Owned and operated by a mother-daughter
team, Mo-Bay restaurant in Fort Greene is all about family traditions,
but most importantly, family recipes – held in utmost secrecy.
Annette Hew, 62, and daughter Sheron Barnes, 43, built on the
success of Hew’s "famous" rummy-rum cake, and opened
their "Caribbean soul cuisine" restaurant and bakery
at 112 DeKalb Ave. – just a few blocks from the Brooklyn Academy
of Music. They recruited Barnes’ 65-year-old Jamaican-Chinese
aunt, Avis Hoo, from Miami to develop the menu – which is a fusion
of Caribbean and Asian flavors – and to train the chefs.
Celebrating its second birthday on June 8, the intimate eatery
has a thatched awning over the counter and hardwood floors that
evoke an island ambiance. Yellow banquettes with small tables
line one wall, and another wall boasts wide windows looking onto
the busy avenue. The meals are served on festive ceramic plates
alongside colorful linen napkins.
Barnes says that while Mo-Bay does a lively takeout business,
it varies from the usual Caribbean restaurant because it’s an
intimate, comfortable eatery that is also romantically candlelit
in the evenings.
"You have no idea how many engagement rings I’ve put in
fruit punch," she says.
A house-made and very spicy ginger beer drink with its crunchy
sugar crystals and the traditional island drink "sorrell"
(which tastes like berries – for the less adventurous among us)
are just two of the distinctive Mo-Bay drinks that complement
the flavors of its entrees. (Other temptations we didn’t try
include ginger and mint teas and fresh-squeezed cane juice.)
The Mo-Bay (slang for Montego Bay, Jamaica) menu has a large
selection of dishes for lunch and dinner, and it certainly has
something tasty to accommodate the meat-eaters, the fish-lovers
and the vegetarians in your party. Barnes is especially proud
of the texturized soy protein she uses in the vegetarian dishes
which – with her rich, complex sauces – makes eating veggie very
palatable.
Among the appetizers, Mo-Bay serves up perfect triangles of crisp
"bammies" (ground cassava made into bread), a must
to sop up those rich sauces on the entrees to come. Dinner is
served with large squares of sweet, warm cornbread with their
signature white coconut-pineapple sauce. While the color is pallid
and unappetizing, it’s so sweet and good with the cornbread you
could enjoy it for dessert or with a spicy dish.
Other appetizers include grilled, fried or jerk shrimp with mango
salsa and fried catfish.
Among the entrees, highlights include the moist, succulent jerk
chicken (in a top-secret, homemade sauce – though I tried to
wrangle the recipe out of Barnes), a stew of tender oxtail meat
cooked with ginger and onions and, my absolute favorite – salmon
smothered in a creamy coconut-curry sauce with onions and tomatoes.
Mo-Bay also serves fried and blackened catfish, deep-fried whiting
and snapper served up four ways: brown-stewed, escovitched (fried,
covered with spicy marinade and refrigerated), "run dun"
(simmered in a coconut sauce with tomatoes, onions, thyme and
hot peppers) and steamed.
The entrees are served with two sides, and while Barnes says
some customers are obsessed with discovering the unusual flavoring
of the smoky collard greens (she says customers insist they’re
flavored with meat, which she staunchly denies), I preferred
the more simply flavored sides of rice and peas or steamed cabbage.
Among the "vegetarian delights," the "vegi salmon"
(texturized soy-protein stewed with onions and tomatoes in a
brown gravy) wrapped in blackened, crispy seaweed, tasted remarkably
like salmon and was topped with gaily colored peppers in a coconut-curry
sauce. It’s a substantial, filling meal. (And that’s coming from
a vegetarian-phobic eater.)
Before you leave, be sure to sample some of Hew’s warm, nutty
rum cake with a large dollop of vanilla ice cream on the side.
Light and airy at its point and decadently rich and rummy at
the back, its range of flavor and ethereal consistency clear
up any doubts as to whether or not this cake should be deemed
"famous." Other desserts we didn’t try (but will go
back for!) include the chocolate rum and apricot cake, pistachio
cake and sweet potato pie.
When you have to get away from the hot Brooklyn streets, or are
in search of a pre-theater meal, the warm, friendly service at
Mo-Bay and its sweet yet bold flavors promise to transport you
to more carefree climes.
And unlike your own family, when you visit the Mo-Bay clan, you
won’t be driven crazy.
Mo-Bay Restaurant [112 DeKalb Ave. at
Ashland Place in Fort Greene) accepts MasterCard and Visa. Entrees:
$8.75-$15.75. For take-out and delivery, call (718) 246-2800.
Mo-Bay only accepts reservations for parties of four or more
on weekends. For more information, visit www.mobayrestaurant.com
on the Web.
