Jamaican food truck inspires new West Town restaurant
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Most of the city's Jamaican restaurants tend to be tiny, family-owned places, tucked away in the neighborhoods, with limited menus.
But a popular food truck has spawned a new restaurant in West Town, called Jerk. Modern Jamaican Grill, and they're making some of the best jerk chicken in Chicago.
It took a while, but Dion Solano finally figured out how to recreate the flavors he remembered from his childhood in Kingston, Jamaica.
"I basically couldn't find jerk the way I grew up having it, so started out with a food truck and eventually spawned this," he said.
This is his new restaurant, where jerk is king. Essentially fiery scotch bonnet peppers or habaneros, blended with allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg and thyme, rubbed into chicken and left to marinate overnight, before grilling to-order. His blistering hot sauce is served on the side, along with two other less intense options.
"The other bit that tends to be missing is smoking on pimento wood, which is something that we do here with our smoker," said Solano.
And those pimento wood pellets imbue the brisket and pork shoulder for up to 14 hours, resulting in tender, flavorful beef and pork used for sliders or just sliced and served as-is. There's also festival - kind of an elongated fried cornbread - plus mac and cheese, rice and beans and yucca fries.
Solano is also smoking chicken wings, a Chicago twist to be sure. But he's really more concerned with replicating the flavors from the northern coast of the island.
"The strip from Mo Bay to Ochi, better known for Boston Beach jerk which is more kinda the road we're trying to take with jerk here," he said.
Now instinctively, you might think with spicy Jamaican food you're going to have a Red Stripe beer or a non-alcoholic Ting - kind of a grapefruit soda - but the bar here, also significant: dozens of craft beers, plus, 50 types of rum, making everything from cocktails to rum punch on tap.
The venue has only counter service and the busiest time of the day tends to be lunch.
Jerk. Modern Jamaican Grill
811 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago
312-763-2870
