eat Home > Restaurant Reviews

How healthy do the Hook-Up folks think their food is? Peep their carry-out menu, which reads, "No MSG & no dairy products. Just good food!!!! Live to 150 years old with that 16 years old feel!" The place purveys Rastafarian Ital cuisine, which stresses all-natural, meat-free meals. Save for a few fish dishes, everything is vegan at this spotless storefront eatery where the walls sport posters of Haile Selassie and the air is rife with the rhythms of reggae.

We split a small Emperor's Special ($8), a toothsome, dense medley of baby eggplants and red potatoes in a rich brown sauce. It came with a crisply tender stir-fried mix of green beans and asparagus, rice, and a small salad. When we asked the affable counterperson/chef about the dish called Rasta Run 'Em Down ($10 small, $12 large), he threw a spoonful of this thick, squash-based casserole into our takeout container. We washed everything down with a bottle of Kola Champaign ($1), Jamaica's answer to cream soda, and felt, well, almost 16 again.