Food

Chefs Find Inspiration to Jerk All Kinds of Meats

David Hammond

Springtime in Chicago is cold, rainy and gray. But while you’re standing in line at Jerk Taco Man, the Day-Glo, Pan-African red/gold/green signage offers almost as much warmth as the lightly spiced jerk crab passed through the revolving bulletproof carryout window. 

“Our Jamaican jerk recipe was created by my great-grandfather,” says Julius Thomas, founder of Jerk Taco Man. “It was passed on through generations,” but, he adds...