The boneless curry chicken and roti is really tasty,I had it a few times already and I just can't wait to go there again

Thanks to Hefe for the Natural Ginger Beer recommendation.

When I was at Nicole's a few weeks ago, her son was wrapping up something that looked incredible for another customer who phoned in their order.

I asked what it was and he said it was Boneless Curry Chicken Roti.

Have any JCListers out there tried their Roti?

It's now at the top of my list of stuff to sample, but when I was last in there to grab dinner he said they had sold out of it for the day.

I did appreciate one little tip he gave me though.

He said that if I call ahead early enough with my order, he'll just set it aside for me before they run out.

Related thought: Is there a chance that Lisa's Roti/Teddy's Roti is going to reopen anywhere? I never tried their food there, but I heard it was excellent.

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I might add that Future is also great for big noodle soups and for mexican food - they are fast cheap and even take credit cards.

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If you're looking for cheap places to eat around here, check out this Cheap Eats Jersey City JCList thread.

Besides Nicole's Restaurant, I recommend the following:

- Shadman Restaurant (Pakistani & Indian):

They have great Seekh Kababs ($1.50 each) and Naan (also $1.50 each). I usually order two Seekh Kababs (made from ground meat, herbs, minced onions and spices) and one Naan (tandoor-baked bread) which comes with tangy yogurt sauce and a small salad. The grand total? $4.50! If you're still hungry, a small side order of Chana (spiced stewed chickpeas) is only $2.00. They also have good vegetarian and meat-based curries. You get your choice of two entrees plus rice or naan for anywhere from 4 to 6 dollars.

- Fresh Tortillas Grill (Tex-Mex):

The Monterey Jack Cheese Quesadillas Sincronizadas rock and are served with great salsa for only $2.39. And a nice-size portion of Grilled Chicken with Mexican Rice (also served with great salsa) is only $2.69!

- Sava Polish Diner & Deli (Polish):

It's ALL good, particularly the homemade boiled Potato or Cabbage Pierogies (stuffed dumplings). Also, try the Meatballs in Gravy, Sauerkraut, Kielbasa, Stuffed Cabbage and Cucumber Salad! I believe a half-dozen pierogies is less than FOUR BUCKS and a Polish Combination Platter is less than EIGHT BUCKS! The owner and cook is very sweet and she'll keep you coming back for more.

- Nha Trang Restaurant (Vietnamese):

I dig everything from the Cha Gio (fried spring rollls) to the Pho (beef noodle soup). And the grilled and stir-fried dishes are great too. Very cheap and very tasty. (Saigon Cafe is very good too and closer to Grove Street, but it is also tends to be more expensive.)

- Brownstone Diner & Pancake Factory (American):

Their pancake recipe should be patented, and their portions are HUGE. I've enjoyed everything I've had there over the years -- Greek specialties, sandwiches, burgers, eggs, etc. This place has gotten to be so popular, it has even been featured on The Food Network.

- Ibby's Falafel (Middle Eastern):

This Syrian-owned cafe has everything from Shawarma to Tabouli, but my hands-down favorite item is the Falafel & Baba Ganoush Sandwich for only $4.00.

- Cheap Chinese Food (It's Everywhere!):

Try Sen Hai, Great Wall, Chun Bo and Future (to name a few). For something extra spicy and authentic, try Grand Sichuan (though most items are a bit more pricey).

What's great about these places is that you can get take-out for under TEN BUCKS, and in many cases, for under FIVE BUCKS!

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Their take-out menu says that they take Visa, Mastercard and Discover.

It says they also offer "fast free delivery with a minimum $10 purchase" (in case you want to avoid a parking ticket)!

They close at 9:30PM and their phone number is 201-433-8443.

Welcome to the neighborhood!

do you know if Nicole's takes credit card? I've only been living here a week and have already spent a TON on take out and parking tickets and Nicole's sounds like cheap, quality food...

When was last over there, one of Nicole's sons told me that they have a new Weekly Special on Tuesdays now.

It's not on the printed menu, but it's a Curry CHICKEN With Cabbage combination platter (complete with your choice of Rice & Peas or Yellow Rice AND Fried Sweet Plantains or Steamed Cabbage AND Homemade Hot Sauce) for just FIVE BUCKS!

Wahoo!

