Southern Comfort in the Big Smoke

Smokin’ Bones
117 Dundas Street East
416-587-9656
Complete dinner (main plus a side) for two, with all taxes, tip and soft drinks: $28

You’ll know it the moment you walk through the door: This is a southern food joint.

Should you miss the sign out front that identifies Smokin’ Bones as a purveyor of southern comfort food, the smoky-spicy-sweet aroma that greets patrons crossing the threshold gives it away. Savoury barbecue (meats cooked slowly with indirect heat, often wood smoke), tangy rubs and sauces kicked up with heat, rib-sticking soups, stews, and sides, many shot through with a sugary streak — these are the dishes conjured by that heady scent.

Open since mid-December, Smokin’ Bones boasts a menu that’s entirely homemade. Owner Orlando da Cuhna, who is a welcoming and friendly presence at the front of the house, and chef Joseph Jacobson, make a point of acknowledging the regional variations in American barbecue but have chosen their favourite technique for the restaurant. Meats are cooked “low and slow” — at a low temperature for an extended period of time — in two smokers that da Cuhna jokes will soon need to be running 24/7 to keep up with demand.

Busy it is indeed on a Thursday evening when my dining companion and I join the throngs from the Ryerson University campus lined up for takeout. Pulled pork sandwiches are flying out the door; I take this as a good sign and choose accordingly. I order mine spicy and moist (levels of sauciness escalate to “wet” and “soaked”) on a white bun (healthier whole wheat is also available, but that seems rather beside the point), dressed with coleslaw ($7). A side order of baked beans (all sides are $3 for a regular serving and $5 for a full) seems a natural pairing.  My friend opts for two pieces of southern fried chicken, which is made to order and served with biscuits and sausage gravy ($7), and a side of garlic mashed potatoes.

We settle in at two of the handful of stools that flank the perimeter of the sienna-and-ochre-coloured interior space — though a delivery service is in the works for spring, Smokin’ Bones is currently a take-out business primarily, so be prepared to carry your food home or to perch if you’re eating in — and dig in. Before we can even begin to enjoy the characteristic southern flavours, we’re struck by the realization that save for the chicken that’s been fried moments before, the rest of the food, which has been served from warming trays at the main counter, is lukewarm at best.

The temperature issue is unfortunate, as the play between the cold crisp slaw beneath the generous half-pound heap of tender, deeply flavoured pork would have been elevated had the meat been hot. Regardless, it’s hard not to enjoy this tangle of slow-cooked meat, with its pronounced smokiness and shards of the dark, crispy exterior providing a burst of flavour and a pleasing chew every so often. The spicy barbecue sauce has only mild zip — I suspect this barbecue crew doesn’t want to frighten off timid palates — though I’m soon too lost in the sea of napkins required to keep my face and hands clean to notice.

Temperature also interferes with what are otherwise delicious baked beans. Cooked to that ideal state of being yielding yet retaining their body, they are mixed with pulled pork and swim in a wonderfully complex sauce: the sweet comes at you first, then it recedes into a gentle spice that coats the mouth, which in turn yields to a lingering smokiness. If they’d been hot, I would have called these bean superlative.

Though at the right temperature directly out of the fryer, the southern fried chicken suffers from a different ill: it’s underseasoned. The batter is light, crisp, and perfectly greaseless, and the chicken is moist, but the lot is in need of a hit of salt to make the flavours jump. The same problem plagues the sausage gravy, into which we hopefully dip both the chicken and the house-made soft, flaky biscuits — the flavour falls flat without basic seasoning. The garlic mashed potatoes? You guessed it: garlicky, yes, and coarsely mashed for a homey feel, but undersalted and no shakers provided for self-seasoning.

Controlling food temperature and seasoning becomes easier if taking the food away, which is what I do on another visit with a regular serving of corn chowder ($4) and an order of cornbread ($3). After a short stint on the stove and a pinch of salt, presto — there’s more life to the thick broth coating chunks of potato, kernels of corn, and ample amounts of pulled chicken, the latter infusing the entire dish with its distinctive smokiness. (Several colleagues were lured to my desk by the smoky scent as I ate leftovers the next day at lunch.) The cornbread, shaped into long fingers, yields a surprisingly light texture, though the dominant note of corn could be stronger.

Other classic mains on the menu include baby back ribs ($12 for a half-rack), beef ribs ($10), Texas chili ($7), and a meatloaf sandwich ($6), and da Cunha and Jacobson are at work testing recipes for the likes of jambalaya, collard greens, andouille sausage, and pies, which they hope to introduce soon. By that time perhaps Smokin’ Bones will have had an opportunity to iron out the wrinkles that come with early days of service. With slim pickings for southern cuisine in the city of Toronto, it’d be nice to see this team stick around and keep the smoke coming.

Jodi Lewchuk is an editor by profession and a cook and writer by passion. She also writes about and photographs food for her personal blog, Cursive Mechanics.