Rasta Pasta Jamaica-you full

Jamaica's global influence has mostly been limited to Rasta drugs, Rasta tunes, and Rasta form tackling...hey, defense, look at Rohan Marley over there -- that's how you stick a ball carrier! Spreading Jamaican influence to Italian food: Rasta Pasta.

A fusion concept initially launched in Colorado by a Cordon Bleu chef "highly" influenced by Rastafari traditions, the ATX version's operated by an ex-Navy food junkie out of the former Blue Velvet spot on Guadalupe: a single, long, yellow room with giant Marley murals, Jamaican flags, and a shanty-esque kitchen with thatched facade, as opposed to a Thatcher facade, which was made of iron and had, in retrospect, hilarious hair. The island-izing starts with jerk chicken-penne numbers like The Natural Mystic (garlic, basil, pineapple curry sauce), the Montego Bay (pineapple, basil, veggie medley, white wine alfredo), and the green onion, garlic, diced tomatoes, basil, red wine marinara Rasta Pasta, which they say's the "world's greatest pasta dish" -- and not just because it rhymes! Moving on through the menu, there's everything from Dreadlock Ravioli (ricotta, tomato, green onion, clam/sausage/jerk chicken), to Tortellini Jamaica Mon with ricotta, pineapple, banana, and grapes in a white wine sauce with secret spices, aka, the girls whose voices you actually hear on the record.

To keep you entertained, they're planning on regularly hosting acoustic wailers of the red/gold/green variety -- a career Rohan never attempted, though music critics were known to say of him, "that's how you stick Lauryn Hill!"