Garifuna Flava

We finally got to eat at Garifuna Flava in Chicago.  We had seen it on many food shows including, Diners Drive Ins and Dives, Check Please and Chicago's Best. It is known for Caribbean (especially Belizean) food, so we knew we had to check it out.

Fun Caribbean drinks

We ordered a bunch of appetizers instead of 2 full entrees:
Panades - corn patties with hashed buffalo fish and garnished with sweet vegetable sauce.  The panades kind of look like emapanadas but they have a different filling.  It didn't didn't taste fishy; but warm and sweet and it was served with some restaurant made hot sauce that looks like coleslaw but it definitely packed a punch.

Garnaches

Panades & Conch Fritters

Garnaches - crunchy tostada like dish of round fried corn tortillas topped with refried beans, a lettuce sauce, shredded cheses and a ketchup sauce.  We really liked these - they reminded us of Mexican tostadas.  They were very simple but delicious; Nick's favorite dish of the day.

Conch fritters - minced conch seasoned with various Caribbean spices. This style of conch fritter was in a ball shape; it is reminiscent of a hush puppy in texture.  It of course had the sweet conch meat inside.

Jamaican Jerk Chicken lunch - marinated with Jamaican spices and slow cooked on the grill, served with rice and beans, a fried ripe plaintain and Belizean potato salad.  The chicken wasn't too spicy (well not on its own there were some sauces that came with our meal that were sure spicy). The rice and beans were good and the chicken was tender and moist without being overly spicy.  The plaintain was nice and sweet (so we ordered more later). The potato salad was just ok - you have a choice of a garden salad, steamed cabbage or the potato salad and we thought the potato salad sounded the best.

Jerk Chicken

Potato Salad

Hot Sauce

Rice & Beans and Plantain

They didn't have Cassava cake available for dessert so we had a side of fried ripe plaintains for dessert instead. We only got one plaintain with the jerk chicken meal so we were eager for more.

Also we had some beverages - a Ting soda and a Pineapple Coconut smoothie, to put us in the mood of being in the islands (on a colder day) before our meal began.

The price was great. We were there for lunch so that may have been why; but we really got a lot of food for not too much.

Now this restaurant is located somewhere on the south side of Chicago. It's probably not in that bad of a neighborhood, but they do have their own parking lot.  And inside the restaurant, one of the tv's has a live camera feed of the parking lot just to give you peace of mind.

Final thoughts on Garifuna Flava:

Plantains

Food - warm and spicy and reminds you of the Caribbean
Service - we were the only patrons in the restaurant for the majority of our meal so it was very personalized.  But they seemed willing to help you navigate the menu. At the end of our meal they gave us menus to take with us and to share with our friends.
Atmosphere - It is a very casual establishment - definitely falling in to a Diner, Drive in or Dive category.