The future is uncertain for one of Toronto’s most beloved and longstanding Jamaican restaurants.
The Real Jerk, which has been a fixture in the city since the ‘80s, closed its College Street location earlier this week. Meanwhile, its flagship restaurant in the east end, made famous by Rihanna and Drake in the “Work” music video, is now up for lease.
On Monday, the Instagram account for The Real Jerk’s College Street location announced that it officially closed on Sept. 1. “Thank you to Little Italy, our staff and the Real jerk family for supporting us. Unfortunately we are closing our doors at the College street Location,” read the caption.
A For Lease sign has also been hanging outside the Real Jerk’s main location at the corner of Gerrard Street East and Carlaw Avenue in recent weeks while it remains in operation, and, according to its online listing, the space is available “immediately”.
The owners of The Real Jerk did not respond to several requests for comment made in recent weeks.
While Jamaican food can now be found across the city, The Real Jerk was one of the first to plant its flag in Toronto’s mainstream dining scene. The business began as Little River Jerk in St. Ann Parish, Jamaica, before its founders — husband-and-wife team Ed and Lily Pottinger — immigrated to Canada in the early 1980s and opened the first Real Jerk at Queen Street East and Greenwood Avenue in 1984.
“In those early days of the restaurant, Ed would actually stand outside on the sidewalk offering free food and drinks to passersby, trying to entice them to try Jamaican Cuisine,” wrote Lily in the introduction to The Real Jerk cookbook in 2002. “At that time, it was difficult to sell the concept of ‘jerk food’ to Toronto; the only ‘jerk’ people knew was the Steve Martin movie ‘The Jerk’!”
In 1989, the restaurant moved to Queen Street East and Broadview Avenue in Riverside, where it cultivated a loyal clientele and became a go-to spot for jerk chicken with rice and peas. It stayed there for decades until 2012 when the landlords sold the building and served the Pottingers an eviction notice. Thousands of fans rallied behind the restaurant through an online campaign, Save The Real Jerk, but ultimately the restaurant closed.
The Pottingers attempted to reopen at the bottom of a condo development a few blocks west in the same neighbourhood, but were blocked by residents who opposed The Real Jerk’s liquor licence application (an Italian restaurant moved into that space instead). Finally, they settled on the Gerrard Street East location in 2013 and struck gold in 2016 when Rihanna and Drake turned the 140-seat restaurant into a pilgrimage for Navy and OVO fans. Inside the restaurant, stills from the video are printed on the tabletops.
An offshoot location opened in the Upper Beaches in fall 2014 before relocating to College Street in 2023, where it closed this past Monday.
