Back A Yard, originally a Menlo Park institution and now also at South Second Street downtown, serves the best jerk chicken in the Bay Area. The kitchen is run by Jamaican chef Donald Lewinson, who marinates and slow-grills the chicken over wood; the smoke is the soul of the dish.
Order the jerk chicken with rice and peas, plantains, and a sorrel drink. The room is plain — formica tables, plastic chairs, reggae on the speakers — but the food is serious and well priced. If you want to vary the meal, try the curry goat or the oxtail; both have followings of their own.