Jerk Yard brings rasta pasta and jerk favorites to Park Forest

Jerk Yard is bringing its rasta pasta and jerk-heavy menu to Park Forest, where owner David Clausell is targeting an opening around June 19 or shortly after at 90 S Orchard Drive in the Plaza West Shopping Center. For Southland diners, the move matters because this is not a debuting experiment. It is the next suburban stop for a concept that has already turned a signature pasta dish into part of its identity.

The brand began in Hyde Park in 2024 and has since expanded into a four-location business, with current brick-and-mortar spots in Hyde Park, the South Loop and Evanston. Hoodline described the Park Forest restaurant as Jerk Yard’s fourth storefront, a sign that the business has been building a city-to-suburb footprint rather than staying tied to one neighborhood. Park Forest, part of the Chicago Southland, sits roughly 30 to 60 minutes from downtown Chicago depending on traffic, putting the new location within reach of diners who want the Jerk Yard experience without heading into the city.

What gives the opening its Pasta-side pull is the dish that keeps showing up as a calling card: rasta pasta. Jerk Yard has promoted a signature Rasta Pasta Alfredo on social media, and the menu notes tied to the Park Forest opening point to versions with salmon and jerk pot roast. The broader menu stretches well beyond pasta, with jerk chicken, jerk rice bowls, loaded jerk turkey legs, wings and sides like mac and cheese, steamed cabbage and rice and peas. That mix is part of the appeal. It gives the restaurant a familiar comfort-food framework while keeping the pasta anchored in Caribbean flavor.

Clausell, who used to work as a nightclub promoter before moving into restaurants, has said the team has been planning the Park Forest move since day one. Jerk Yard’s growth has also been fed by events, parties and catering for the community, which helps explain how the brand moved from a Hyde Park start in 2024 to a fourth location so quickly. The Plaza West opening gives that momentum a new address in the Southland, and it puts a signature pasta dish at the center of a restaurant expansion with room to keep growing.