goat, jerk and curry all make their own marks on my taste buds as well. If Thin Man Sandwich Shop can perfectly fuse flavors like this on all their sandwiches, it will have quite a bright future.

In a display of mercy, a work event of mine ended last week at a little Jamaican restaurant in North Hollywood called Coley’s. As it turned out, one of my bosses had been Jamaican all along, but none of us knew it. Yet, Jamaican boss or not, I had been wanting to check out Coley’s for a long time, as it sat in that weird area of town that seemed just a bit far for walking, but too close to hop in a car for.

In any case, work had decided to spot us some drinks and something called “patties.” A patty is essentially the Jamaican version of an empanada, in that it’s a pocket of dough stuffed with meat. The dough takes on a sort of orange tint and the whole thing is fried up, rather than baked. The dough is flaky and pastry-like which provides for a nice contrast of texture with the minced meat inside. Despite showing up to the patty dispensary late to the game, I managed to get myself a beef one and found it was quite delicious. It was spiced to give a bit of a kick, but also had some other great flavors in there. And even better, I couldn’t find one vegetable inside.

While the beer and patty were nice, they would certainly not be enough to get me through the rest of the day. I decided to fend for myself from their regular menu to make myself a full meal. The waitress told me there was a Jerk Chicken lunch special and I figured there could be no better way to test out Jamaican food.

When that eventually came, the plate of food looked like it had come right out of the Caribbean. In addition to the chicken, the plate was loaded with steamed rice, fried plantains, “festival bread” and steamed veggies. I had neglected to notice the veggies on the menu, so I won’t hold them against Coley’s, but I still wasn’t happy that they had been an option. Anyway, I dug into the chicken and found that unique flavor associated with jerk chicken. In the past, I had only eaten jerk chicken in its dry form, but this was served wet and it kept the chicken incredibly moist and tender. It had a mild kick and slightly smokey taste to go along with it. The festival bread was almost like a donut, in that it was fried and light, but wasn’t sweetened. The plantains were also different from any fried plantains I had ever had. In a contrast to the chicken, these were dry and edible by hand. Usually fried plantains can be really sweet, but these were much more relaxed and made a nice addition to the meal.

So this was pretty much a good experience, except that when the bill came I found that I had been charged for the regular portion of Jerk Chicken and not the lunch special. This was no good, and the woman told me that the regular portion was bigger. As I had eaten everything on my plate that didn’t start with v and end with egetable, I wasn’t in a position to complain, but I was still annoyed at paying an extra couple of bucks. I know things were a bit crazy with the sheer number of people there, but my order still should have been correct. If only it had been wrong in a more obvious way that I would have known when it arrived.

Alas, I still recommend Coley’s. I’m not exactly a Jamaican expert, but I can tell a good meal from a bad one. It may not reflect the cooking you may have grown up with if you are a Jamaican, but it is certainly not bad.