Metal detector ringing
as I'm walking through the door
With every chance I take
I can feel it start to break
Another Tuesday... another Taste!
As we slowly approach the 100th episode (mid-October if the schedule stays true), we've covered a helluva lot of typical North American fast food/take out staples and chains here on the weekly review show. Plenty of your cheeseburgers, your fried chickens or submarine sandwiches... oh and that rare delicacy called "pizza" (only tried it once or twice). Those are (usually) all delicious but it's also always good to veer out of that familiar zone and explore something different. Especially when the place in question happens to be a legendary one within the Toronto food scene.
The Real Jerk Toronto can themselves be celebrating an notable anniversary here in 2024, and quite a distinct run it has been. With their initial roots in St. Anns, Jamaica as "Little River Jerk" co-founders and owners Ed and Lily Pottinger opened up their first Toronto restaurant in 1984 at Greenwood and Queen Street East. Their migration to the iconic Riverside location right on the south-east corner of Queen and Broadview would follow five years later, its unmistakable colourful facade with the huge smiling sun with shades adorning that corner for the next two decades (diagonally across the street from a grimy strip club, with notorious greasy Dangerous Dan's inbetween on the northside... what an era).
The term "cult favourite" gets rather abused I find (especially when every single article you read when researching Real Jerk uses that exact term)... so instead lets use the term "off-stream popularity" to describe them. Never widely heralded as a must visit restaurant, but those in 'the know' definitely knew... the likes of which included several members of the Raptors over the years, the late Jack Layton, Wesley Snipes... even Michael Jackson by some accounts. In the meantime during this first heyday, Real Jerk had expanded their brand with a few other ventures that had modest success: a downtown live reggae bar, and outposts in Oshawa and North York.
Alas, like so many things in this frustratingly short-sighted city... the developers licked their chops at such a prime location and in early 2012 the building changed ownership and was quickly slated for demolition for... condos! Oh... joy. Can't get enough of those.
Even grosser was the single month of notice the restaurant had to vacate, all while the owners were visiting Jamaica over the winter holidays. The Real Jerk at Queen and Broadview indeed closed in early 2012, although that original building was never actually torn down. Hmmmm. Eventually it became a forgettable pub, then the Brickworks Cider House (which did last a few years but has now also closed).
Back to The Real Jerk story: after being jerked around (sorry couldn't resist) so unceremoniously, it took well over a year for the restaurant to find it's new and current home: the fairly large plaza-like corner of Carlaw Avenue and Gerrard. The reputation of the place certainly never skipped a note, soon featuring in a Drake/Rihanna music video, and Toronto Raptors star Scottie Barnes (himself with strong Jamaican roots), Dalano Banton and musician Kardinal Offishall all famously visiting and posing for a picture.
The brutal speed bump that hit with the Broadview location didn't stop them from again attempting expansion: a location in the Upper Beaches lasted for some time while their "Real Jerk Legacy" spot on College Street is still going strong. The wildest notation here, however... their third location is in London. Not London, Ontario... nope... the London across the pond, bowler hats and crumpets all that jolly goodness.
It's a heck of a story! Truly one of the more interesting tales in the annals of the Toronto food scene... so how about the far less interesting part: me reviewing them! See, my experience with Jamaican food (or West Indian cuisine in general) is very limited (yes I am extremely white, if you hadn't yet guessed 95 episodes in). It took me until my twenties to be able to handle any kind of spice (now I love it, making up for lost time I suppose) but most importantly I just didn't a lot of exposure to these types of food growing up. If not for an old friend of mine who has generously and selflessly hosted an annual jerk chicken BBQ every summer for nearly two decades (and his chicken totally rules, his mother's fish cakes also unbelievable)... well coming into this review it's possible I could count my number of experiences with Caribbean food on two hands.
Nevertheless I will do my best, despite being not completely ready for the test nor wearing my most comfortable vest. I digress! On a Wednesday evening I made my way into The Real Jerk on Gerrard, and as the lead photo obviously shows the colourful exterior is impossible to miss (even the London one has it as well... I'm just imagining some higher class Englishman taking a different walking route home from his/her's barristers office and exclaiming "my word!")
The interior is not quite as sunny or garish (either definition depends on your own feelings... personally I love the brightness and warmth). Plenty of simple tables and chairs all around, straw paneling on the walls, framed photos, a bar stocked with plenty of various rums (of course), sports on the various televisions about and an air of conversation at the counter despite the slowness of a post-dinner rush Wednesday. A relaxed, have a casual meal and/or drinks with friends kind of vibe.
As I often do, I politely got my food to go. Despite friends telling me otherwise ("they'll treat you to extra stuff!") I really prefer places not know in the moment that I intend to review them. Unfortunately taking photos at night and outside is... challenging... so I apologize for the 'lesser than ideal' quality of these shots (especially when you're utilizing the hanging light outside a FreshCo).
