With his new Jamaican restaurant, Coconuts, chef Robert Simpson supplies what his other, the mostly-for-take-out Back A Yard, lacks: atmosphere. Off University Avenue in downtown Palo Alto, 4-month-old Coconuts evokes the Caribbean with its mango walls and aqua trim and vivid paintings by expat Jamaican artist Duane Pearson.
Table service, delivered by waiters and waitresses in Hawaiian shirts, is as friendly and unhurried as life on the islands. Live bands play Caribbean music Friday and Saturday nights; reggae pipes through the restaurant at other times.
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CHEF Robert Simpson is Silicon Valley‘s culinary ambassador for Jamaica and the Caribbean at large. When he opened Back A Yard in Menlo Park three years ago, it quickly became one of the Bay Area‘s premier outposts of Jamaican cooking. No one cared much about the restaurant’s spare appearance, scarce seating or dodgy location. The delicious food trumped all that. Plus, there was something cool about being able to pull off Highway 101 and in a matter of minutes be gnawing on some fantastic jerk chicken.
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| Telephone | 650.329.9533 |
| Fax | 650.329.9530 |
| cater@coconutspaloalto.com | |
| Address | 642 Ramona Street. Palo Alto CA 94301 |
| Postal Address | 642 Ramona Street. Palo Alto CA 94301 |