Kevin Marple
The Caribbean-influenced Taste of the Islands is easy to overlook in the corner of a Plano strip mall. The left side contains a stage, a bar striped in the colors of the Guyanese flag, and a dance floor that fills up on Saturday nights for reggae and improv comedy shows. On the right side is the restaurant and a market stocked with Jamaican sodas and spices. At the counter, order fried potato balls, stewed oxtails, and doubles. The doubles, a popular street food, are made with slightly sweet curried chickpeas sandwiched between two tender pieces of turmeric-seasoned flatbread. You’ll want to pick up sweets—vanilla pound cake and rum fruitcake—to go.