If you ride the 5 train almost all the way to its northernmost stop, and get out at Gun Hill Road, you will find yourself surrounded by Jamaican and West Indian restaurants and grocery stores. Walking past the eateries hawking chicken, and markets offering such popular cuts of meat as "cow cod" (look it up), you might dismiss Katashe's as just another store, and one that doesn't look particularly well-stocked. In the back, though, you'll see a variety of patties piled up in a hot box. Behind the counter you'll see some steam trays, and you'll get a whiff of allspice. Ask the counterman what's available for lunch and he'll gladly lift the lids up to show you. More

When you combine chef Bradford Thompson's cooking chops with the fact that his Jamaican wife Kerry-Ann's family owned several seminal jerk chicken restaurants in the Bronx, you have the potential for Jamaican food that's probably better than most of us have experienced in the Caribbean. The only thing that worried us as we walked into the restaurant is that Lily's is a Serge Becker joint, and Becker is much better known as a club owner and scene maker (The Box, La Esquina) than as a restaurateur. We had a real fear that the scene would trump the food. But we needn't have worried. More

“Someone who knows how to cook food is cooking this food.” Previous BYOBs Afghan Kebab House Angelica Kitchen Sigiri Ivo & Lulu Gazala Place Tartine As a West Village girl about to leave her borough behind, I know how hard... More

Every day this week we'll profile one of the finalists from this year's Vendy Awards. Here is the first one. More