The new dish was inspired by ever popular Thursday special, Curry Turkey With Cabbage.

What sucks is the last couple of times I was there, they had already run out of the Curry Turkey With Cabbage dish by 6PM.

I think if you're going to have "weekly special" dishes, you should have enough on hand until the end of the dinner rush.

That said, I suppose regularly running out of dishes can create a "sense of urgency" among your customers.

I've read that other neighborhood restaurants, like La Conguita for example, tend to run out of their specials as well.

Guess it's just part of the charm of these places.

I like Nicole's restaurant food because it feels like home cooked food the fried rice and jerk chicken is the best along with the plantains, I eat there a few times a few and I enjoy the food

I just watched the Star Trek clip for kicks -- very amusing in a sophomoric kind of way.

I went back to Nicole's again yesterday -- which makes three times in less than one week! Which is a heck of a lot for someone who passed by that place for years and never ventured in.

But I wanted to try the Pepper Pot Chicken special for five bucks, and I couldn't wait a full week to do it. It was a good value. The sauce was a nice balance of mildly spicy and sweet. I had it with plantains, but they were out of rice and peas. So I opted for yellow rice instead which I enjoyed.

If I had to rank the dishes I've tried so far, they would be in this order:

1. Curry Turkey With Cabbage ($5.00)
2. Pepper Pot Chicken ($5.00)
3. Jerk Chicken ($6.50)

I don't see myself ordering the Jerk Chicken again because I thought the Curry Turkey With Cabbage and the Pepper Pot Chicken were better tasting and they are both $1.50 cheaper.

In an effort to not "overpost" about Nicole's, this should be my final one (at least for awhile!).

Quote: Captain Kirk tried that too.

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It's definitely not high-end dining or anything, but it's cheap, filling, interesting and just around the corner.

If you like curries and you like cabbage, you may want to try the Curry Turkey With Cabbage on Thursday.

I'm happy I did.

Okay, UR. You convinced me to try Nicole's again. You make it sound so appetizing Maybe it was just an off day when I had their food.

Okay, I promise not to post each time I try something new at Nicole's, but I went there for a second time this afternoon for some takeout.

Today I got the Jerk Chicken for $6.50. While it was good, the Curry Turkey With Cabbage I had earlier in the week was tastier and a better deal at $5.00.

This Monday or the following Monday I want to try the Pepper Pot Chicken daily special. I am intrigued by the idea of Nicole's cassareep sauce. And it's cheap at only five bucks!

Have any JCListers out there ever tried Nicole's Pepper Pot Chicken? If so, did you dig it?

It's kind of sad that I have lived near this place for so long but never ventured in until now. But better late than never as they say!

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I need to indulge in some Golden Krust next time I'm in the mall at Newport. I had a "spicy" Jamaican beef patty last time I was by that place, but it didn't do much to satisfy me. I need to get an all-out dinner there already. Maybe it's high time for some braised oxtails!

Regarding your mention of the place on Grove Street, I think you may be talking about Soul Flavors. Here's a link to their website if you're interested. They have jerk chicken on their menu (but I don't see it listed on their website for some reason).

Kanye West is supposed to be a big fan of Soul Flavors along with a number of these JCListers. Their catering company's client list is celebrity-laden (for all the US Weekly readers out there) and includes Jay-Z, Spike Lee, Lauryn Hill, Martha Stewart, Madonna, The Neptunes, Jon Bon Jovi, Common, The Roots, B. Smith, Ashanti, Corey Glover, Alice in Chains, Me'shell Ndeg?ocello, LL Cool J, Sean John "Diddy" Combs, etc.

Surprisingly enough, I think Golden Krust is better than Nicole's and Golden Krust is average.

I did have some amazing jerk chicken not too long ago. I raided my boyfriend's refrigerator one night and found some leftover food from some new place on Grove Street, but I forgot the name he told me. It was great! It had a Jamaican Soul Food flavor to me. The flavors were so strong I definitely needed some white rice to diffuse the intensity.

I just got take-out from Nicole's at lunch today for the very first time.

I had the small order of Curry Turkey With Cabbage served with Fried Plantains AND with Rice and Peas.

All of that for ONLY FIVE DOLLARS INCLUDING TAX!

For a "small" portion, it was quite large and I really enjoyed my meal.

