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Why The Carbon Bar is so much more than just a barbecue joint
Yannick Bigourdan grew up in the hospitality business, and you can feel and taste the decades of experience at The Carbon Bar, his Queen Street staple.
Foodism’s profile of The Carbon Bar traces how Yannick’s Queen Street room became the city’s most considered barbecue restaurant — Texas-style smoke and salt and pepper, paired with a 14-person kitchen brigade most barbecue joints never staff.
Christine Peddie walks through the dishes that defined the room — the KFC cauliflower, the Carbon Burger, the Pitmaster Platter — and the slow first year when Toronto had to figure out that a place could be a barbecue joint and a serious restaurant at the same time.
I was exposed to Texas-style barbecue, and I was like, 'Holy moly. This is absolutely incredible and addictive.' I was in love with Texas barbecue. Salt, pepper and smoke — that's basically what it is. We felt that the city was completely missing out on that.
— Yannick Bigourdan, in Foodism
When we first opened The Carbon Bar, it took about a year for people to understand that we weren't just a barbecue joint. They didn't expect to see a kitchen brigade, with 12 or 14 chefs. Eventually, people realized, it's everybody's restaurant.
— Yannick Bigourdan, in Foodism
When people ask me what it is that I'm looking for in my restaurants, it's always the same answer: I want to be proud of what we do. That's it.
— Yannick Bigourdan, in Foodism