Jamaican Jerk Hut is back — this time in a Center City food court

Jamaican Jerk Hut, whose nearly three-decade run ended in 2019, is back.

Although the food-court setting of the Concourse at Comcast Center is miles away from Jamaican Jerk Hut’s festive backyard patio at 1436 South St., the cooking is the same: Owner Lisa Wilson and chef Ricardo Gohagen are still grilling over charcoal.

There is now breakfast (porridge, shrimp and grits, plantains, and Blue Mountain coffee) at its 7 a.m. opening, as well as the familiar menu of jerk chicken, oxtail, curry goat, and stew peas, served from pans and plated to-go.

Jamaican Jerk Hut, incidentally, did not go away entirely after it closed. For nearly four years, Wilson and a cousin ran a similar restaurant, Ocho Rios Parrilla in South Philadelphia, which closed last month.

Why the name change? “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.’”

Nicola Shirley founded Jamaican Jerk Hut in 1994 on South Street, west of Broad. At the time, the nearby dining scene included Govinda’s, a vegan spot, and Bob & Barbara’s, the dive bar. Shirley set up a patio just east of her stand-alone building and brought in reggae bands on weekends.

» READ MORE: A Q&A with Lisa Wilson of Jamaican Jerk Hurt

In 2005, the Cameron Diaz-Toni Collette movie In Her Shoes, written by Philadelphia’s Jennifer Weiner, used the restaurant and patio for several key scenes. Two years later, seeking a return to Jamaica, Shirley sold the business to Wilson, then the 24-year-old kitchen manager at Har Zion Temple on the Main Line.

Wilson got a hard business lesson. Just over a year after she bought the restaurant, the condo association of the Symphony House — a new high-rise two blocks away at Broad and Pine Streets — sued, complaining about noise. Years of litigation followed. Wilson won a variance from the city but the association appealed. After the case was settled in mediation, she reopened the patio in 2012 under limited hours, but a year later the lot was sold to developers who built an apartment building. A 2013 spot on Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives gave business a boost, as did the arrival of the PHS Pop-Up Garden next door, but sales weren’t what they were. The South Street business closed in 2019.

Now in the Comcast concourse, Jamaican Jerk Hut is across the aisle from Big Chicken, the fast-food spot backed by Shaquille O’Neal. Wilson said the best sellers in the first week have been jerk chicken and curry goat. In addition to operating hours of 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, Wilson is doing off-premises catering and plans to contract with delivery services.

The concourse, which also currently features Marc Vetri’s Pizzeria Salvy, has two other stands on the way: Pita Chip, the Middle Eastern street-food spot (mid-November), and a new brand, Kenny’s Wok, a pan-Asian concept using robotic cooking, from Chinatown entrepreneur Kenny Poon (mid-January).