Jamaican restaurant in Kaimuki to close

A third restaurant serving the Kaimuki neighborhood will close at the end of March, and this time it’s Jawaiian Irie Jerk restaurant, known for its spicy chicken and Jamaican specialties.

Chef Caswell “Cassie” Simmonds is returning to Jamaica to open an eco-tourist, countryside resort on family property in April, he said.

Simmonds is talking to new buyers, who may purchase his brand name, and trying to place his 14 employees with them, but “nothing is concrete.”

The 30-seat restaurant was located for five years in the same complex as longtime favorites JJ Bistro &French Pastry and Cafe Laufer, both of which closed in January. Jawaiian Irie Jerk moved across the street to 3574 Waialae Ave., next to NAPA Auto Parts, a year ago, and expanded to 80 seats with an improved ambience and facilities, Simmonds said. His best-seller has always been the jerk chicken, but “the jerk pork, oxtail and curry goat were right up there,” as the local appetite for his native cuisine increased.

He was featured on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” and won the ‘Ilima Critics Choice Award in 2012.

He came to Hawaii 16 years ago, and started a lunch truck near the Hawai‘i Convention Center on Kalakaua Avenue. Simmonds said he will miss most the “great people in Hawaii” he met.