Page 28 - foodservice magazine April 2019

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DINING
“We didn’t take shortcuts, we didn’t go out and buy a pallet smoker; we built a custom offset smoker just like how I learnt to do it in Texas. That was a big thing for me; making sure we were doing it traditionally, the way I was taught how to do it, and not taking shortcuts. People come back if your product’s good, right?”
Clockwise from above: The kitchen at Bluebonnet Barbecue. Chris Terlikar. Smoked meats are sold by weight.
Terlikar’s brisket is like the Holy Grail. After working in kitchens in Michelin-starred restaurants and casual diners alike in New York, London and Vancouver, Terlikar followed the smoke and settled
in Austin, Texas, where he learnt the art of barbecue at renowned joint Micklethwait Craft Meats. Bluebonnet’s salt and black pepper- crusted Texan brisket is the signature.
Barbecue in the States is highly regional, and Terlikar’s not a Texan purist. There’s also steak, pulled pork, pork chops, chicken and lamb ribs on his menu, alongside salads, vegetables and a very special black garlic cornbread topped with honey and thyme butter.
Forking out to start up a barbecue restaurant isn’t easy. The smoker alone costs tens of thousands of dollars, and, as he mentioned, the meat’s not cheap.
But while the price of produce has always fluctuated, Terlikar believes that the pressure on restaurateurs has increased because of the increased focus on labour laws. “Especially over the last two years, it’s really tough now to make a dollar,” he says. “I’d love to have my
labour costs under 30 per cent, but staff are getting paid properly these days, and they’re getting what they deserve.”
From his point of view, if customers really care about fair employment practices – not to mention sustainability and ethical sourcing – they should be prepared to contribute a little more. “I think the customer needs to pay more if anything’s going to change,” he says.
To be able to charge accordingly, Terlikar has been drawing
on his fine-dining background from his time at Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Public Kitchen in New York. “It’s always what I wanted to do – evolve into more of a restaurant as opposed to a barbecue joint,” he says. “We’re doing more composed dishes these days, and not so much serving stuff out in little cardboard boxes.”
But any higher-end restaurant needs a safety net, so to get the most out of his kitchen Bluebonnet has been pushing its off-site catering business, taking its food truck to weddings, parties and music festivals.
It’s an easy way to increase profits, but “it’s super risky,” he says. “We’ve done events where we’ve cooked 150 kilos of brisket and we’ve sold, like, five.”
Ultimately what’s kept Bluebonnet afloat through all the trials and tribulations is Terlikar’s commitment to quality. “We didn’t take shortcuts, we didn’t go out and buy a pallet smoker; we built a custom offset smoker just like how I learnt to do it in Texas. That was a big thing for me; making sure we were doing it traditionally, the way I was taught how to do it, and not taking shortcuts. People come back if your product’s good, right?”
And, quality doesn’t simply mean the price of produce or the expertise with which it’s prepared: “Our staff is probably the biggest thing that helps us be successful,” says Terlikar.
Blubonnet chefs work four days on and three days off, with the working week capped at 45 hours.
And the perks of treating staff properly extend to Terlikar too. After years of hustle, he’s finally at a point where he can, maybe, go a little easier on himself. “I definitely have more of a work-life balance after the last six months,” he says. “I can take days off if I want to, which is something that I’d never been able to do, really. It does get easier.”
Let’s hope so.