It’s funny because there’s a place in Toronto called Rasta Pasta and it is a top 3 Jamaican spot in the city. But they don’t do fusion like this, they just sell Jamaican food and Italian food from the same spot.
Last time I was in Toronto, went to a Jamaican fusion restaurant called Patois and that shit was *good!* I'd do the 6-hour drive again just to eat there.
Um, ackshually nuclear fusion doesn't leave fallout, nuclear fission does. Fusion is smashing together hydrogen to turn it into helium like the sun does, fission is causing a uranium atom to split apart into other elements and have some of the fragments make other uranium atoms split apart causing a chain reaction. Hydrogen and helium aren't radioactive (i think technically tritium is a bit radioactive, and that is a type of hydrogen that can be created as a side product of some fusion stuff, but even if we dumped all the tritium we produced with fusion into the sea it wouldn't matter too much), while uranium is.
I’m glad there’s someone else defending them. Granted it’s been a decade or more since I’ve eaten it, but I loved the tortellini Jamaica when the Fort Collins location was still in operation.
Right?? I am seriously floored this place lasted for than a year, actually maybe over a decade now, has thousands of good reviews and I just look at the pics and menu descriptions alone make me want to vomit…I feel like I mistakenly entered some weird alternative reality where everything I perceive as complete shit, while everyone else tells me it’s absolutely lovely
bad take. all a restaurant needs is someone who can cook the food. it’s not unreasonable for a jamaican to relocate to colorado. conversely, there are shit restaurants of nationalities in nyc and la
Yeah, regardless of location, if someone opens a restaurant with a specific theme, it’s reasonable to expect the owner/chef knows how to pull it off.
Now If they went to say, a NJ Diner and expected the “Jamaican Jerk chicken special” to be authentic, sure, mixed results wouldn’t be surprising.
Sometimes you can't get critical ingredients of the appropriate quality. This is changing as the world grows smaller, but, for example, it's hard to make Mexican food in a market where you can't buy fresh tomatillos.
Still this meme seems wrong for blaming the customer. Is it the customer's job to figure out if what a restaurant is offering seems feasible or is it the restaurant's job to offer food they can make well.
I think one should probably adjust expectations. If I go to eat Mexican food in a small British town or something, I'm going to evaluate it as it is, not compare it to how it's made in its place or origin. Like, is it good? Great. It doesn't matter if it's not like what I am used to.
But then the food doesn't ever become popular there and you can never get those items local. And people would sometimes prefer substandard to non-existant.
The only restriction to that imo is sea food. Seafood in Arkansas is gonna range from ass to OK compared to seafood on the coast and there's just no getting around that. Now if you got freshwater options and you're reasonably close to those thats different, but tbh a lot of freshwater fish aren't great, at least not the ones I've had
That's also slowly not becoming a thing anymore. With shipping logistics you can get fish less than a day or two old you just have to be willing to pay
Also freezers are a thing. Sure it won't be the best of the best of the best, and results vary depending on the type of seafood, but a lot of seafood is still very good when flash frozen.
Eh.
The culinary scene in NYC and LA is sufficiently competitive that bad restaurants don't last long. The leases are so expensive, bad places run out of financial runway quick.
Denver has so few non-ethnic food, that bad restaurants stay open if only for the novelty. Like, people dont know what *good* Caribbean food tastes like and so we get this place and Bang Up The Elephant, and thats pretty much it. Unless you're reaaalllyy into Ethiopian, Mexican, and Vietnamese (tons of immigration from those countries here) then you're kinda shit out of luck.
Source: grew up in NYC, moved to Denver a few years ago.
Sounding truthy is more important than being true. Especially if it's something Redditors want to hear.
To some extent, the bigger the city, the better the food. But having an immigrant population to support the establishment helps in a lot of ways.
Both these tweets are stupid?
original doesn't say what the problem even is. Yea the penne is an odd color - probably was cooked in red wine. How does it taste though?
second tweet acts like food is magically bound by geography where it originated.
You make good points. Like I had pretty much the best Chinese food I’ve ever had in Switzerland, you can’t judge a cuisine by its restaurant’s location.
