This is one of the most popular spots
to get jerk chicken in Chicago.
It's been around for 12 years,
and its jerk chicken, which is washed,
seasoned, grilled, and chopped,
is a popular dish across the Caribbean.
Named for the Garifuna people of Central America,
Garifuna Flava serves dishes from Caribbean, Latin,
and indigenous Belizean cuisines like panades,
conch fritters, stewed meat, and oxtail.
Marsha Agard: I tell people all the time that Garifuna Flava
is the best Caribbean restaurant in Chicago.
Carla Strickland: Anytime we feeling, you know, homesick
or we just need to eat good Caribbean food,
that's our go-to place.
Christine James: I love Garifuna for 100 reasons,
and jerk chicken is very close to the top.
Rhodee Castillo: We noticed years ago that jerk chicken
seemed to, was getting popular in the city.
I usually cut up a nice fresh onion
to season up my jerk chicken.
Narrator: Leaving the onion slices aside,
chef Rhodee Castillo begins the process
of seasoning the chicken,
which will then marinate overnight.
The dry seasoning for the chicken contains black pepper,
garlic, onions, and Caesar salt
and is a mix unique to Garifuna Flava.
Rhodee: This is how we've mixed it.
I don't know how the other folks do theirs,
but this is what has worked for us for the past 12 years.
Narrator: Rhodee pours about 2 pounds
of the dry seasoning over the chicken.
This specific mix took years of trial and error to perfect.
Rhodee: Spread it over.
Then we have the jerk seasoning.
Narrator: Rhodee puts about half of the container,
which amounts to 16 ounces of jerk seasoning,
onto the chicken.
Jamaican jerk is a versatile spice blend
that adds heat, dimension, and complexity to the dish.
Then come the habanero peppers.
Rhodee: Habanero peppers gives you the spice you need.
Some people just cut them up and then dash them in there.
What I do is I crush them.
Ground them, kind of, not into fine pieces,
but, you know, small particles.
But the amount we use for this batch
does not kick it over the top.
So people who don't like too much spice
can manage this chicken.
Marsha: Jerk seasoning is multifaceted in that way.
It is not supposed to have just one dominant note.
You're supposed to taste all those things in harmony.
Dana Butler: It had that true Caribbean feel and taste,
but just a little different zing on it,
where it's not super, super hot,
but it's flavorful.
Narrator: And that's exactly what Rhodee
is trying to achieve.
By spreading 16 ounces of the grounded habanero peppers
over the chicken and mixing it all together
with the dry rub and jerk seasoning,
he's bringing out a complexity of flavors.
Rhodee: More flavor. Onions add more flavor.
After this, we refrigerate it,
and it will be ready to be cooked in the morning.
Narrator: As one of the only Belizean restaurants
in the Midwest and with only about
500,000 Garifuna people left in the world,
Rhodee and his son Hussein hope that
with their jerk chicken and Caribbean dishes,
they can help keep Belizean culture alive.
Rhodee: So, when people come here and look around,
they see images of Garifuna culture.
We, as some of the stewards of our culture,
have to keep transmitting, in any which way,
the different aspects of our culture.
That's critical to our survival.
Narrator: On a daily basis, Garifuna Flava can go through
upwards of 120 pounds of jerk chicken in a day.
To cook the chicken,
the Castillos use an open charcoal grill.
Rhodee: Pretty soon you're gonna see the smoke
starting to give you taste.
So, this has been seasoned for a couple days now,
so the season has permeated it,
which will give you the flava!
Narrator: Because the pieces of chicken
are about 2 pounds each,
Castillo says the entire cooking process
lasts about an hour.
After 15 to 20 minutes, he flips the chicken.
Rhodee: So, when we flip it over, we do the same thing.
Keep checking it.
One, the weight tells you something,
and the color tells you something.
Rhodee: Yes.
Right now, this is very heavy.
When it starts to change in terms of the cooking process,
it decreases in weight.
And so there's a certain weight I look for
to determine whether it's done.
So, even if it doesn't have that golden brown color,
I can literally pick it up and tell you this is done
because of the difference in the weight.
Narrator: Not only are color and weight factors
in cooking their famous jerk chicken;
the distance from the fire is extremely important.
Rhodee: If the chicken is too close to the fire,
the cooking is premature,
meaning it gets brown quicker.
So, it may have the color on the outside,
but not necessarily cooked all the way on the inside.
When it's higher, you tend to get
a better, wholesome cooking process.
Other people tend to do jerk chicken on gas grill.
Our choice has always been to use charcoal.
The different kinds of charcoal gives the food
an additional flavor to it.
We're almost done, and
about to take some of these off
because they're pretty much ready to go.
Nice chocolate color.
Nice and moist.
The thing is that not too many people
know how to do this.
A lot of people dabble in barbecues,
but as far as jerk chicken is concerned,
there's a special flavor to jerk.
Marsha: Why we don't typically order jerk chicken
from lots of restaurants here in the states
is because I feel like they use the chicken
as a vehicle for the jerk seasoning, right?
They put jerk seasoning on top of the chicken.
They don't season the chicken with jerk seasoning.
Carla: Right.
Marsha: Garifuna's jerk chicken, you are tasting chicken
that is seasoned with jerk seasoning.
So it is good down to the bone.
Narrator: Garifuna Flava's jerk chicken
is served with rice, beans, and fried plantains.
But it can also be eaten with coconut rice,
steamed cabbages, and canned yams.
The gravy that accompanies the rice
is made from chicken mixed with spices,
and the jerk sauce comes from the same seasoning
that makes the jerk chicken.
Dana: It's spiced right.
It's very, very moist,
and it's not super, super hot.
Sometimes I think the association with the jerk seasoning,
that it has to be so hot.
And sometimes it's a hard balance
to be able to get that spice
and not add too much salt.
Erin Brooks: There's a lot of meat on the bones, you know,
it's, like, a really juicy chicken,
and there's that really nice, like,
smoky, spicy flavor to it.
I love mine with the extra jerk sauce.
I really like the spice,
and it just feels like a home-cooked meal.
Hussein Castillo: Jerk chicken is hard to cook.
It's not easy. You know? Like,
you guys see how hot it is in there,
and I'm still amazed that he can just
go in that heat every day and make it work.
It's not easy at all,
'cause you're literally in the fire for hours.
It's a solid 9.5 out of 10 today. [laughs]
Great job.
It's succulent. It's got the flavor.
It's got the little spice.
I could dip it in the jerk sauce to add a little extra heat.
Narrator: But it's not just the food
that keeps customers coming through.
It's the Castillo family's knack for hospitality.
Marsha: There's the stereotype, like,
if they act like they don't care about you at all,
then the food is going to be so good, right?
Garifuna Flava -
Carla: The opposite.
Marsha: They're so accommodating!
They consistently taste good.
Carla: Right.
Christine: Your experience when you go there
is gonna provide you with high-quality food
that comes from a loving heart,
from a man that really wants to share,
what is Belize? What is the culture?
Who are the Garifuna people?
How do they cook and eat?
This is the reason why they cook.
This is the reason why they have the restaurant.
Of course they want to make money,
but ultimately they really wanna share
the love they have for their people and their island
with the rest of the world.