It was a filling and convenient alternative to the Pakistani curried combination takeout platters I get from time to time along Grove Street.

I also tried their famed hot sauce and it was megaSPICYgood with all of the complex high and low notes eloquently described by JCList's very own Taste in an earlier post.

Next time I plan to try the Jerk Chicken everyone's been raving about -- wahoo!

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I look forward to giving the place a shot tomorrow for lunch. Thanks for the feedback.

No concern. The food is great.
But then I eat street meat 3 x's a week at work in NYC. So maybe I'm not the best judge.

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To mensabitch (and to all other Nicole's fans out there):

When I first read the post quoted above, I thought it was an endorsement for Nicole's Curry Turkey With Cabbage dish because the combination "defies imagination."

But when I reread the post and paired that first thought with the comment that the food was "palatable, but still questionable," I then found myself entirely confused.

Are you saying this dish is an unexpected delight? Or their food is tasty but possibly not sanitary (as Darkmatter suggests)? Or the food is usually decent enough but not always pleasant to eat? Please clarify.

Anyway, I am replying to this post today because the idea of Curry Turkey With Cabbage has me entirely intrigued -- so much so that I was thinking of having this specialty of theirs for lunch on Thursday.

Has any one else out there given this particular dish a try? If so, do you recommend it?

Strange side note: I picked up a take-out menu from Nicole's this week, and while the food looked good enough, there was a sort of weird musty smell that hit me pretty hard when I walked through the doorway.

I am trying to not let the odor scare me off since most JCListers are saying the food is pretty darn good, but has anyone else caught a whiff of this and do you find it a cause for concern?

I haven't heard anything, but in this town, you never know.

Is Nicole's closed on weekends? Tried to go on a Saturday afternoon around 3 but the gates were down. Just a fluke?

I know there's a nice row of Caribbean and soul food restaurants a couple of blocks south of the Martin Luther King light rail stop. I got lunch from one last summer, while registering my daughter for the after care program, but I don't remember it that well.

Anyhow, are there any people here familiar with the restaurants south of the MLK light rail stop? If so, what did you think about them? Which ones (if any) would you try if you were on a quickie intra-JC day trip?

Its unfortunate but there does not seem to be many west indian places in JC or Hudson county....Ive heard that Sandras on Communipaw just off West Side Ave is a good jamaican take out...i have not tried it yet......
I miss Clackens on Old Bergen Road SOOOO MUCH...the food was excellent...

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a) Could you list some good Nicole's alternatives?

b) Have you been to Calle Luna, on Varick south of Columbus? To me, it seems as if that's a good place, but it sounds as if you're probably a better, tougher critic than I am.

So after all the buzz this past week about Nicoles I had to go in after many years of not eating there.....
Food was okay...not even good.....
Got the jerk chicken(bland for jerk and too many pulverized bones...more like stewed chicken) oxtail(never again) mac &cheez(somewhat curdish)
cabbage(how can you ruin cabbage) and rice &peas(okay)

Now I remember why I have not been back...Steam tables and wide open doors = flies

The special sauce is basically Matouks scotch bonnet with vinegar........

Just went again last night, had the jerk chicken, plantains, yellow rice with some of that secret sauce, and golden krust ginger beer...whew..that was good.

yes they deliver. i have ordered for delivery plenty of times! looks like im going to have to order this for lunch now after reading this thread!

ANd i agree with Taste, if they were to bottle that sauce, i would buy it in a second!

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The menu says they do. Why don't you go there and eat in once, get a sense of the place, the people and the food. Then you can ask them what their delivery schedule is.

This is an IDIOT question: Do they deliver?

As they say, she oughta bottle that stuff. Seriously, it is perhaps the best vinegar-based hot sauce I've ever had.

Here's why:

Its flavor is complex, with high and low notes.

Its aroma is intoxicating. When you smell it, you want to eat it. This is normal for food, but not for hot sauce.

It is very hot, but its heat does not diminish the depth of its flavors at all.

It's one of the most enjoyable experiences with heat I've ever had.

Like njxbean, I take extra when I get food to go there. I would buy a bottle of that sauce in a minute if I could it.

Hell, I would market and sell that sauce. It would be easy money, imo.

Also, the meat patties and the fish patties, the roast pork, the cook-up rice and anything jerked are my favorites. All the sides are good -- cabbage, spinach and squash.