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Mojo's working up an appetite
By CHRIS SHERMAN, Times Restaurant Critic © St. Petersburg Times, published April 21, 2000
Perhaps the flash is off Floribbean but it's still rare in upper Pinellas, so you give in and drive around to the parking lot in the back. Smart move. Here, only a hundred feet out of the scorched asphalt of the Sunbelt, you are in the welcome cool of old Florida, those moss-draped oaks that shade lovely stretches of coast hidden from Ozona up to Tarpon. Plus, the rear grounds have been pleasantly landscaped and a golf cart provided for the weary. The Nibbler doesn't normally award points for parking -- you can't eat decor outside or in -- but Mojo's addresses a dreary aspect of our drive 'n' dine culture and typifies the attention to detail throughout the restaurant. It was a big chore, 260 seats, two dining rooms with bars inside and out. Beside a rainforest redecorating, the new owners gave it live music nightly from blues to reggae, a big staff and a big menu, done with care and taste that lift Mojo's above the format. Indeed, it was the taste that convinced me Mojo's was a substantial improvement, not just a makeover. It came on my first plate, steak empanada served more like an open-faced ravioli on a flaky crust with a sweet, rich sauce of curry and coconut and crisp onion straws. My server was keener on stuffed mushrooms and similar staples -- "I don't do curry" -- but he was selling the kitchen short. The chef has plundered the Caribbean for more exotic tastes, loosely translated, but the sauces are smooth and creative, side dishes wide ranging, and presentation sharp. I think that's a credit to the Duquesnay family's unusual background, a heritage in Jamaica and the experience of running a big operation like O'Keefe's in Clearwater (and Chutney's, the family's first tropical venture.) This time out, the menu is massive, from sandwiches and finger food to a long list of entrees. Yet for all the pasta, salads and burgers, there's room for more sophisticated stuff. Among the starters, Floribbean scallops came in a beer and butter sauce, but it was as good as any court bouillon on the French islands. Scallops were decent-size and tender, but I'd have been happy with bread or a spoon and the bowl of stock. Shrimp and conch fritters fell between hushpuppies and stamp 'n' go patties; crispy puffs of fun anywhere in the tropics. Conch-crab bisque was Continental creamy and assured the diner that there's a decent saucier in the house. Entrees had us and a variety of fish island-hopping, not always with an appropriate accent, but usually successfully. Even Atlantic salmon would be an odd catch anywhere in the islands, let alone Jamaica, but the fish was properly done; it wasn't overcooked and the "Negril" topping of mango and ginger made a throughly modern match. Calling the yellow dolphin treatment "Trinidad" was a bigger stretch, but the Key lime hollandaise and avocado were lush, nonetheless. Grouper Martinique was my favorite, grilled with a cracker crust in a caramely demi-glace of bananas and macadamias. So what if it smacks more of Hawaii? I licked my fork anyhow. The letdown surprisingly came from Jamaica -- or not. The jerk trio of pork, chicken and beef was too dry and had only a timid amount of attitude. Jerk ought to be a lot more fun than this. Yet I was pleased that Mojo's filled the rest of the plate with smart side-dishes and garnish, tobacco onions, plantains, garlic mash, bright fresh vegetables with a sprinkle of orange, and a sprig of rosemary in the roast pork. Only yucca fries need more work; they're much too tough. The house combo bread is interesting thanks to the chutney butter, but pop for the coconut bread. It's good enough for dessert (although we finished the rum cake happily). Finally, Mojo's delivers it all with better-than-beach-bar service. The staff is large and well-trained to present even casual food with grace as well as good cheer. Extra spoons to share the soup? Sure, two soup spoons arrived promptly, on a small plate with its own doily. And the barkeep was annoyed, as he should be, that the stock of premium rum ran only to Appleton's, smooth stuff but only a jigger of the choices out there. Though the Indies has more flavors and spices in its food as well, Mojo's sets a fun selection on our tables and shows there's more than one way to sauce a fish. More important, the efficiency and competence of the place lets diners indulge in good-time limin'and the be-happy attitudes of more southerly latitudes. Florida's so close to the Caribbean that we should head that way more often, whether we wind up under palm trees or oaks. Mojo's Fine Food & Spirit
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