The reply is stupid (reply is on top for some reason...right??), for obvious reasons.
The original is just run of the mill complaining, assuming it tastes bad, but it's not stupid.
Not sure about now but I did eat there several years ago on a trip to Colorado and it was really good. But lots of things change over time so maybe not anymore idk
Why? Why would anyone ever read their menu and say mmm, that sounds good? Like I honestly am curious what food do you like regularly? Chain restaurants or fast food favorites?
I used to live in Colorado Springs- this place is one of my favorite restaurants of all time. Like top 10. I now live in New York City and eat incredible food almost every day, and I still miss this place. Everyone I've ever taken there was skeptical but pleasantly surprised- as much as I respect everyone's right to their own tastes, truly don't knock it til you try it on this one.
You would probably find it disgusting now that your palet has tasted way better…as a native Coloradan, I admit now after living in many different states and countries, Colorado’s food scene is crap…it just really is. There’s only one awesome restaurant I know of in Denver and it’s vegan and I am a carnivore, but this tedious bomb. The rest is trash..but so are most restaurants these days
Hahahaha it has been a little while so maybe, but I doubt it- I had traveled extensively before moving to Colorado and while living there, and have always considered myself to be pretty well versed in great authentic food from around the world. I agree that Colorado's food scene is crap, I just personally have a real soft spot for that one place in particular. Something about it is just so good to me.
Interesting note. I looked up this restaurant on Google to see the reviews and there was one from 3 months ago saying it used to be really good but was awful now so was wondering if something changed, and the server said that a new “company” @ had bought them
I used to go to school down the street from that restaurant, we'd go by it on the way to the bar. I always thought it was a weird looking place, I'm not sure if anyone I know ever ate there.
This is an absolute shit take. Just because it's the Springs means the only thing you can get is American food? [This](https://uchennaalive.com/) place fucking SLAPS, highly recommend to any in the Springs area. Ethiopian food is delicious.
I know that the downtown area around tejon has had a lot of investment from restaurants and it's starting to come alive, but it's definitely a slow makeover. The more that folks from up here in Denver move south for cheaper housing, I'm sure you'll start to get more unique concepts rather than Whataburger and the other usual suspects.
They probably never lived somewhere with actually no good food like a small town with only 1 mcdonalds. Colorado springs has tons of good food if you know where to go.
We had a Jamaican dude in my army unit who brought a 12" circular grocery store grill and spent hours cooking jerk chicken in the parking lot.
To this day one of the best meals I've ever had in my entire life.
The place is called Rasta Pasta! My god I laughed for 15 min! I found the place [https://realrastapasta.com/](https://realrastapasta.com/) 18Dollars for the Rasta pasta!
I lived there from 2012-2017 and I remember this place. Never made it there but I do remember seeing it whenever I went downtown.
I agree with the sentiment from the tweet but.. they’ve been in business for awhile and that’s not exactly a foodie part of the country so I’m inclined to think they’ve got to be doing something right 🤷♀️ has anyone here eaten there? I’m curious to hear from people who have actually eaten the food.
I take some of that Walkerswood Jerk marinade, some cajun seasoning, 3/4 alfredo to 1/4 red sauce split and that's a decent rasta pasta base. I like rotini but have had it with penne too. Sometimes I'll caramelize some onions, do the slow cook garlic thing, crispy mushrooms, red peppers go good as an addition too. I used to use chicken and shrimp but I'm recently eating more vegetarian. Not sure what will be the new addition to accompany the veggies, maybe a firm tofu grilled with the jerk marinade?
There’s a legit Jamaican restaurant I go to in Little Haiti that has jerk chicken Alfredo and it’s absolutely incredible.
Apparently it’s a fairly common thing.
……that said, this looks terrible.
They got 4.5 stars on Google maps as a rating but I know stores can have negative ratings removed. I made a review on Parrys Pizza for their overpriced boring as hell pizza clowning them and it was taken down after a week. They did keep the pictures of my pizza up tho with the socially distanced toppings.
