Tired of pizza and wings? Looking for something different? Ready to challenge your palate with some authentic island food? Head for Andy's Caribbean Cuisine in the Globe Mall on Court Street, downtown Watertown.

The paint is peeling off the façade of the once-fashionable Globe Mall. If I hadn't seen someone enter the building ahead of me, I would have thought it was condemned.

The interior is old and run-down with a hodgepodge of small businesses. Upon entering the building, follow the wonderful aromas coming from the shack-like storefront that houses Andy Felix's humble restaurant.

Andy hails from the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada. He attributes much of his cooking knowledge to his mother and to a cooking school he attended in his native country.

Caribbean cuisine is characteristically stewed and curried meats like chicken and goat (yep, goat), spicy jerk chicken and stewed oxtail (actually made from the tail of a cow), always accompanied by rice with red beans.

We helped ourselves to beverages from the tall glass-front cooler, filled with all-American sodas and energy drinks, bottled water and some very different drinks from the islands, like sorrel, Irish moss and vita malt.

Ginger beer is a nonalcoholic beverage, similar to root beer but made with ginger.

Then there's Baba Roots herbal tonic from Jamaica, slightly fermented with a low alcohol content. It's the top-selling root drink in the Caribbean. This stuff was weirder than weird. There's no way to describe it other than to give you some of the ingredients: molasses, chainy root, sarsaparilla, tan-pon-rock, dandelion, raw moon, coconut root, strong back and mint.

According to the label, I should now have a healthy body and sound mind.

On to the food.

Devon was our waiter. In his lilting accent, he explained the four items available: curry chicken, curry goat, stew chicken and jerk chicken. All are served on sturdy plastic plates. A generous amount of tasty rice with red beans and ripe, sweet plantains, the tropical fruit similar to bananas, comes with each meal.

We were a little disappointed that there was no oxtail or fish available the day we were there. They were also out of pilau, a dish of chicken and rice cooked together. But the restaurant has been open just a little over a month, so perhaps they don't have the rhythm of ordering from their suppliers down yet.

Three portion sizes are available: small, medium and large. Small portions average $7, medium $9 and large $10.50, goat and oxtail being slightly more expensive than the chicken dishes.

Except for the jerk chicken, which is grilled, all the meats have been braised, meaning they cook in a hot liquid for hours until the meat becomes extra tender and just about falls off the bones. They're in a holding compartment in a steam table ready to be served up immediately.

It was hard to tell if the stew chicken was white or dark meat or both after it was braised for so long. It was no doubt simmered for hours with onions and garlic, wine or vinegar and subtle herbs and spices.

The chicken pieces appeared to be cut at random with a cleaver, leaving small bones to chew around. We found the easiest way was to just pick up the pieces and chew on them, although your fingers tend to be covered with the thickened gravy. It's not pretty, but it works.

Curry chicken probably started out the same as stew chicken with the addition of curry along the way. In Indian cooking, sometimes curry can be overpowering. Andy's use of the spice was judicious and merely added another dimension to the sauce.

Curry goat was obviously the same sauce as the curry chicken. I was surprised that the goat meat looked like chunks of beef. The last time I had goat at a Jamaican restaurant, the texture of the meat was more like rabbit, a little stringy and almost chickenlike.

Will the real goat please stand up?

Jerk chicken is usually cooked over a wood fire of some sort. Jerk, in this case, is not a dance or a person. It's a spice mixture associated with the Caribbean. It can vary, but usually contains allspice, Scotch bonnet peppers, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, thyme and garlic. It can sometimes be fiery hot, but Devon told us that Andy's jerk chicken "is not very hot, but we could make it hotter if you wish."

It appeared that the jerk seasoning was dry-rubbed onto the chicken before grilling. The final product had little or no sauce like the other dishes, yet had the distinct jerk flavor.

Desserts? Didn't see any on the menu, Devon didn't offer any, and we didn't have room for them, anyway. We all ordered large portions and all needed to-go containers.

Dinner and beverages for four came to $56 with tax and before tip.

There was a video playing at a loud volume that was a little distracting. It appeared to be a live concert, but we didn't hear any music — just a guy yelling in a language we couldn't understand. Devon was digging it, though, so it must have been the real deal, designed to add some ambiance to the dining room.

Once inside Andy's restaurant, you're transported to another world. It's not luxurious, but it's not supposed to be. With a little imagination, you could be in an outdoor thatched-roof restaurant in the Caribbean.

And without a doubt, Andy's cooking is at least as good as some native-food restaurants I've experienced in the islands over the years. Plus, Watertown's a lot easier to get to than Grenada.

You can contact Walter E. Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.

Andy's Caribbean Cuisine

Globe Mall

302 Court St. (near Dr. Guitar)

Watertown

486-6491

HOURS: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday

10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays

Closed Sundays

Tasty, well-prepared Caribbean dishes like curry chicken and goat, stew and jerk chicken, oxtail stew and fish dinner.

Authentic island beverages like sorrel, Irish moss, vita malt and baba root.

RATING: 3 forks