Cliff’s Restaurant ready to ‘jerk’ things up at Grace J’can Jerk Festival
Mouth-watering dishes, such as jerked conch salad, jerked lobster, jerked shrimp and jerked conch are staples that will be served up at Cliff’s Restaurant & Catering’s booth at the annual Grace Jamaican Jerk Festival South Florida edition.
The popular eatery, which has two locations in Miami (one at NW 7th Ave and the other in Broward County, Hollywood) is one of the oldest participants in the annual jerk festival.
This Sunday, at the Miramar Regional Park, patrons can expect to soak up jerk dishes and more when the operators of Cliff’s Restaurant & Catering dive deep into the culinary archives to serve up other delicacies that the eatery is known for.
Colleen Harpool is the manager of Cliff’s Restaurant & Catering. She has been with the company since 1996.
“Mr. Clifton Samuels, the owner of the business decided to participate in the jerk festival after he saw it being advertised and he inquired about it as to how he could be a vendor. We have been involved in this event from the beginning to now,” said Miss Harpool.
She described the association with the festival.
“It’s been very good. We get to know other vendors and the patrons that support us at the jerk festival become customers at our restaurant, so it has been really good participating in the event,” Harpool shared with Observer Online on Thursday.
She said the support at the restaurant has been good.
She added, “We are open seven days a week. We can’t close, we are always open. Even on Christmas Day, we are open.”
Harpool is from Port Antonio in Portland. She moved to Miami in 1996. Samuels, a former chef by profession, started the business in 1989 after migrating from Jamaica, having worked in restaurants including the popular Golden Dragon Chinese Restaurant.