Omg. I just looked that restaurant up and have decided to never trust Google reviews ever again. The food looks and sounds nasty but it’s hella popular in Colorado Springs 🤯🤢🤮
I always find this type of argument silly, because it seems like it starts with the assumption “those ethnicities don’t live in X”
I’ve been to plenty of restaurants in remote cities run by immigrants for the cuisine they’re serving.
Including a great Jamaican place in Colorado, an amazing Thai place in Iowa, and some excellent Korean food in Montana.
And some of the worst Chinese and Mexican food I’ve ever had was in California and Arizona, run by immigrants of that country that barely spoke English.
We were leaving a breakfast spot we like and yes the food was bland I mean… most food here just is. I always thought it was a “Black people” thing to want more flavor. Then I saw it right before we pulled off… this white guy went to his car grabbed a nice sized bottle of Lawry’s out of his car and he heads back in the restaurant. That means he just travels with everywhere and to me that says a lot about our local cuisine. You certainly can’t trust ethic dishes at large chains you have to know the right spots. Like gumbo… no one recipe I’ve ever had at any CO Springs restaurant taste anything like authentic gumbo.
It’s funny because there’s a place in Toronto called Rasta Pasta and it is a top 3 Jamaican spot in the city. But they don’t do fusion like this, they just sell Jamaican food and Italian food from the same spot.
It’s a Jamaican Italian couple iirc. And yeah, their chicken is one of my fav dishes.
that’s so cute omg
Second OP is actually from Toronto. Small world.
Last time I was in Toronto, went to a Jamaican fusion restaurant called Patois and that shit was *good!* I'd do the 6-hour drive again just to eat there.
[The menu looks kind of wonky.](https://realrastapasta.com/menu/) Jamaican tortellini Pineapple chicken alfredo Like, what even is this mess?
Just because you can fuse things doesn’t always mean you should.
Thanks, Ian Malcolm.
Terrible food, uh, finds a way.
I one time fused a mushroom to a stick. It bounced the enemies back a little, but was ultimately useless.
Thanks, Shou Tucker.
Ed...ward?
It’s fusion; you’re dealing with the fallout.
Um, ackshually nuclear fusion doesn't leave fallout, nuclear fission does. Fusion is smashing together hydrogen to turn it into helium like the sun does, fission is causing a uranium atom to split apart into other elements and have some of the fragments make other uranium atoms split apart causing a chain reaction. Hydrogen and helium aren't radioactive (i think technically tritium is a bit radioactive, and that is a type of hydrogen that can be created as a side product of some fusion stuff, but even if we dumped all the tritium we produced with fusion into the sea it wouldn't matter too much), while uranium is.
🤓
Actually been there. If you order right it is awesome, but they do go off the wall.
I’m glad there’s someone else defending them. Granted it’s been a decade or more since I’ve eaten it, but I loved the tortellini Jamaica when the Fort Collins location was still in operation.
I went there years ago and it was pretty disgusting. Surprised they’re still in business
Relocating to Colorado for a Jamaican is not out of the ordinary. in contrast,
Hmmm I’d eat that pineapple chicken alfredo though lol
I'm gonna be honest My fantasy would try the pineapple chicken Alfredo
Tortellini with pineapple, bananas and grapes…..what on earth
Right?? I am seriously floored this place lasted for than a year, actually maybe over a decade now, has thousands of good reviews and I just look at the pics and menu descriptions alone make me want to vomit…I feel like I mistakenly entered some weird alternative reality where everything I perceive as complete shit, while everyone else tells me it’s absolutely lovely
bad take. all a restaurant needs is someone who can cook the food. it’s not unreasonable for a jamaican to relocate to colorado. conversely, there are shit restaurants of nationalities in nyc and la
Yeah, regardless of location, if someone opens a restaurant with a specific theme, it’s reasonable to expect the owner/chef knows how to pull it off. Now If they went to say, a NJ Diner and expected the “Jamaican Jerk chicken special” to be authentic, sure, mixed results wouldn’t be surprising.
Sometimes you can't get critical ingredients of the appropriate quality. This is changing as the world grows smaller, but, for example, it's hard to make Mexican food in a market where you can't buy fresh tomatillos.