I went for the jerk chicken and oxtail dinner, with rice/peas and coleslaw as the choice of offered sides (the alternatives were curried potatoes, steamed veggies and plain white rice) with a side addition of their hot sauce. Going in, I knew these were the two entree items I most wanted to try (the jerk chicken and oxtail)... although there were multiple others that were very tempting. Curry goat, jerk ribs, island pizza? Nah, the most tempting of all were truly the cod fritters... the right hour of the day for an oily, crispy fish cake is every hour. Alas, I have only one (very unpredictable) stomach.
The chicken dominates the photo so lets get into that one first. As chicken, it's objectively quite good: not a dry bit anywhere on this whole bird, the cook and texture is consistent and juicy throughout, and the skin has that nice edge/layer that peels off delectably. Not much else to say beyond the jerk flavour itself, which is a milder spice wherein I got a lot of a syrupy brown sugar-like flavour, possibly some cloves as well (that particular type of sweet herbal).
Honestly... it isn't totally mind blowing chicken but it is very tasty and enjoyable first bite to finish. You put this in front of me for dinner, I'm extremely pleased. Also appreciate the two pieces of chicken as a portion size rather than one: throwing in a drumstick is a nice touch.
I'll touch on the side dishes briefly. Coleslaw! Very... forgettable. I love a good creamy green slaw but this one doesn't have a whole lot to it beyond the crunch and fairly watery cream. As an included side? Totally fine, but I wouldn't order this by itself.
The rice! This is more your fried, greasy style of rice and there is a ton of it. I was expecting peas (meh) but these were more like dark beans (nice) and the overall soft greasy texture of this combined with bites of chicken (really the only way to do it I figure) made for a fine one-two combo. Very filling and very much a "coat your lips in a film of grease" type offering.
Hot sauce! It definitely has that same brown sugary taste the chicken is covered with, except you get none of the cloves/herbs and way more of the hot peppers. Spicy? Definitely, but more of an initial punch than a dangerous creeper that slowly and methodically moves in. I quite like it a lot: sweet and spicy without any overt sugary taste. And it has some nice lingering feel (unlike a methodical creeper... yeah weird metaphor lets move on).
Now, the final and main attraction: the oxtail. I'll confess: I'd had oxtail in my life possibly three (thrice) times coming into this, and never once in this bone-in form. Most of my enthusiasm upon sampling oxtail here was based on a (increasingly vague) memory of my Pizzeria Libretto days: we had an oxtail gnocchi as a special for a week, at a pre-shift meeting we all sampled it and I was completely blown away, younger me having never tasted anything like it. Italian gnocchi is a little different than a West Indian pot/grill... so doing this a dozen years later was fun in just not really knowing at all what to expect.
As you can see, these are little half-hand sized chunks of meat, much of it bone, with the good/non-skeletal bits sort of in a hexagonal pattern around. Real Jerk covers it considerably in sauce, which still has some of that brown sugar sweetness but is also a bit looser and maltier, like a soy sauce mixed in (yeah I looked up a random recipe for that observation).
Whatever Real Jerk's oxtail cooking sauce is, it really works but most importantly of all: this meat is just ridiculously good. Fall off the bone, tender and soft, loaded with that saucy sweet malty taste. Each bite (and there aren't many... even in a portion of three this, by its nature prepared this way, is like 60 percent bone) is incredibly precious.
Succulent! There's a word I need to use more, or rather use it in rare instances where it applies perfectly like it does here. This just melts in your mouth... unlike gnawing on a good chicken leg here you want to savor and enjoy every moment your tongue encounters this. Definitely take your time anyhow because bones pointy! That same tongue will have to dust off the gymnastic gear to avoid a sharp spot (no choking hazards, more stabby hazards).
Overall! Kind of a mixed bag of okayish-to-outstanding quality. The rice and slaw are pretty basic supporting pieces, the hot sauce and the jerk chicken both very good in their specific lanes, and then the oxtail is simply sublime.
I'd recommend trying them on that oxtail alone (it solo will not be filling, but they have a bunch of different combo dinners) but I'd say Real Jerk is probably best experienced doing it the opposite way I did it. Go with a group and get a bunch of things the table can pass around and share. Some items might really hit, some might be simply okay but enjoyable... regardless the vibe of the place will be fun and positively welcoming.
Is it among the very best food Toronto has to offer? That's a high bar: this is a great food city with so many different options. What The Real Jerk really is (see what I did there): a classic Toronto food institution that is satisfying, tasty, with quite a history (in case you missed the first 80 percent of this article) that still somehow maintains a fairly cult-I-mean off-stream following and status, and also oh yeah celebrities visit them and they have a location in freaking England!
It's quite a magic trick, but like with any good magic you have to be a skilled magician... and the strong quality of The Real Jerk is no illusion.
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Tuesday Tune
It so happens I'm publishing this article on my birthday, and by brilliant happenstance one of my very favourite bands is in town this very night playing at the Danforth Music Hall. As I eagerly anticipate seeing them again, enjoy this wicked tune (that they still often play live) from their very good sophomore record A Series of Sneaks.
That's it for this week! There's a pizza review in the chamber but until next time, stay cool, stay safe and most of all don't spill that mustard.
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