JAKE DE PAUL: LOVE ME SOME STEFFIE’S MON >>>

There’s a weird sort of voodoo â€" some subconscious trashing of all your cultural nationalism â€" that creeps into the brain when you find any good ethnic establishment not just surviving, but thriving in the heart of somewhere that it shouldn’t be. Such is the case with Steffie’s Caribbean Restaurant, a little restaurant on Tacoma Mall Boulevard behind Hooter’s that just feels right. Like, of course, there should be a Caribbean restaurant here, and why hasn’t there been one here back in the day?

At one of the two dozen tables and booths in the dining room â€" a space tastefully decorated in golds, greens and burgundies, along with stunning island travel posters, faux tropical foliage, wicker chairs and bamboo hardwoods â€" was a Middle Eastern family eating jerk chicken.  Today, sitting in the booth behind me, was a young grandmother in Minnie Pearl glasses enjoying curried goat with her grandson. Off to the side, a cop with his face hovering above a bowl of soup. It was one of those neighborhood scenes that renews my faith in the palates and eating habits of my culinary fellow travelers.

I sat there in the dining room, eating my goat with ornate silverware, slicing a block of soul-food mac-and-cheese, chugging Red Stripe beer out of a thick, wine-glass shaped glass, dabbing the corners of my mouth with a cloth napkin.  Bob Marley’s “Jamming” swirling overhead. Mon, it’s a delicious ting.

[Steffie’s Caribbean Restaurant, 6812-B Tacoma Mall Blvd., behind Hooter’s, Tacoma, 253.471.7300]

LINK: Weekly Volcano's dining section
LINK: Catch a flick tonight.