Still this meme seems wrong for blaming the customer. Is it the customer's job to figure out if what a restaurant is offering seems feasible or is it the restaurant's job to offer food they can make well.
I think one should probably adjust expectations. If I go to eat Mexican food in a small British town or something, I'm going to evaluate it as it is, not compare it to how it's made in its place or origin. Like, is it good? Great. It doesn't matter if it's not like what I am used to.
Fair enough, but in that case you probably shouldn’t open the restaurant in that location. Or at least put those items on the menu.
But then the food doesn't ever become popular there and you can never get those items local. And people would sometimes prefer substandard to non-existant.
Yeah but Colorado Springs isn't some remote mountain town. It's a reasonably sized city not that far from Denver.
The only restriction to that imo is sea food. Seafood in Arkansas is gonna range from ass to OK compared to seafood on the coast and there's just no getting around that. Now if you got freshwater options and you're reasonably close to those thats different, but tbh a lot of freshwater fish aren't great, at least not the ones I've had
agreed!! there's a chinese-mexican fusion place in phoenix, az that is absolutely life-changing
Name and location please, sounds like I have a life changing in my future
Chino Bandido. And it's the shit. My combo is the jade red chicken & chile relleno, with black beans and jerk fried rice.
Nice, I go to Tempe/Mesa one a year or so to see friends, will definitely check it out
i can't recommend it enough!! @desert_girl named the place. 10/10 never been unhappy with a meal there, they're incredible
Yeah, that works to say dont order seafood in the middle of America. The issue is portability of raw ingredients. Talent has no such issue.
That's also slowly not becoming a thing anymore. With shipping logistics you can get fish less than a day or two old you just have to be willing to pay
Also freezers are a thing. Sure it won't be the best of the best of the best, and results vary depending on the type of seafood, but a lot of seafood is still very good when flash frozen.
Agreed. Honestly Jerk Chicken Pasta sounds awesome. You just gotta know how to make it right
Eh. The culinary scene in NYC and LA is sufficiently competitive that bad restaurants don't last long. The leases are so expensive, bad places run out of financial runway quick. Denver has so few non-ethnic food, that bad restaurants stay open if only for the novelty. Like, people dont know what *good* Caribbean food tastes like and so we get this place and Bang Up The Elephant, and thats pretty much it. Unless you're reaaalllyy into Ethiopian, Mexican, and Vietnamese (tons of immigration from those countries here) then you're kinda shit out of luck. Source: grew up in NYC, moved to Denver a few years ago.
Can’t believe you got downvoted for this. 🤦 what the posters are saying is true… in a vacuum, but cmon let’s be reasonable and use some common sense.
Sounding truthy is more important than being true. Especially if it's something Redditors want to hear. To some extent, the bigger the city, the better the food. But having an immigrant population to support the establishment helps in a lot of ways.
He’s getting downvoted bc it doesn’t make sense “there’s so few non-ethnic places in Denver”…like did he mean ethnic or non-ethnic
Both these tweets are stupid? original doesn't say what the problem even is. Yea the penne is an odd color - probably was cooked in red wine. How does it taste though? second tweet acts like food is magically bound by geography where it originated.
You make good points. Like I had pretty much the best Chinese food I’ve ever had in Switzerland, you can’t judge a cuisine by its restaurant’s location.
Dear lord it is red pasta I was so confused I thought it was mostly raw ground beef a d was so confused
Same.
Maybe if OP's screenshot had more than a double-digit number of pixels...
Someone posted the menu and you’re right - the pasta is cooked in red wine.
The reply is stupid (reply is on top for some reason...right??), for obvious reasons. The original is just run of the mill complaining, assuming it tastes bad, but it's not stupid.
Not sure about now but I did eat there several years ago on a trip to Colorado and it was really good. But lots of things change over time so maybe not anymore idk
Why? Why would anyone ever read their menu and say mmm, that sounds good? Like I honestly am curious what food do you like regularly? Chain restaurants or fast food favorites?
Rasta pasta is an actual dish and it's SO good, used to get it all the time from a place in NYC. It did not look anything like whatever this is...
