#127: Blue Mountain Cafe

Date Visited: 18 May 2012

Meal: Dinner

Diners: 3 - Me, Wendy, & Andy

Experience: Blue Mountain Cafe is a locally-owned, Caribbean restaurant specializing in authentic Jamaican cuisine. They are located in historic downtown Leesburg, on South King St. next to Windy City Red Hots. Prior to opening, the renovation of the building was also blogged by a local guy! I don’t really know much about Jamaican cuisine, so I will leave it to others to judge whether it’s authentic or not. On this Friday evening, the weather was beautiful, so we sat outside in the patio.

To start off, we ordered a couple of Jamaican Patties: beef and chicken. They were very different, and I liked the beef one the best; it had a bit of kick to it. Wendy called them “meat pastries” and Andy called them “Chicken Pot Pie Pop Tarts!” For drinks, I got a Red Stripe (of course!), Wendy got a Jamaican Ginger Beer (very gingery!), and Andy had a water (how boring!)

For my main course, I tried the Goat Curry, which came with red beans and rice, and fried plantains. The goat had a lot of bones in it, but the meat was quite good, sort of the consistency of pot roast. Wendy and Andy both got the Jerk Chicken. Wendy got hers with white rice and mixed vegetables, and Andy got white rice and fried plantains. Each plate came with three pieces of chicken, marinated in Jamaican Jerk spices (I asked one of the owners what was in it, and she said she was forbidden from revealing the secret!) I got one piece Wendy couldn’t finish, and it was succulent and delicious. The portions for all our meals were generous.

To finish, we had a couple of sorbets: strawberry and orange. The strawberry one was served in a hollowed-out lemon half, and the orange one came in a half-orange; unique! Andy said the strawberry one tasted like a “Strawberry Starburst” - I think this is because some of the lemon juice gets into the sorbet, to give it some extra kick. It was refreshing way to end the meal.

The service at Blue Mountain Cafe was excellent and friendly. In our experience, the food was rather average overall, and the Yelp reviews tend to confirm this. However, there are lots of items on the menu we didn’t get to try, so go check ‘em out!

Location: 26 S. King St., Leesburg, VA, 20175, 571-209-9099

Web site: http://bluemountaincafe-bmc.com/

Total bill: $73.75 + $15.00 tip = $85.75