The chicken fajita burrito at Mexibbean Island Grill in Huntsville, Alabama. (Matt Wake/mwake@AL.com)
Mexibbean Island Grill just opened last month, but the place has a 40-year backstory.
This new, Mexican/Caribbean fusion concept is owned by John C. Baker, a Huntsville native and food industry vet who’s been traveling to Jamaica since the early ‘80s. Baker was also part of Texican Co. Company, a Tex-Mex restaurant that opened in Huntsville around 1987. Texican Taco’s original location was on Whitesburg Drive, with later expansion including a Jordan Lane location.
“We were kind of a flash in the pan in Huntsville in the late ‘80s,” Baker says of the short-lived eatery. He claims that Texican Taco, “was the only place in Alabama at that time making home-made tortillas.”
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Texican Taco’s employees included Chris Robinson, a 1983 Huntsville High School grad who was then studying communication graphics at the University of Alabama-Huntsville. Robinson says Texican’s popular menu items included mesquite grilled chicken fajitas, as well as chimichangas and quesadillas. The fare also got into deep roots Mexican fare like cabrito, a roasted goat-kid dish.
“It was probably one of the first real fast-casual restaurants in Huntsville, I think,” says Robinson, now a creative services manager at an Atlanta-area commercial printer. “People loved the quality of the food there. We were doing everything from scratch.”
Huntsville resident Leslie Hoar Hendley was just in middle-school back then. But she can still recall the foil-wrapped tacos from when her family would dine at Texican’s Whitesburg Drive location. “That was my first true, like, real legit taco,” says Hendley, who now works in business development. “I think that’s what makes the experience stand out so much. But at the same time as an adult, it’s still one of the best tacos I’ve ever had.”
Mexibbean Island Grill in Huntsville, Alabama. (Matt Wake/mwake@AL.com)
Now in 2022, Mexibbean Island Grill serves their tacos in a similar foil-wrapped manner. The restaurant is at 200 Oakwood Ave., the former home of the defunct Granville’s Gourmet Ribs & Barbecue. It’s in the same commercial square as Copper Top Bar & Grill and just down the street from the Lincoln Mill food-furniture-and-fitness development.
Mexibbean Island Grill in Huntsville, Alabama. (Matt Wake/mwake@AL.com)
Mexibbean’s space is small but warm and welcoming. One interior wall’s decorated with posters promoting reggae concerts by artists like Beanie Man and Sizzla. Mini replica international flags crisscross above a dining area with multihued and mismatched tables, chairs and stools. Out a sliding glass door, there’s a similarly outfitted quasi patio area.
Mexibbean Island Grill in Huntsville, Alabama. (Matt Wake/mwake@AL.com)
It’s a homey, bohemian vibe. The desired effect says Baker, who says Mexibbean was styled to feel and look like “your favorite beach joint, wherever that is.” Behind the restaurant, there’s even an upturned yellow dinghy.
Baker says the restaurant should have its liquor license sometime soon. When the Red Stripe beer and rum drinks start flowing here, Mexibbean will be a cool shaggy hang. And a new shade of leisure for Huntsville’s downtown-ish area.
Jerk chicken with rice-and-peas, steamed cabbage and fried plantains, at Mexibbean Island Grill in Huntsville, Alabama. (Matt Wake/mwake@AL.com)
Mexibbean’s name is a portmanteau. But during my three visits there so far, the menu’s star was 100 percent Jamaican: jerk chicken with rice-and-peas, steamed cabbage and fried plantains. A thigh and two drumette-style wings. Cooked super-supple with herbal sapors and articulate spice that hit your tongue just right. The traditional Jamaican rice and peas side, earthy and funky. The cabbage is also appealingly peppery and helps give the meal balance. The plantains are cut like fries, which to me aren’t as effective as slices, but that’s periphery. This is a strong meal. And at 13 bucks, strong value compared to current market pricing.
Jerk chicken tacos at Mexibbean Island Grill in Huntsville, Alabama. (Matt Wake/mwake@AL.com)
I’ve also given the chicken fajita burrito and jerk chicken tacos a go. Mexibbean’s sells both burritos and tacos as a meal with chips and salsa included, for around $10 each. There are two tacos in a meal or one baby-arm-sized burrito. The house-made tortillas definitely shine. Soft with toasted accents here and there. Really good.
