Miss Lily’s- The only Jerk is in the chicken

For some reason, the pants were tre’ intimidated by Miss Lily’s. All of the hype made it sound like an exclusive Cool People’s Club literally in Anna Wintour’s backyard. We finally grabbed our balls and called for a reservation, called an actual number listed places, not a secret number procured by sending in a headshot or anything. We were shockingly granted our desired date and time, even after copping to a NJ area code.  Now, just for the sake of full disclosure, the Pants are a pretty striking duo, and have been known to turn a head or two, but in the Modeled Up world of NYC hotspots, us “Reals” get insecure sometimes. After sheepishly walking into Miss Lily’s, we were greeted with a truly surprising sight: Beautiful, smiling people happily accommodating us. They offered us a choice of inside or outside seating (a choice!) and even offered to seat us BEFORE our entire party arrived. They fawned over Sister’s outfit and complimented mine as well, talk about dinner with a side of ego boost!

We strutted to our outside table feeling like we were just asked to sit with the popular people at lunch in high school, happy that everyone on the street and pulling up in SUV’s could see us sitting in our prime spot.  We kept looking for the private entrance where all of the models and diplomats were directed to dine amongst each other, but finally faced the fact that we were in it.  The servers were hot, the music was hip, and the food was flavorful and delicious.  Sister and I are huge fans of Jerk chicken, and we often keep jars of Walkers in our fridge for last minute meals. We grew up eating the stuff, and seek it out often.  Miss Lily’s Jerk chicken was juicy, but could have used more distribution of Jerk flavor as well as a little more heat. The Jerk Pork Burger is juicy if not a little bit dry, but the chutney and avocados balance the heat perfectly- and the bun is sturdy enough to support it.  The plantains and rice were spot-on, and everything benefited from use of the vast array of hot sauces on the table.

Our vegetarian table-mate ordered the Vegan Bushman Plate with jerked Seitan, cous cous, veggies and calla loo. I always thought that something that sounded like “satan” couldn’t possibly taste good, but I was pleasantly surprised by the Bushman’s offerings.  We also tried the lobster Jaquitas which were fresh, but a little too cuminy for my personal palette, and the Ackee Dip with plantain.  Ackee was a new experience for us, mashed and served with plantains as an appetizer; I am curious to sample it with salt fish, which is the national dish of Jamaica.  Preferably I would like to try this dish in my swimsuit on a beach in Negril with steel drums in the background, but it might just have to be on another trip to Miss Lily’s. The peel and eat shrimp appetizer is a home-run- the sauce is so spicy and bursting with flavors that you feel lucky that you need to lick your fingers after peeling.  This dish was a lay-over in spicy heaven on the way to Jamaica…

Miss Lily’s is recommended for people that get it, and will enjoy the ironic casual atmosphere with cool kids at every table.  There is an infectiously fun vibe that comes through in the food. It is honestly a hip place with much less attitude on the menu than many other lesser deserving places in NYC, and I can’t wait to go back…