Summer Croft brings a taste of Jamaica to R2R2018

WROXETER — Talk about rural resilience.

Summer Croft found the tiny village of Wroxeter on Google Maps earlier this year, responded to an ad about a restaurant space for rent on the main street and this spring, opened the area’s first Jamaican restaurant — Summer’s.

The walls are bright yellow, the tables a vibrant red and the Jamaican flag hangs proudly on one wall, a Canadian flag on another.

“The first few months it was crazy in here, just word of mouth and curiosity,’’ Summer said during an interview in the small, brightly-lit restaurant that is wedged between the general store and the post office.

This week, Summer’s is providing one of the evening meals at the Rural Talks to Rural conference in Blyth, a dinner of Jamaican specialties on Thursday evening — Oct. 18 — in the Blyth Memorial Hall.

“I’ll be serving jerk chicken and pork, and a stir fry,’’ she promises. There will also be Jamaican rice and peas, Cole slaw, a Jamaican-style cucumber and tomato salad and a pineapple, coconut upside down cake.

Just a little taste of today’s rural Ontario.

Summer’s opened May 1 and now has a steady stream of regulars. She opens at 7 a.m. for the full eggs and bacon crowd. The lunch and dinner menu have some Canadian diner standards, along with Jamaican specialities such as Oxtail, Jerk Goat and yes, Jerk Poutine.

Summer Croft was born and raised in Jamaica but came to Canada with her parents as a young girl, some 43 years ago. She’s been working in restaurants for much of her career and for some years ran a little bistro in Woodstock. Her specialty there was a catering business that served offshore seasonal workers who were looking for a taste of home.

“But my five-year plan was to do something bigger,’’ she says. She went in search of a restaurant space for rent, a building with a good kitchen and dining space. That search took her to Wroxeter, a place she’d not heard of until it popped up on Google.

The tiny hamlet makes fun of itself with its welcome sign on the highway, announcing that it was once listed among Ontario’s ghost towns. A thriving restaurant was a welcome addition to the main street, where businesses have come and gone.

“I came in April and I’ve been here ever since,’’ Summer says. She’s already been warned about the harsh winters. Even though she’s spent decades in Canada, she’s lived mostly in cities — Toronto, Scarborough, Kitchener and London. And when she was feeding seasonal workers, she

was often able to spend part of the winter months back in Jamaica. This winter, she plans to tough it out with her customers and new neighbours.

Her mission: “To spread a little bit of my goodness, the best of the Caribbean.” And like her, the menu is part Jamaican, part Canadian. “I guess you could say I’m Canadian now more than Jamaican, or both.”

In the restaurant, that Caribbean flavour is now added to Canadian ingredients. She sources all of her meats locally and uses Ralph Pitt’s in Walkerton for her produce.

She says she’s had a warm welcome in Wroxeter, although she fully understands that some people just don’t know quite what to make of her, in a community where she definitely stands out.

“Sometimes they say, ‘are you the black girl that has the restaurant,’ and I say yes,” she recounts. “We’ve got Chinese restaurants, Italian restaurants, so why not a Jamaican restaurant?”

Her menu eases her local customers into the Jamaican cuisine, with the Caribbean offerings nestled in among Canadian standards like burgers, fish & chips, steak and ribs. Often the Jamaican dishes — such as goat roti — are the daily special. And Summer is careful with the spices, usually giving customers the option of mild, medium, or spicy.

And many customers might leave with just as vivid an impression of the vibrant and outgoing owner as they do the food. During our interview she was charming one of her regulars, who was finishing up his meal just before closing time.

Summer’s motto is written in Jamaica’s traditional red, yellow and green script above the door to her kitchen: “With One Love, Every Day, Every Time.”

“One Love, Every Day, Every Time,” she says. “That’s what I do.”

Welcome to rural Ontario.

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