It was interesting to try the jerk chicken flavor in a taco context. I preferred the chicken fajita burrito though, mainly because more ingredients are in play, including red pepper, cheese and sour cream. And I love how Mexibbean doesn’t pad-out their burrito with rice like so many places do now. So far, they’re not selling burritos or tacos a la carte, but my understanding is they will soon. People will enjoy mixing and matching these flavors and configurations. (And while the chips were crisp and fresh and salsa lively, I was a still a bit protein-hungry after just two tacos or that-size burrito.)
Mexibbean Island Grill in Huntsville, Alabama. (Matt Wake/mwake@AL.com)
Mexibbean’s menu has been building up and, Baker says, will change frequently. Other items available so far: brown stew chicken and curry chicken meals, jerk cheeseburger sliders with sweet potato fries, and jerk- and/or “calypso”-flavored chicken wings. “Soon come,” in Jamaican speak, options will be things like tamales, quesadillas, oxtail and curry goat. And at least one dish that sounds like it could be used to cast a spell: chicken foot soup.
Mexibbean is doing a prolonged “soft opening” of about two months before a planned July grand opening. If you’ve ever been to Jamaica, you know how laidback the pace is in that island country. The counter service at Mexibbean moves at a similar rhythm. It’s an enjoyable fast-causal restaurant experience, but definitely more casual than fast. The hours posted on the door say 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Check the restaurant’s socials for updates though: facebook.com/islandtime1962 and instagram.com/mexibbean.
Mexibbean Island Grill in Huntsville, Alabama. (Matt Wake/mwake@AL.com)
Besides Texican Taco, Baker’s food career has taken him to places like Birmingham, where his endeavors included Caribbean CookHouse in the ‘90s and Texas Taco & Chili Co. Mexibbean actually started in the Birmingham area too, first as a pop-up restaurant then a food-truck. A 1981 Huntsville High graduate, Baker started going to Jamaica while attending college in Miami.
A college roommate was from Jamaica and one spring break Baker went back home with him. “We didn’t even see a beach for like a week,” Baker says. “All I saw was the ghettos of Kingston, frankly, and had a freaking blast. I fell in love with the culture, the music and the people. And I’ve been going back ever since.”
Mexibbean Island Grill owner John C. Baker and wife Sharice Baker. (Matt Wake/mwake@AL.com)
On a beach in Montego Bay, Baker met a beautiful Jamaican woman named Sharice. They’ve been together as a couple for about 10 years now and were married in Jamaica a few years ago. Sharice Baker’s background is in the salon business. Eventually, she hopes to get a salon started in Huntsville.
Although relocating Sharice here has been challenging during the pandemic, Baker says Sharice is, “bringing all her recipes. Even though I’ve been cooking this stuff for years, she definitely cooks it better than I do.” He adds, “I don’t think I’ve ever met a Jamaican woman that wasn’t a good cook, just because they don’t have the culture we have of going out (to eat), so they cook.”
Asked further about his background, Baker, who has a gray goatee and shaved head, quotes a Grateful Dead lyric, “What a long, strange trip it’s been.” He’s done stints in restaurants in Aspen, Miami, Chicago, Nashville and Charlotte. His travels have taken him as far as East Africa. During a detour from the food industry, he got a law degree. He’s been a practicing lawyer for around 15 years, he says.
Getting Mexibbean open amid COVID has been a long, strange trip too. After moving back to Huntsville in 2020, Baker aimed at opening mid-2021 and touted that timeframe to me last year. But big wheels grind slow. Especially during the pandemic, which has been like “a long dark tunnel for everybody in the hospitality industry,” as Baker puts it.
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The Caribbean/Mexican mashup is a Huntsville first. This market has many solid Mexican and Tex-Mex options, including Rosie’s Cantina and Bandito Burrito, two now iconic local eateries Baker says, “paid my (Texican Taco) concept an homage, I’ll put it like that.” There were already a handful of Caribbean eateries here too. Baker says he “didn’t want to steal their thunder.”
During his food-career and travels, he realized the overlap in Mexican and Caribbean cuisine. “More often than not, we’re using the same core ingredients,” Baker says. “It was really just the cooking methods that were slightly different.” Whenever traveling abroad, “I’m always jumping in the kitchen,” Baker says, “somewhere that I’m not supposed to be, trying to try to talk the guy out of his recipe - or at least try to pick up some techniques.”
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