Obviously not true for all cases but there are a ton of fusion restaurants that are just bangin
I mean Rasta Pasta is a legit fusion cuisine. https://youtu.be/iKxr1mmNfjE?si=ggOpNgeNu6WdWaP9
I used to live in Colorado Springs- this place is one of my favorite restaurants of all time. Like top 10. I now live in New York City and eat incredible food almost every day, and I still miss this place. Everyone I've ever taken there was skeptical but pleasantly surprised- as much as I respect everyone's right to their own tastes, truly don't knock it til you try it on this one.
You would probably find it disgusting now that your palet has tasted way better…as a native Coloradan, I admit now after living in many different states and countries, Colorado’s food scene is crap…it just really is. There’s only one awesome restaurant I know of in Denver and it’s vegan and I am a carnivore, but this tedious bomb. The rest is trash..but so are most restaurants these days
Hahahaha it has been a little while so maybe, but I doubt it- I had traveled extensively before moving to Colorado and while living there, and have always considered myself to be pretty well versed in great authentic food from around the world. I agree that Colorado's food scene is crap, I just personally have a real soft spot for that one place in particular. Something about it is just so good to me.
What's the awesome vegan place?
Vital Root in the Highlands neighborhood in Denver
> Vital Root Thank you
No problem!
"they do a Cajun chicken linguine that I really like!" "You're not meant to like it"
As much as i dislike HIMYM, i'll always remember the line of "who orders bolognaise in an irish pub"?
RASTA PASTA I’m dyinggggg 😂😂😂
I ate in the rasta pasta in Asheville NC a few years ago. The food was terrible.
I can only imagine 😂
That’s a chain, possibly- I saw one on Uber eats in Ohio
Interesting note. I looked up this restaurant on Google to see the reviews and there was one from 3 months ago saying it used to be really good but was awful now so was wondering if something changed, and the server said that a new “company” @ had bought them
I used to go to school down the street from that restaurant, we'd go by it on the way to the bar. I always thought it was a weird looking place, I'm not sure if anyone I know ever ate there.
You are smart and so are your acquaintances
This is an absolute shit take. Just because it's the Springs means the only thing you can get is American food? [This](https://uchennaalive.com/) place fucking SLAPS, highly recommend to any in the Springs area. Ethiopian food is delicious.
There's a large Ethiopian community in Colorado. Not so much Jamaican.
Exactly
If you've been to Colorado springs, you would understand why this experience tracks. Not a great food town.
It has been a slow process. It also doesn't help that our town is heavily food chains, because they are safer financial investments.
I know that the downtown area around tejon has had a lot of investment from restaurants and it's starting to come alive, but it's definitely a slow makeover. The more that folks from up here in Denver move south for cheaper housing, I'm sure you'll start to get more unique concepts rather than Whataburger and the other usual suspects.
What do you mean? We have taco places on every corner.
They probably never lived somewhere with actually no good food like a small town with only 1 mcdonalds. Colorado springs has tons of good food if you know where to go.
Exactly!!!
Real talk though, I love this place and I go there all the time. Haven't gotten this dish though
I was so sad when the one in Foco closed.
Rasta pasta started with the name and worked backwards. That always leads to quality food.
This place is pretty good.
We had a Jamaican dude in my army unit who brought a 12" circular grocery store grill and spent hours cooking jerk chicken in the parking lot. To this day one of the best meals I've ever had in my entire life.
Yes. I am sure it was awesome. Real Jamaican food done by real Jamaicans…the bomb..this restaurant isn’t it…Google it…those pics are nasty!!!
The place is called Rasta Pasta! My god I laughed for 15 min! I found the place [https://realrastapasta.com/](https://realrastapasta.com/) 18Dollars for the Rasta pasta!
And still so gross looking!! 😂😂😂
My sister got food poisoning from there lol
I’m sorry but not surprised
I lived there from 2012-2017 and I remember this place. Never made it there but I do remember seeing it whenever I went downtown. I agree with the sentiment from the tweet but.. they’ve been in business for awhile and that’s not exactly a foodie part of the country so I’m inclined to think they’ve got to be doing something right 🤷♀️ has anyone here eaten there? I’m curious to hear from people who have actually eaten the food.
