Island Grill
324 Bank St., 613-565-3030, islandgrillrestaurant.ca (islandspiced.com for sauces, rubs, marinades)
Open: Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to 10 p.m., Sunday 3 to 8 p.m.
Prices: most appetizers under $10, main dishes $13 to $18
Access: no steps to front door, washrooms
Gluten-free: a few designated dishes
While I have little patience for jerks in real life, I’ll go out of my way for some tasty jerk on a plate.
I’m a huge fan of the fiery and flavourful Jamaican marinade, which intrigues with a blend of thyme, green onions and allspice, for starters, and then scorches with Scotch bonnet peppers.
It followed, then, that I recently made some visits to Island Grill on Bank Street, where chef Carlton Melbourne applies jerk flavouring to almost anything that moves.
At the modest Centretown eatery that opened in the fall of 2014, you can get jerk chicken and jerk pork as expected, made with Melbourne’s in-house jerk marinade. As well, pork ribs, burgers and even salmon are generously slathered in the dark brown sauce. Last Thanksgiving, the special here was jerk turkey.
Bits of jerk chicken add protein and zip to a salad of greens, avocado and pineapple, which we tried and enjoyed, despite the chicken being a little dry. We passed, though, on the jerk chicken poutine.
Jerk Chicken Avocado salad at Island Grill
Melbourne takes his flavours and condiments seriously, to the extent that Island Grill’s tables are adorned with bottles of his punchy mango-pepper and roasted-pepper-habanero sauces, which, along with other products, are available for purchase.
I’ve sampled a lot of Island Grill’s jerk fare. A moist chunk of salmon stood up to its vibrant sauce. Jerk pork cutlets were lean and a bit too dry, but that dark, savoury sauce was right on the money. Meanwhile, pork back ribs were fall-apart soft — overcooked, barbecue aficionados would say. Pieces of jerk chicken were bone-in and coarsely chopped — extricating the tender meat was a bit of work, but worth the effort.
Jerk Salmon at Island Grill
Jerk Pork at Island Grill on Bank Street
Jerk pork ribs at Island Grill
Jerk chicken at Island Grill
All of the dishes came with a choice of standard accompaniments, including rice and beans or an “island” mix of mashed sweet and regular potatoes, a refreshing slaw and a few pieces of plantain.
Among the eatery’s appetizers, we liked that jerk chicken avocado salad, as well as some tiger shrimp tossed in the chef’s mango-pepper sauce. Cod fish fritters, while crisp and not greasy, were disappointingly short on salt cod.
Cod fritters with spicy chutney at Island Grill
Fortunately, the salt cod reported for duty in Island Grill’s saltfish and ackee. In that traditional Jamaican dish, the most interesting aspect was the ackee — the properly prepared national fruit was almost like scrambled eggs and absorbed flavours nicely.
Ackee and saltfish at Island Grill
Curried dishes here were satisfying. A substantial goat roti flatbread was packed with curry flavour and pieces of toothsome stewed goat, potato and chickpeas. Sautéed shrimps in a coconut curry were just a touch salty, but made for a nice lunch.
Goat roti at Island Grill
Coconut curry shrimp at Island Grill
The spice-averse diner at our table tried the braised oxtail ($15.50), and wished that the bone-in pieces were a little meatier and that the sauce was less salty.
Oxtail from Island Grill
There are no desserts served at Island Grill. It was recently licensed; in addition to a few beers and spirits there are Caribbean soft drinks.
Service was better at a dinner visit than at lunch. A noon-time meal was slow to come — but then, the server admitted that she was also doubling as the cook.
Perhaps Melbourne was occupied making a new batch of sauces and spice rubs. The flavours at his restaurant make me think it would be worthwhile to buy some of his products as shortcuts to exciting food at home.
phum@postmedia.com
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