Caribbean American Bakery

LTH,

With the cold winds soon to blow I've gone in to stock-up mode, first up for the freezer Patties from Caribbean American Baking on Howard.

Caribbean American Bakery


5 types of meat, three veg, full size for $1.70, cocktail $7.75 dozen, patties freeze perfectly and reheat to crisp flavorful perfection in 25 minutes.

Box of frozen (I bought them already frozen) Beef Patties


I also picked up one for test purposes, lightly spiced beef, flaky crust enhanced by natures own flavor booster, beef suet.

Beef Pattie



Caribbean American Bakery has an interesting range of products, breads, cookies, pastries and a rotating list of dinners, yesterday it was Jerk Chicken and Curried Goat.

Enjoy,
Gary

Caribbean American Baking
1539 W Howard St
Chicago, IL 60626
773-761-0700
www.caribbeanamericanbakery.com

I love the Bulla Cakes from this place. They are dense gingerbread buns that go great with coffee.

The goat soup, when they have it, is very good. That is, if you really like goat (which I do). It is pretty "goaty".

I really really like their jerk patties, even more so than the original beef ones. I had NO idea that they reheated well, always preferring to eat them within a block or two of the place:)

I'll be swinging by this afternoon to pick some up.

Octarine wrote:I'll be swinging by this afternoon to pick some up.

Mike,

They are available already frozen for the asking, I repacked in ziploc bags and tucked them away in the freezer.

Far as reheating frozen patties from Caribbean, I was at Crrush's house, we are working on a project together, and she pulled out beef patties for a snack. She used a toaster oven and they were ready in about 15 minutes, no muss, no fuss.

Enjoy,
Gary

I didn't like the patties here at all, mostly because of the crust -- the filling was flavorful, although obviously not of a very high quality.

The other thing I got was a candy of sorts, which consisted of chunks of coconut covered in caramelized sugar. I should have known better, but everyone behind the counter recommended it in no uncertain terms. The caramel was nicely spicy, but the texture was extremely unpleasant and grainy -- flashback to 7th-grade science class. This went into the trash after a few bites.

That's why there are 31 flavors, I LOVE the Ball O' Coconut chunks in burnt caramel! I even love the little brown bits of husk that cling tenaciously to the meat.

The coconut was great, the spicing was great, but the sugar... well, had I known, I'd have happily passed it on to you. I felt like a jerk throwing it out.

G Wiv wrote:Far as reheating frozen patties from Caribbean, I was at Crrush's house, we are working on a project together, and she pulled out beef patties for a snack. She used a toaster oven and they were ready in about 15 minutes, no muss, no fuss.

Straight from the freezer into a toaster oven for 15 minutes? I usually have problems with things like that scorching on the outside before the inside is warm unless I let them warm up a little at room temp first?

<b>L O V E THIS P L A C E !!!!!!</b>

So much so- that when I was in the final miles of a 500+ mile Bike trip, back from Minnesota (AIDS Ride)- I made a detour off of Sheridan Road- for a Beef Pattie!
Heaven.

I especially like their Bread Pudding (made w/ that dense,flavourful Jamaican Bread, I presume?).

Also- the "heat" of their jerk products seems to vary from trip to trip....but do try their Jerk Chicken!
It's supreme! (rarely does it make it all the way home, unmolested)

Hombre de Acero wrote:<b>L O V E THIS P L A C E !!!!!!</b>

So much so- that when I was in the final miles of a 500+ mile Bike trip, back from Minnesota (AIDS Ride)- I made a detour off of Sheridan Road- for a Beef Pattie!
Heaven.

I'm an AIDS Ride veteran, too! (Twin Cities Chicago #5 in 2000; Alaska #2 in 2001) It's a darn shame I didn't know you back then--one of those beef patties would have been the perfect antidote to a week of eating Clif bars!

Cogito wrote:Straight from the freezer into a toaster oven for 15 minutes? I usually have problems with things like that scorching on the outside before the inside is warm unless I let them warm up a little at room temp first?

I pre-heat the toaster to 350, so the patty might sit out for a minute or two, tops, while the toaster warms up. The ladies at C.A.B. recommend heating from frozen--it crisps the crust better. It might take a shade longer than 15 minutes, but you'll know when it's done. There's no problem with the inside not getting warm. It's usually scorching hot. I recommend puncturing a hole in it and letting it cool for a few minutes to keep from searing the skin off the roof of your mouth.

