How a record producer planted the seed of late night eats in Little Jamaica
Smoke rushed to escape the steel drum barbeque planted outside of Rap’s on Eglinton Avenue West as owner Horace Rose lifted its hood, revealing rows of jerk chicken crisping in the glow of charcoal embers.
“It was immediate,” Horace said, referencing the gravitational pull his steel drum barbeque, painted in rastafarian colours, had on the neighbourhood.
But that barbeque — and perhaps, the rest of Little Jamaica — only came to be because Horace was hungry one night.
In the 1980s, he was working as a record producer, touring with reggae artist Johnny Osbourne. After a series of back-to-back evening shows, the crew was ravenous, but there was nowhere to eat.
Horace saw a void. People in the music business needed a food establishment that they could rely on always being open late at night and into the early morning.
As a fix, he opened Rap’s in 1982.
At the time, Eglinton West was quiet, but Horace had a record shop located between Allen Road and Keele Street, so he decided to place his restaurant there too.
“It was the first Jamaican restaurant there,” Horace said. Soon, a beauty shop opened down the street, then a bakery — both owned by Jamaicans, and eventually, Eglinton West had a warm island breeze that became known as Little Jamaica.
Rap's serves authentic Jamaican food on Eglinton Avenue West in Toronto. CTV News Toronto/ Hannah Alberga
“My husband started the whole thing,” Carole Rose said, now co-owner of Rap’s. “He did the groundbreaking for everyone else to walk on that path.”
Horace and Carole were both born in Jamaica’s St. Ann parish on the northern coast. From when he was about six years-old, Horace planted and harvested everything from ackee to guava trees. Meanwhile, Carole admired her aunt’s rum cakes and potato pudding, always on display at the church's bake sale.
They wanted to bring that authentic Jamaican food to Toronto, particularly, jerk chicken marinated in a generous spice blend and browned on a charcoal fire.
But to do so, they needed a steel drum barbeque. Horace hired a wielder to create the charcoal grill and then found an importer who sold steel drums, which he then cut in half and latched onto the bottom with hinges.
Rap's serves authentic Jamaican food on Eglinton Avenue West in Toronto. CTV News Toronto/ Hannah Alberga
“We started out attracting the local Jamaican community. That was the foundation of the clientele,” Horace said. “But today...we have a rich mixture of customers.”
While Rap’s became a neighbourhood staple, there have been hurdles, some that still endure.
“People are nervous about coming to Eglinton,” Carole said, nodding to the build up of cars inching towards the Allen Road, skirting around fluorescent pylons that have dotted the street for years throughout the Eglinton Crosstown LRT construction.
Beyond traffic congestion, Carole said the social environment that once thrived at Rap’s is deeply missed. In pre-pandemic times, customers crowded the narrow, modest storefront, chatting while waiting for their curry goat or oxtail stew. But now, Carole said, “It’s not there.”
Despite it all, Rap’s has remained resilient. The business managed to keep all of their staff throughout the pandemic and they are currently hiring two more employees to keep up with the pace of pickups and deliveries.
Much of Rap’s sustainability and success has been rooted in that initial inkling that led Horace to open the storefront nearly 40-years ago — he was hungry and desperate for a nourishing meal after hours.
“Nighttime is still happening,” Carole said.
To this day, the establishment still stays open until 5 a.m. Not even a decade of construction or a global pandemic could change the fact that Torontonians are hungry, especially in the hours after sunset.
ABOUT TABLE TALK
Table Talk is a weekly CTV News Toronto series that explores the people who shape Toronto’s food scene, published every Friday at CTVNewsToronto.ca
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Prince William says wife Kate is 'doing well'
Prince William said on Friday his wife Kate was 'doing well' in a rare public comment about the Princess of Wales as she undergoes preventative chemotherapy for cancer.
BREAKING Canadian Blood Services apologizes to LGBTQ2S+ community for discriminatory blood donation policy
Canadian Blood Services issued an apology on Friday to the LGBTQ2S+ community for what it now admits was a harmful and discriminatory blood donation policy that prevented sexually active men who have sex with men and some trans people from donating blood and plasma.
BREAKING Toronto mayor hints that WNBA team is coming to the city, marking the first franchise in Canada
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow says that she is hopeful an announcement could be made soon amid multiple reports that a WNBA team is coming to Toronto in 2026.
Magnitude 4.2 earthquake reported off Vancouver Island's west coast
A 4.2-magnitude earthquake was recorded west of Vancouver Island early Friday morning.
Ontario coroner to investigate death of man who suffered cardiac arrest while waiting in ER
A provincial coroner will be investigating the death of 68-year-old David Lippert, who suffered a cardiac arrest while waiting in a crowded emergency room in Kitchener, Ont.
'Irate male' assaulted Newfoundland officers with block of cheese, police say
Police in Newfoundland say patrol officers were assaulted Thursday by a "very irate male" wielding a block of cheese.
Average hourly wage in Canada now $34.95: StatCan
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
This iconic Canadian song is turning 50
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
From outer space? Sask. farmers baffled after discovering strange wreckage in field
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.