Page 15 - MENU Magazine - Jan/Feb 2018

in the US—Texas, Carolina, Memphis and Kansas. “I didn’t want to be disrespectful. I realized how deep barbecue runs in America. Especially with Texas.” Rad saw the flaws in
his concept—and he adapted. He needed to really understand the food. He didn’t have
the means to travel. But he ate at every other barbecue place he could find. He would eat the entire menu. Then he built his business model based on his research, and on his “own style
of barbecue, inspired by a little bit from every region, with a Canadian twist.”
FINDING THE SPOT
Everywhere that Rad wanted to open, he couldn’t afford. “I looked at so many places, nobody wanted to touch me. I had no brand, no collateral, landlords assumed barbecue would be smoky...it was an uphill battle. I saw this place...it was a pizza spot. It didn’t fit to the neighbourhood.” He drove back the next week and saw a sign that it had closed. He found the landlord and the agency handling the location but the landlord wasn’t comfortable giving it to another food place. “The build-
ing meant a lot to her...She had inherited it. She met with me on four occasions. I literally begged her. I promised her my concept would do well.” Rad was involved in every part of building his restaurant—the food, the menu, the staff. He even jackhammered the walls himself; he points out a nearby imperfection, a jagged hole in the brick.
During those first days, he made his potato salad recipe and he invited passersby in to taste and review his food. Rumours flew in the neighbourhood about “some crazy guy giving away free food.” But the tactics worked. “In Farsi there is an expression, ‘you give yourself
rosy cheeks by slapping yourself.’” Rad did everything he needed to do to make the restau- rant work. He had started major construction in December of 2013, and he opened officially in May of 2014. “The minute we ended up opening, everyone was supportive...the com- munity, my clientele.”
The menu is small and exactly what Rad envisioned. His original, from-scratch recipes and foods. Simple, hearty, excellent...and award-winning.
CALAMITY
In January 2017, Rad was feeling burnt out and in need of a restorative retreat. He was single and planned to travel solo but he was convinced by friends to meet up with them in Aruba. He found a quiet Airbnb rental, where he would play with some recipes, cooking for pleasure. He wanted to lose some weight so he planned an exercise regime. For the first few days he established a routine of going for a good run, and then a dip in the ocean. He wanted to come home restored, and with a second location in mind for Smoque N’ Bones. He was ready for the next step in the evolution of his business.
“I remember the first three nights. It was beautiful...I wanted to be in a happy state of mind, relaxed. I would do the same jog, drive to the tourist area, run to the beach.” Some- thing went wrong the fourth day when he dove into the ocean. Rad says that he remembers the dive, because he has flashbacks. “The chance of a sandbank being in that depth...” Rad’s voice trails off and his voice wavers. He apologizes for becoming emotional. He tells me that he was an experienced, strong swim- mer. He did a shallow dive in the area he had dived previously. “I hit and something went [cracking sound] and it echoed in my head. It was hard to come out of the water but I rose up, I realized I can’t reach the ground. I swam out of the water.”
The doctors told Rad they can’t understand how he managed to swim out of the water; saying that he should have drowned. Rad had dived headfirst into a sandbank, in water that was otherwise well over his head. He had broken his arm and shoulder, dislocated his other shoulder. He broke his C3, C4 and C7 vertebrae. His thoracic vertebrae—shattered.
“In Farsi there is an expression, ‘you give yourself rosy cheeks by slapping yourself.’” Rad did everything he needed to do to make the restaurant work.
YOUR STORIES
For whatever reason, fight or flight said the doctors, Rad managed to swim out of the water. But when he stood up to walk, he felt like he was swaying. He felt nauseous and then he collapsed on the beach surrounded by his friends who had planned to meet him there after his run, and strangers. Rad was in and out of consciousness. He was transported to
a local hospital. Then he was flown to Mart- inique for emergency treatment. From there
he was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. The memories he has, of being treated
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