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Can you actually sell BBQ without a smoker?
By Kaz on Wed, 07/01/2009 - 12:36pm
Complaints from neighbors living near the Roadhouse restaurant in Brookline, on Beacon St near Washington Square, led city officials to meet with owner David Ciccolo, who also owns Publick House. Ciccolo told the building inspector that he was planning to shut down the smoker rather than pay the $25,000 necessary to buy equipment that would adequately block the smoky odors. After a rocky start on food quality, the Roadhouse seemed to be delivering better reviews these days. It will be interesting to see how well the barbecue remains rated if they're not going to use a smoker to cook it.
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Comments
Serious question
Is there anybody in Brookline who isn't a whining prick?
Come on now...
All these people have been there for years, and all these restaurants just open up recently and...
...oh wait, just the opposite is true: That area has had restaurants forever, and most of the complaining neighbors have only been there for a couple of years. If you don't want to smell restaurants, don't move next to one. It's that simple.
Non-Whining Prick Brookliner Here.
(raises hand) Me, but I, unfortunately, no longer live in the immediate Wash. Sq. area of Brookline (but I still walk there often from my outpost on the other side of Chestnut Hill Ave.).
Notwithstanding the person cited in the article (who is apparently a vegetarian), and without intending to ingite sectarian strife, I wonder if this has something to do with the religious beliefs of many of the immediate neighbors and the type of food being smoked. There is a chassidic temple right next door to it, and a school, which I believe is affiliated with the temple immediately behind the Roadhouse. I have to imagine that members of the congregation are not hustling over to the Roadhouse for pulled pork sandwiches right after services and that they are about as happy about the aroma of smoked pork as I am with the aroma of gefilte fish. But hey, different strokes for different folks, and that's all part of living in close proximity to each other in these things we call urban areas.
On a slightly different note, I am not sure I like the example (note I did not say precedent) this sets. There are lots of aromas (and noises) of various sorts to which I am subjected in and around my house. I think that Mr. Ciccolo is right in trying to "get along" with his neighbors, but on the other hand, I would not be willing to, and I would not expect someone else to jeopardize his business because of a complaint like this. It is a bbq smell - not a chlorine cloud. It's part of the deal when you move in next to a restaurant.
Incidentally, I know the people who used to live in the apartment directly next to (and above) what is now the Roadhouse (and was then Vinny Testa's). The garlic smell then was far more pungent on the street level than the BBQ is now. They had no complaints and recognized the potential issue before they moved in. Maybe it was because they were of Italian ancestry.
Might have a point
The business next door to Vinny Testa's was a Kosher deli/food store. In buying the Vinny T's, Ciccolo also took over the Kosher deli spot...because the custom smoker bought for the Roadhouse wasn't going to fit into the Vinny T's footprint. I wonder if there's some resentment.
I will say that Roadhouse is fairly new, all things relative. If you bought a place expecting the occasional Vinny T's odors and now you're inundated with daily cooking pork/wood fire odors, I could see how you might be a little dismayed at the change. The article notes that the change has brought more calls as weather has warmed and people leave their windows open more. The oils and smoke of a pork smoker can really invade linens/cloth...I'd imagine it's one thing if it's transient, but even when the place is closed and your couch, bed, rugs, and clothes all still smell like roasting pig...it probably gets a bit much.
Would have been nice if the neighbors/city had all chipped in to get him the $25k equipment necessary instead of asking that he shut it down.
Kaz is much better neighbor than me
Good observations, but...
A restaurant opens in Brookline and starts smoking pork... I think fixing the emissions problem is on the restaurant owner.
Sure
But look at all of the stuff people do these days online to raise a few cents here or there for all sorts of "good" causes when a few bleeding hearts get organized.
$25,000 isn't pennies, but it's also not Rolls Royce spending cash. I'm not even sure there was anything that the restaurant was really doing "wrong" that would have made them shut it down if Ciccolo wasn't willing to do so. So, since it's the residents' complaints and there *is* gear that would let both coexist peacefully, it seems like they could go a little out of their way to, say, meet him halfway and put up $12,500 if Ciccolo puts up the rest and pays to install it. Something like that.
it's about air quality not just odor
This was an issue of health and air quality for some neighbors, not just odor. If you had children with asthma breathing the air near the billowing smoker, than perhaps you would not think the neighbors were whining.
The Fireplace down the street has worked very hard to mitigate their smoke issues in the neighborhood. And the food is better.
How does Redbones do it?
Maybe they should find out - Davis Square is a pretty congested area, but I haven't heard of problems.
That said, it isn't just "barbecue smell". The emissions depend on the types of fuel used to both heat and season the meat. PAH, organic carbon, elemental carbon, and EPA criteria pollutants are an issue for smokers and for wood oven pizza places and any other solid fuel burning situation (many smokers, even electric ones, do burn some solid fuel for seasoning). Restaurants that burn wood or use smokers are starting to appear on emissions inventories used for local source exposure estimation as these modes of cooking become more popular.
I would bet that the rainy summer is contributing to the complaints as well - not only do people open windows, but there is a consistent cloud layer that traps the smoke near the ground level.
Maybe you don't sell BBQ at all...
From BostonTweet:
So, maybe that's a hint as to why Ciccole was planning on stopping the smoker anyways when the city approached him and answers how they plan to still sell food at a "BBQ" restaurant...without a smoker.
You know,
Im not sure they were doing the best of business anyway. Ive been there a few times (Before going over to the Golden Temple) and there was never anyone at the first bar, or at the other bar down towards the right. I did have the food there once though and it was fantastic.
I think that area might be at its saturation point. (Golden Temple, Washington Sq Tavern, Public House, Fireplace, and that Russian Joint that always has 20 people smoking out front)