Name: Hogtown Smoke
Contact Info: 1959 Queen St. E., 416-691-9009
Neighbourhood: The Beach
Owners: Brothers Scott and Kevin Fraser, the duo behind the Hogtown Smoke food truck, and Noah Henderson
Chefs: Carey Valentine and Scott Fraser
The Food: Real Southern barbecue. Rather than stick to one regional tradition, the kitchen experiments with smoking, grilling and saucing styles from the Deep South to Kansas City. Everything is cooked low and slow, including tequila-spiked chicken (three hours), pork butt (seven hours) and Black Angus beef brisket (16 hours). Jumbo cornmeal muffins come with a side of bourbon-spiked butter.
The Drinks: Two taps devoted to Beau’s All Natural beer (including one rotating seasonal brew), and smoky cocktails with names like Tennessee Slut and Bonnie and Clyde. A bourbon-bacon cocktail is reportedly in the works.
The Place: A prettied-up take on a back-road Southern smoke house. The room is masculine but cozy with exposed brick, barn-board tabletops and galvanized steel buckets repurposed as lampshades.
The Numbers:
• $182 for the Holy Hog-a-Now, a barbecue platter that serves 10
• 32 seats on the back patio/tiki bar
• 16 hours to slow-smoke the Black Angus beef brisket
• 12 spices in the top-secret barbecue rub
• 8 reclaimed church pews, ideal for worshiping at the altar of ’Q
• 6 house-made sauces, including one spiked with extra-hot ghost peppers
• 5 signature cocktails created by self-described liquid chef Thomas Benidicto
