Troy recently added another type of cuisine to its fine repertoire of restaurants with the opening of First Choice, a Caribbean-American restaurant on Fulton Street downtown.
First off, if you’re looking for elegance, go somewhere else. First Choice is definitely a no-frills establishment, but that doesn’t really detract. It’s a small place with a bit of a luncheonette feel to it; clearly it caters mainly to the midday crowd. Thus, it was nearly empty when a friend and I dropped in Monday evening.
The menu is fairly small—a handful each of beef, chicken, seafood, and vegetable dishes—but with plenty of unusual items: curry goat, for example. There is also an option to substitute dumplings, a yam, and a banana for the rice and beans that come with each meal; unfortunately, they were out of dumplings when we visited.
Special note should also be made of the beverages available—I recognized the names of almost none of them. “Ting,” we discovered, is the name of a grapefruit soda that is popular in Jamaica—quite tasty, too. My friend opted for a ginger beer that turn-
ed out to be the best he’d ever had.
We spent the time waiting for the food to arrive trying to identify all of the flags depicted on our place mats—I only got about 10 of 25. Fortunately, our appetizer—fried plantains—arrived before too long, saving me from looking entirely clueless about the rest of the world. The plaintains, as it turned out, were quite good, leaving us looking forward to the main course.
In due time, our food was ready. I ordered jerk chicken. (Typical, I know, but I hadn’t actually had it before.) It reminded me a lot of buffalo chicken, but the sauce was not nearly as heavy, and there was a definite flavor of cloves to it. I enjoyed it a lot, but two caveats: It’s quite spicy, and you need to watch out for the bones. My friend got a curry shrimp dish that he rated as “pretty good”—the only problem with it was that there was a bit too much oil. Both meals came with fried cabbage heavily seasoned with black pepper and beans and rice, which were kinda bland until we added some hot sauce. (A bottle on every table, just the way it should be.)
The two of us got out for $26 including tip—certainly a reasonable amount for one of the more unique dining experiences in the area, and the lunch prices are significantly lower. I would say First Choice is definitely worth a visit the next time you’re tired of your usual restaurant routine.
First Choice is located on Fulton Street, across from Aquilonia Comics. To get there, walk down the Approach and go around the hotel to the right. Cross the parking lot, and you’ll be at the traffic light at the corner of 6th and Fulton. Go a block and a half up Fulton; First Choice is the brightly colored restaurant on your left.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to reader Patrick Feng for suggesting this week’s restaurant. If you would like to suggest a restaurant for The Poly to review, send an e-mail to restaurants@poly.rpi.edu.
