I used to eat charred hamburgers and cremated hotdogs, immolated on a propane grill, and think that was as good as barbecue got. On my 28th birthday, I visited an old college friend in Texas and, oh brother, I got an education. We took a meandering road trip from Houston to San Antonio, eschewing the interstates, puttering along byroads and visiting dusty country towns with names like Seguin and Prairie Hill. And at every meal call we, by unspoken consensus, had barbecue.
We had fall-off-the-bone tender ribs, smoky sausages and flavourful brisket, all served with sticky, gooey sauces—and every joint boasted a different sauce. Down there, they understand that real barbecue requires smoking—not grilling—and lots of patience, artful sauces, spices and marinades. Mounds of cornbread, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, corn on the cob and the like accompanied every feast.
When I returned to Halifax, what most Maritimers consider “barbecue” just didn’t cut it anymore. So you can imagine my rejoicing when 2010 brought two new barbecue restaurants to Halifax. The first, in January, was Boneheads BBQ on the corner of Barrington and Inglis streets. “This is something I’d been interested in for years,” says owner Cindy Wheatley. “I have a smoker at home myself and I enjoy good barbecue. I’d sample whenever I travelled. I knew it was a niche not being filled in Halifax.”
There are countless variations of barbecue—with dozens of different sauces, ingredients and cooking styles—across the Southern United States. The Boneheads menu doesn’t commit to one regional style. “We took a little bit from all over,” Wheatley says. “We have ribs from the Carolinas, sausage from Texas and all kinds of good Southern sides.” There are also a few offerings that aren’t strictly barbecue, such as onion rings and quesadillas.
Bringing barbecue to Halifax has been educational. “There has been a lot of trial and error,” Wheatley says. “The smokers weren’t like the ones we used before, so we spent some time learning what works best.” The research paid off. “Just about everything we
serve is made on site,” she adds. “We take a lot of care with the quality of our ingredients.”
“Barbecue is challenging to do well but when you do it right, it’s great.”
—Shannon Bruhm
Customers have been a mix of barbecue purists and uninitiated but curious diners. “We’ve had to do some education,” Wheatley says, “what brisket is, what the ‘smoke ring’ is. But we’re surprised by the number of people who do get it and know exactly what we’re about.” (A “smoke ring” is a pink ring that forms around the edges of properly smoked meat, sometimes mistaken for a sign of rawness.)
And so far, diners have responded. “We’ve just been relying on word of mouth and we’ve been really busy,” Wheatley says. “We’ve had a few people come in and go ‘no hamburgers?’ but that’s pretty rare. Most people are getting what we’re about.” She adds that she’s considering opening another location in about six months, although she won’t say where.
It does seem that an appetite for barbecue awakened in the city. Two months after Boneheads opened, restaurateur Robert Risley (president of RCR Hospitality Group) opened Q Smokehouse & Southern Barbeque on Argyle Street. “The city is absolutely big enough for two different restaurants,” says Shannon Bruhm, operations vice-president with RCR. “We have different styles on our menus, we’re doing different things. That’s like asking if it’s big enough for two Italian restaurants.”
Bruhm does confess, however, that diners’ response has exceeded his expectations. “Overwhelming response—we’re getting so many return customers,” he says, “more than I expected. It’s a bit of a departure for us, compared to our other more formal restaurants, but it’s a style many people enjoy.”
Q also went through a bit of a diner-education process. “It takes a while for people to get what you’re about,” Bruhm says. “Some people were a bit thrown by the counter service and there were some lessons learned in how we did things. You learn those lessons whenever you open a new place; you always have to tweak things.”
RCR is best known for the chic nightspot Onyx, on Spring Garden Road. Calling Q a “departure” from that may be an understatement. “The tone is set as soon as you walk in,” Bruhm says. “There’s no table service and it’s all very relaxed.” He’s particularly proud of one table for large groups, made with large beams from an old house in Musquodoboit. “You can’t get wood like that anymore,” he adds. “It gives the whole place a real feel.”
As with Boneheads, the menu offers a greatest-hits assortment of barbecue styles and Southern staples like po’ boy and pulled-pork sandwiches. “We tried to do good basic barbecue with influences from all over,” Bruhm says. “There’s a bit of all those barbecue states in what we do. Barbecue enthusiasts from the U.S. come in here and they’re at home.”
Q also claims a unique niche in the market by offering meals (ordered 48 hours in advance) for large groups—choices include whole suckling pig, smoked turkey, lamb and goat. “I was hesitant about the big group meals at first,” Bruhm admits. “I wasn’t sure how they’d go over but we’re doing about one a week and getting lots of calls for them.”
With acclaimed chef Tahir Salamat heading Risley’s culinary team, it’s no surprise Q strives for quality barbecue. “Our whole team spent a lot of time travelling and sampling barbecue,” Bruhm says. “When the opening got closer we spent some time in the States with a competitive barbecue team and learned a lot. Barbecue is challenging to do well but when you do it right, it’s great.”
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