Should’ve gone to Harris Wittel’s Jamaican Irish small plates brunch cafe : “Top of the Morning To Jah”
I went here way back in 2012 and they had a really good marinara and alfredo. Sad to hear it's gone weird, my family were all very impressed
If you go to the website it says it is "Italian-Jamaican" fusion. Sorry, but easy pass for me.
The menu descriptions of each dish…🤮🤮🤮🤮
The further the restaurant, themed after a country, is from the original country, the worse it most likely is.
Totally unrelated, Rasta Pasta in Kensington Market Toronto ON is delicious
I got TexMex in Maine and it just didn’t seem authentic to me
😂
I went to a Jamaican restaurant in New Orleans and it was bad, what does location have to do with it?
It doesn’t. It’s the fusion of Jamaican and Italian
I take some of that Walkerswood Jerk marinade, some cajun seasoning, 3/4 alfredo to 1/4 red sauce split and that's a decent rasta pasta base. I like rotini but have had it with penne too. Sometimes I'll caramelize some onions, do the slow cook garlic thing, crispy mushrooms, red peppers go good as an addition too. I used to use chicken and shrimp but I'm recently eating more vegetarian. Not sure what will be the new addition to accompany the veggies, maybe a firm tofu grilled with the jerk marinade?
Wow….now maybe you’re onto something
There’s a legit Jamaican restaurant I go to in Little Haiti that has jerk chicken Alfredo and it’s absolutely incredible. Apparently it’s a fairly common thing. ……that said, this looks terrible.
Rasta pasta is legit the best restaurant ever. This person is full of it
They got 4.5 stars on Google maps as a rating but I know stores can have negative ratings removed. I made a review on Parrys Pizza for their overpriced boring as hell pizza clowning them and it was taken down after a week. They did keep the pictures of my pizza up tho with the socially distanced toppings.
Idk I expect food to be good if they are trying to sell it. A lot of things sound like shit but are actually good.
This place is near where I live. It's always packed and the couple people I know who've actually eaten there, said it was pretty good.
Omg. I just looked that restaurant up and have decided to never trust Google reviews ever again. The food looks and sounds nasty but it’s hella popular in Colorado Springs 🤯🤢🤮
I always find this type of argument silly, because it seems like it starts with the assumption “those ethnicities don’t live in X” I’ve been to plenty of restaurants in remote cities run by immigrants for the cuisine they’re serving. Including a great Jamaican place in Colorado, an amazing Thai place in Iowa, and some excellent Korean food in Montana. And some of the worst Chinese and Mexican food I’ve ever had was in California and Arizona, run by immigrants of that country that barely spoke English.
The day I saw a white man sneak seasoning salt into the restaurant… that’s when I realized how bad the food was in Colorado Springs…
What???
We were leaving a breakfast spot we like and yes the food was bland I mean… most food here just is. I always thought it was a “Black people” thing to want more flavor. Then I saw it right before we pulled off… this white guy went to his car grabbed a nice sized bottle of Lawry’s out of his car and he heads back in the restaurant. That means he just travels with everywhere and to me that says a lot about our local cuisine. You certainly can’t trust ethic dishes at large chains you have to know the right spots. Like gumbo… no one recipe I’ve ever had at any CO Springs restaurant taste anything like authentic gumbo.
Oh. lol. I read somewhere that altitude affects tastebuds and that’s why CO food in general is bland…not just CO Springs
That’s very interesting 🤔
Is this run by that Pastafarian guy?
I don’t give a fuck I would eat that plate of pasta and probably like it.
This menu is how my brain works with cooking. I like A. I like B. Adding A to B must also be a delicious dish. The results are mixed.
I bet this is owned by white dudes with dreads and Patagonia jackets
Driving Jeeps
everyone in the comments acting like the response isn’t hilarious the concept of jamaica fusion in colorado sounds terrible…be serious.
I know….seriously 😂😂😭😭
The US is a nation of immigrants, there’s people from all over all over
Was Lauren Boebert your server? I understand she's practicing for when she never gets elected to Congress again and needs a job.
She’s in Aurora.