Aside from the occasional random bit of overly chewy beef particle, I love the patties at this place. The at-home toasting isn't nearly as tasty as fresh from their oven, but it beats making the trek from Pilsen to Howard St.

If this was discussed I apologize. Caribbean American baking company seems to either have suffered a bad fire or has closed it doors. Went a few days ago for some patty's and it was deserted.

Da Beef wrote:If this was discussed I apologize. Caribbean American baking company seems to either have suffered a bad fire or has closed it doors. Went a few days ago for some patty's and it was deserted.

I read or heard somewhere that the building collapsed,but that they would reopen eventually.

Cross-posting:

Mhays wrote:According to a local website, Caribbean American Bakery has been shut down due to building collapse. The owner apparently plans to re-open when the building is repaired, thank goodness he got out in time!

Artie wrote:

Da Beef wrote:If this was discussed I apologize. Caribbean American baking company seems to either have suffered a bad fire or has closed it doors. Went a few days ago for some patty's and it was deserted.

I read or heard somewhere that the building collapsed,but that they would reopen eventually.

Cross-posting:

Mhays wrote:According to a local website, Caribbean American Bakery has been shut down due to building collapse. The owner apparently plans to re-open when the building is repaired, thank goodness he got out in time!

Mike Humes, the owner of Caribbean American Bakery, called to say that a temporary storefront has opened, 3 doors west of the original (and under construction) location. They don't have the full menu available yet (no rice and peas or oxtail), but they are selling patties, bread and cakes right now.

He's estimating 4 months to complete the reconstruction of the original location.

I'll be there tomorrow to stock up on beef patties.

Temporary address: 1547 W. Howard Street
(Original location: 1539 W. Howard)
Hours: 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Good to know! Thanks crrush!

crrush wrote:Mike Humes, the owner of Caribbean American Bakery, called to say that a temporary storefront has opened

Still in the temporary storefront, but doing a brisk business. Meat (beef) Pattie on the mark, spicy crisp crust encasing aggressively seasoned ground beef grapefruit fizz of Ting almost, but not quite, enough to cut the delicious tongue coating oil slick.

Beef Pattie



Enjoy,
Gary

Sad to report-
They are now closed on Sundays!

Stopped in for some Patties-
a little Ting,
and maybe some JerkChicken-
only to see a sign that stated "due to slow business they are closed on Sundays effective 7/15/09".

That whole stretch of Howard looked kinda deserted-so sad- it had been so vibrant back when the Theatre was there
(saw David Mamets Speed -The-Plow there).
Also- whatever their prior construction time-line said- they've still got papered windows in their old spot.
"Island Time"- ya know......

FYI, Hombre - almost all the Jamaican restaurants up and down Howard (and all over the place, for that matter) sell those patties (by those I mean those specific patties - of course, there's an upcharge.) I think many of them are open on Sunday, though I'd call first.

Caribbean American Baking still chugging along, delicious as ever. Couple of beef patties and ginger soda make a fine stand-up lunch. Bonus, eavesdropping on the softly lyrical Jamaican patois.

G Wiv wrote:Caribbean American Baking still chugging along, delicious as ever. Couple of beef patties and ginger soda make a fine stand-up lunch.

agreed.

Today I purchased two patties, a jerk & a curry. Will have those for lunch tomorrow.

I also purchased a couple of pastry items. A Gizzarda & a chunked coconut/sugar drop type pastry.

I really didn't care for the Gizzarda, while the minced/ground coconut filling was fine, when combined with the pastry crust, made this a VERY dry pastry.

The chunked coconut/sugar drop thingy was quite tasty, sugar was caramelized and there was the presence of ginger along with the big cubes of coconut.

I stopped yesterday and picked up two patties: jerk chicken and vegetable. The jerk chicken pattie was yesterday's lunch as I drove home. Nicely spiced jerk - perfect driving food. I reheated the vegetable pattie in the microwave at work today. I like the texture of the crust better after nuking it. I'm now regretting that I only got one vegetable pattie...

Last night, I picked up some beef patties as well as some curry chicken patties for a group business lunch today. Also some jerk chicken.

On the car ride home I was able to resist digging into the jerk chicken but could not resist a beef patty. Guess I won't have a patty for lunch today, it was so darn good!

Thanks for the reminder. Now I'm craving some patties and a Ting.

Any recent updates? I’m again craving patties but I seem to remember someone saying they stopped making their own patties.

Probably going to make a batch this week but I still need to find a reference sample.