Jamaican Jerk Hut is back in Philadelphia five years after its nearly three-decade run ended, writes Michael Klein for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Now located in the food court inside the Concourse at Comcast Center, miles away from its festive backyard patio on South Street, owner Lisa Wilson and chef Ricardo Gohagen remain at the helm.

Customers can expect the familiar menu of jerk chicken, oxtail, curry goat, and stew peas. However, it has now added a new breakfast menu of porridge, shrimp and grits, plantains, Blue Mountain coffee, and more.

For nearly four years after Jamaican Jerk Hut closed, Wilson and a cousin ran Ocho Rios Parrilla, a similar restaurant in South Philadelphia.

“We were thinking that when tourists go to Jamaica, they usually go to Montego Bay or Ocho Rios, so let‘s try something new,” Wilson said. “But of course, everybody came in saying, ’We used to go to this really cool place named Jamaican Jerk Hut.’ And I would smile and say, ‘We are Jamaican Jerk Hut.’”

The restaurant was founded in 1994 by Nicola Shirley. The restaurant and patio was used for several key scenes in the 2005 film, In Her Shoes. In 2007, Shirley sought to return to Jamaica and sold the business to Wilson.

Read more about the future and history of Jamaican Jerk Hut in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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