Baby-back ribs and fresh garden salad from Rib Kage. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Rib Kage Bar & Grill - fresh, new look

(Savoury Category - $1, 300

When Gary Ferguson was a little boy, he'd ride past Tony Roma's in Miami every day. His dream was to open a rib place in Jamaica. His family owned bakeries and were always into food. "It was something I was around all the time, and I had a passion for it," he says with delight. He returned home in 1988 doing other things, but he kept his culinary vision close to his heart. Some might remember Bistro on Constant Spring Road in the early '90s. The location became available when it closed, and, along with friends and partners, Ferguson came up with the name Rib Kage. Their goal was to create something "familiar, with consistency and quality".

Since the 1995 opening, Rib Kage has gone from strength to strength. Due to increasing demand to come to New Kingston, the Braemar Avenue restaurant opened in November 2006.

The original location is casually al fresco, but the new no-smoking, air-conditioned venue, which seats 30 in the main dining area, 14 at the bar, 25 in the front and 12 in the private dining room, is more formal. The latter two rooms may be hired for parties, breakfast meetings and business lunches. The chefs will create a menu to suit your needs, including hors d'oeuvres for corporate functions up to 100 people.

The partners of Rib Kage have successfully reinvented themselves and created a fresh look. No doubt, during KRW and beyond, you'll feel like you've stepped into someone's house, with warm wooden décor and metropolitan sleekness.

- Emma Sharpe