Toronto Island Jerk – A fusion of flavours and a helping hand

BY JANIECE CAMPBELL

“You can only achieve what you have by helping other people.” Chef Mark

Located on 620 Church St. in Toronto is a unique restaurant for those with sophisticated palates – O’Noir.

O’Noir is a one-of-a-kind culinary experience where visitors dine in pitch-black darkness, aiming for the flavours to stimulate all of their senses except sight! Besides not being able to see your food, what really heightens this experience is that the serving staff are all visually impaired, and customers will gain a better understanding of what it is like to be blind. A percentage of the profits also go to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting Canadians with vision loss.

The concept is quite remarkable, but unfortunately due to COVID-19 restrictions on indoor dining and an emphasis on takeout/delivery, the element of surprise is completely lost.

Chef Mark Deline, the executive chef at O’Noir decided to make a change in order to continue serving food and to prevent a huge loss of revenue. Operating out of the O’Noir kitchen are two brand new food services; The Village Bistro, a gourmet take on French-Italian style cuisine and Toronto Island Jerk, a Caribbean fusion restaurant.

Now, my first unconsciously ignorant thought was “what does a white man from Southern Ontario know about opening a Caribbean restaurant?” This was until I realized how truly seasoned he was. Let me give you a little background on Chef Mark!

Growing up in the town of Cobourg, Ontario, he was introduced to the culinary arts in his teens. Reminiscing on his upbringing, he remembers a lack of flavour in the food at home, and it wasn’t until he would go to his grandfather’s home on the weekend where he would learn to cook properly. Once he was fourteen, he got a job as a dishwasher at a local family restaurant. In six months, he would be upgraded to a prep cook, and after seeing his skills with a knife, they taught him how to cook and plate food for customers.

“I never thought that I would choose cooking as a career, but I had a knack for it,” he says. “Once I figured that I was really good at it, it felt like I found my place in the world.”

Promising that his culinary skills are like no other, Chef Mark has travelled the world to perfect his food. From living in the Northwest Territories and learning how to prepare wild game, to learning how to utilize different spices, he is thoroughly trained on many cultures. I asked him, what is it exactly that sets his food apart from other chefs?

“A lot of people focus more on the way it looks. You know that item that looks like a million dollars but tastes like crap. People eat with their eyes often, and I understand. But I focus on flavour. I’m a fusion chef. My food is all about flavour. After all, it doesn’t matter what it looks like after it goes in your mouth!”

After travelling to the Caribbean and falling in love with the mouth-watering food there, he decided to work on developing his special jerk sauce and experiment with different recipes to create his latest business endeavour, Toronto Island Jerk. His restaurant collaborates with several local Toronto vendors to provide various items on the menu such as patties, coco bread and even a pina colada cheesecake, a considerate effort to support fellow businesses that are suffering due to the pandemic.

Toronto Island Jerk has teamed up with Morgan’s Hands, a non-profit organization founded by Chef Mark’s fiancé, Ashlee Shutt. Together, Chef Mark prepares the meals while Ashlee packages hygiene products and warm clothing to give to the vulnerable, addicted and homeless in Downtown Toronto. A portion of all food sales from Toronto Island Jerk will go towards Morgan’s Hands, in order to continue the fight against food insecurity.

He shares why this initiative is so near and dear to his heart.

“I grew up in Cobourg, but Toronto is my home. The reason I do this, and I don’t talk about this very much because I don’t want sympathy, but when I was twelve years old, my parents went bankrupt. People like the Salvation Army, charities and other non-profits helped us out with food and clothing. I remember how important that was. I walk downtown and I see people without food. It brought back memories to me of not having enough. If I could be out serving food to people every day of the week, I would be there.”

He continues.

“Especially now, during this pandemic. We work hand in hand with a food bank, where one in three people have never even used a food bank before. These are people, that just two years ago, had high paying jobs and then recently lost them. It’s the compassion of one human helping another human.”

On Christmas Eve, the pair served 150 hot meals to the homeless in various neighbourhoods of the city. This Family Day, they plan to do the same. At Moss Park, everyone will receive a hearty meal consisting of Chef Mark’s infamous grilled cheese sandwich alongside homemade chili with all the fixings of sour cream, green onions and cheddar cheese.

“It’s Family Day, and a lot of people down there don’t have a family. We want to show people that we actually care, and they’re not forgotten. We go down there to remind them that they’re still a part of society.”

Aspiring to serve quality food at a good price, Toronto Island Jerk is hoping to open their own storefront soon. Until then, they are currently open for orders and they can be contacted via Facebook (www.facebook.com/TorontoIslandjerk) or by phone call (647-608-7880).

You can find them on most food delivery services, but if you opt for a pick-up order, you will be offered a 10% discount. As a way of giving back to those who put their lives at risk daily, frontline workers also get 10% off.