FOOD

Party Hearty

To get a good meal at Festivals, you'll need good timing.


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Published: Nov 13, 2007

You can get a good meal at Festivals, the Caribbean restaurant that opened in September in West Philadelphia, but only if you have good timing. On one visit, we were presented with a multipage menu that tempted us with mentions of goat curry, pholourie, baked macaroni and cheese and jerk chicken. Then we were told that the kitchen had been wiped out by a large party the night before so our choices were limited to baked and barbecued chicken. On a separate, later visit, the server did not hand out a menu at all, warning us right away, "We only have stewed chicken, curry chicken, oxtail, lentils, and rice and peas."

The key here, of course, is the "only." If that sentence had begun with "Tonight we are featuring ... " or if we had never glimpsed the possibility of the kitchen's other creations, we might never have known that our Festivals experience was going to be compromised.

It's clear that the space, with its sunny yellow- and orange-striped walls, list of tropical-flavored cocktails and busy calendar of soca and dance-hall DJ nights, is — at least for now — more geared toward the party crowd than the dining one. In fact, the servers all seemed a bit surprised that we'd shown up expecting to be fed.

Never mind. When the food arrived, it was tasty enough. Giant roti, or spongy griddled pancakes, were served open-faced with a filling of chickpea and potato or chicken on the bone, both lightly curried and soupy for dipping. Sweet brown-stewed chicken came swirled in a rich, glossy sauce. Curry chicken, the chunks of chicken breast rubbed and tinted with cumin and turmeric and stewed with bits of potato, offered simple comfort. Braised oxtails were deeply tender, their rich gravy seeping into tomatoey Spanish rice with peas, pepper and green beans.

It's unlikely you have encountered more flavorful lentils than the ones served as a side here — they're luxuriantly soft and accented with bright bits of ginger, delicious enough to be a main. Wash them down with rum punch, tart sorrel juice or ice-cold bottles of shandy, here a hybrid of lager and ginger beer. While there are no guarantees at Festivals, try your luck — you just might be rewarded.

(e_ludwig@citypaper.net)

Festivals

5222 Walnut St. 215-471-4444clubfestivals.comAppetizers, $4-$5; Entrées, $9-$17Mon.-Thu., 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 5-10:30 p.m.; Fri., 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 5-11:30 p.m.; Sat., 5-11:30 p.m.; Sun., 5-10 p.m.Wheelchair accessible.