TORONTO — Customers are pouring into The Real Jerk to express their regret over the closing of the 28-year-old Queen St. location that’s been patronized by celebrities such as Wesley Snipes and Serena Williams.
Owners Ed and Lily Pottinger were given a month’s notice to vacate after their landlord sold the building.
“We weren’t given the chance to look for another place. Being thrown to the side of the road like this is really devastating,” Ed Pottinger told The Globe and Mail. In an e-mail to reporters, property owner William Mandelbaum wrote that he “regret[s] the short notice” to The Real Jerk, but negotiations for the sale have been ongoing for more than a year.
Opening in 1984, The Real Jerk was one of the first sit-down Caribbean restaurants in Toronto and helped introduce foods such as jerk chicken, roti, and oxtail stew to the community.
Real Jerk will close at the end of January.
