On paper, the results of the Jamaican bobsled team in the 1988 Winter Olympics were not impressive, to put it kindly. But statistics don't show the team's resilience and joy for sport, a spirit that won the foursome legions of fans and inspired the 1993 movie "Cool Runnings."

A similar amateur passion was behind the March opening of a modest Caribbean eatery named for that movie. And that's not the only reason that Cool Runnings is an apt name for the Cary restaurant. Just as the '88 team was the first ever fielded by Jamaica, Cool Runnings is the first restaurant venture for Steven and Andrea Millington and Andrea's mother, Helen Louden. The family's pride in their endeavor and their desire to excel are as obvious as that of the bobsledders. So is their lack of experience.

Steven Millington, whose previous culinary experience was cooking for friends, family and State Fair booths, is in charge of the kitchen. On paper, the food that comes out of that kitchen is hit or miss. But the actual experience is as full of surprises -- sometimes flashes of brilliance, sometimes disasters -- as a bobsled run.

One night your meal gets off to a respectable start with a pair of crisp-crusted crab cakes, served with a jerk-spiced slaw and a brassy mango sauce on the side. But you lose momentum when the otherwise charming and efficient waitress forgets to deliver the beef patty appetizer she'd encouraged you to order. By the time you're aware of her misstep, just as you're finishing the crab cakes, she glides up to your table, entrees in hand.

Jerk chicken more than makes up for the beef patty that jumped the track. The chicken is deeply redolent of smoke and spice, the flavor so addictive that you ask for some of the jerk sauce on the side. The sauce, which Millington makes with locally grown Scotch bonnet peppers, is spicy but not overpowering, resonant with allspice, nutmeg and thyme. Now you're sailing down the course.

Then without warning, you run headlong into a curry goat. The dry meat and dense, overcooked curry sauce send you tumbling off course. Run over, no finish time recorded.

Undaunted, you return to Cool Runnings for another go. This time you're off to a clean start when the beef patty arrives as promised. The sneak-up-on-you spicy filling is so fine-textured and the crust so tender and evenly crimped that you understand why the waitress urged you to order it the first time.

Jerk barbecue wings, slathered in a sweetish sauce, aren't as good as the jerk chicken entree. But they don't slow you down noticeably, either. You're cruising as you head for the middle of the course.

An entree offering of curry shrimp is far superior to its goat counterpart, the sauce much lighter and more flavorful, the shrimp properly cooked. Fish escovitch, featuring a pair of flawlessly cooked, translucent-crusted tilapia filets in an authentically pungent vinegar sauce spangled with diced cucumber, julienne peppers and allspice berries, proves to be the most rewarding dish of them all. You can almost taste the finish line.

Taste it you do, in the form of two superlative desserts. Bread pudding sets your teeth chattering with a combination of light texture and buttery rich flavor, punctuated by shards of icing that are reminiscent of cinnamon bun topping. And mango pie -- think key lime pie, but with an explosion of mango flavor instead of lime -- makes for a smooth-as-silk finish.

Four months after opening, Cool Runnings remains a work in progress. The owners have just begun to decorate the dining room. Beer is available, but the wine license is pending. And Millington admits that he's still learning to adapt his cooking for a restaurant.

Still, for all its bumps -- and occasional spills -- Cool Runnings is an enjoyable ride.