Ladies that Lunch - Evelyn & Olive

Evelyn & Olive is on Madison, not far from Downtown.  They opened last year and I went with Hub's family not long after they opened.  I was not impressed.  The food took forever.  They messed up my brother-in-law's order and our checks.  And the food was just sorta 'eh'.

But what are we without second chances?  When The Finer Things Club elected to visit recently, I jumped at the chance.  Plus, I so wanted them to be good.  I really like Jamaican food.

While I waited for my cohorts, I ordered us a couple veggie appetizers -  Kingston Cabbage and the Jama Jama.

Shredded cabbage and sweet peppers sauteed in Caribbean style spices

The Kingston Cabbage was great.  It had a really nice kick to it and a wonderful crunch.

Sauteed spinach with garlic, parmesan and a hint of cayenne

The Jama Jama (aka spinach) was good too.  It had a more mainstream taste and no real kick.  But tasty.  I mean heck, look at that nice cheese on top.

Our waitress was terrific.  She was on the refills and stopped by often to check on us.  We chatted away and our food arrived not too fast but not too long either.

Natalie had a pretty side salad and the Jamaican Style Jerk Chicken Wings.

Seasoned with pepper and spices, served with a Mango BBQ Sauce

Sorry for the blurry pic.  They were actually very pretty.  I smoked wings over the weekend so I passed on her kind offer to taste one but Natalie seemed quite pleased with their flavor.

Anita's meal was very pretty.

Crisp salmon croquettes and boom boom sauce, served with seasoned grits

I did take her up on a bite.  (I rarely pass up a wing but never pass up a croquette.)  The cakes looked heavily fried and breaded to me.  But I was quite pleased to be wrong about that assumption!  They had a crisp bite but they weren't particularly thickly breaded.  I personally like the inside to be a little less mushy but the flavor was nice and the grits were good.

I ordered the 1/2 Pork Tenderloin Wrap with small "Yard Salad" lunch special.

Glazed pork tenderloin with pineapple slaw in a whole wheat honey wrap

I was very pleased!  The pork wrap was great.  I love a good pork and pineapple pairing.  The pineapple slaw added a lovely crunch too.

All in all, really enjoyed this  Evelyn & Olive visit.  Service was great.  Food was good.  Checks were right.  I think I'm going to have go back and try the Rasta Pasta.