JMP
Surprise in a Local Food Court
Operating out of the front of Allston’s Super 88 Market Food Court, JMP was a family-run stall that served a menu a bit wider than most takeout restaurants in the area. When I first began ordering lunch from them in the mid-2000s, most of their menu consisted of the standard dishes found at other local establishments. JMP’s take on these standards, however, stood out from the others.
From the the first lunch I ordered, I found their curries very flavorful, and the lunch combo was better than anywhere else. For around eight dollars, you would get a curry, rice, nann, a bit of salad and a pappadum. Also alluring were their specials; dishes that were unknown to me. Over the years, they expanded their menu and kept the quality of the food consistently good. At one point, I used to visit them nearly weekly for their lunch combo and tried just about all their main curries — multiple times.
JMP’s base gravy, which permeated the majority of their dishes was quite distinct. While I probably did not realize this at first, it was that gravy that slowly attracted my attention; something special was lurking deep in the velvety sauce surrounding the pieces of chicken. Over several visits I attempted to reverse engineer their gravy and determine what made it more flavorful than their competitors. And for a long time the question remained unanswered! What exactly was about their gravy that was tingling my tongue?
However, studying JMP’s gravy was not without its challenges. For my own cooking, I had yet to find an equivalent recipe to what I was eating in restaurants. I was still desperately searching for the secret to making a gravy that was smooth, thick and most of all flavorful. I was not yet aware of the role such things as properly browned onions play in the process. And getting the right blend of spices was still a work in progress. So I didn’t exactly know what I was looking for. While the deep examination of JMP’s gravy did not answer my cooking riddles, it finally revealed one of their “secret” ingredients.
Other than the fact that I really enjoyed their food, their proximity to where I was living added to my enthusiasm. Taking the streetcar on a Saturday afternoon to grab lunch nearly as easily as I might order a sub from down the street became a common occurrence. The open kitchen to their stall was an added bonus. While I couldn’t really learn anything new by observing them assembling orders, there was something about watching your lunch being prepared, while you anticipate (or even fantasize) about how good it will taste. Once my order was ready, I would be handed an open takeout container with its glistening contents emitting steam into the food court. I then (carefully) began the task of trying to find an empty seat in the crowded food court so I could relax and savor the delectable gravies.
Hits and a Few Misses
A word about JMP’s Tikka Masala is in order. By the time I had started to frequent JMP, I had become quite indifferent to Chicken Tikka Masala from just about anywhere. The gravy of most restaurants’ versions reminded me of Campbell’s tomato soup (with milk) and tended to be quite mild. For some reason, the first time I ordered it from JMP, I didn’t even equate it with those bland variants. JMP’s gravy was bold, thick, even a bit spicy, and it was infused with that extra flavor which I was trying to isolate. It was so different from other restaurants’ versions, that it took me quite awhile to realize this dish was tikka masala.
One of the more unique dishes I ordered from JMP was Chicken Tikka Kali-Mirch — listed on their menu as Tandoori Chicken Kali-Mirch. Far from the ubiquitous red tandoori chicken found elsewhere, these tikkas were “dipped in a cream cheese and crushed peppers” before being placed in the tandoor. The result was tender tikkas that absorbed the flavor of the black pepper (kali mirch) covering them. This was a completely new dish for me when I first encountered it, and was light and delicious. Wrap a few pieces in chapati, add a dab of chutney, and wow! It was one of the few less common entries from their menu which might have been aimed at the adventurous diner or those already familiar with the dishes. Tandoori Dum Aloo and Chapli Kebabs were two other specials, which unfortunately, I never tried.
While I would usually eat at the food court, one day I ordered a chicken tikka “naanwich,” and I actually “took away” my dinner. I was on my way home from work and wanted something different for dinner. This was probably the first time I had seen a naanwich, so tandoori chicken tikka with onions and peppers sounded appetizing. While I enjoyed the naanwich, I felt like something was missing by eating at home — perhaps it had cooled down. Or maybe the ambiance of the food court was necessary for full enjoyment.
Interestingly, JMP’s vindaloo, like their tikka masala, also deviated from the flavors that I had come to expect from other restaurants. Instead of the acidic tomato-based sauce I was accustomed to, their base gravy tended to dominate the flavor. While they were always accommodating about making my lunch “spicy” when asked, their vindaloo never approached the fiery levels of Kebab and Curry’s entry. Looking back, I wonder if they used vinegar; an essential component which provides a tangy flavor and assists in accelerating the “burn” which would accrue over time.
Although their curries were spectacularly good, not everything I have tried reached the same level. I was surprisingly less than impressed by their biryani the one time I tried it and their Dosa just didn’t do much for me. But what they did well, they did very, very well. They created curries to dream about.
End of a Dream
After awhile, I stopped visiting the food court so often, and eventually hardly at all. One day I walked by and noticed that their stall was dark. Entering to investigate did not provide any answers, so I took to the web and somehow found out that they had opened a sit-down restaurant north of Boston in 2018 while still manning the food court. Unfortunately, I did not bookmark that page at the time, nor did I remember the name of the restaurant.
A few years later, as I was trying to complete this article, I had to do my research all over again. After a bit of a struggle, I managed to find this article that details when they closed their location in Allston. The article also referred to their new restaurant, Al Maidah Cuisine, in Burlington, Massachuesetts — a suburb approximately 12 miles northwest of Boston.
As I continued to read through the meager results of my search, I found a more recent albeit less favorable story. Published literally days before I had searched, it brought news that Al Maidah Cuisine, itself, had closed and the space was being taken over by a different restaurant. Unfortunately, I was never able to try Al Maidah Cuisine, and even though they have closed, their website is still active. So for now, I can look and dream…