Pit master brings barbecue to Cherry St.
CHERRY ST. BAR-B-QUE K (out of 4) GOOD Address: 275 Cherry St. (at Commissioners St.), 416-461-5111, cherrystbbq.com Chef: Lawrence La Pianta
Hours: Kitchen, Monday to Friday, 5 to 11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Reservations: No Wheelchair access: Patio only Price: Dinner for two with beer, tax and tip: $30
The restaurant patio draws them in with live music and the faint but distinct odour of wood smoke.
It is the Portlands. Little else serves the industrial area’s hungry and thirsty power workers, film crews and recreational sports league players.
But there’s more to recommend the new Cherry St. Bar-B-Que than its pleasant outdoor space, where the shipping-container bar makes a mean smoky habanero margarita ($9). Cherry St. also serves good barbecue, an agreeable assortment of pig and cow parts rendered supple by an expert pit master who worships at the altar of white oak.
Toronto barbecue Manning the pair of smokers is Lawrence La Pianta, a former location scout manager who knew the area from car commercials.
La Pianta, 42, competes and judges on the Kansas City Barbeque Society circuit, the world’s largest. He does salt-and-pepper Texas brisket, St. Louis-style baby back ribs and a North Carolina fruit-and-vinegar sauce for pulled pork.
“I call it Toronto style. If people are eating it and they’re happy, they can call it whatever they like,” says La Pianta (formerly of Aft Kitchen).
He opened the counter-service eatery last month in a former 1920s Dominion Bank, which has served as a restaurant in one form or another since 1927 and is said to be haunted. Food and drink are ordered separately.
Smoke signals At Cherry St., you taste more smoke than sauce.
Take the pork side ribs ($10 a halfpound), the pink meat so soft it practically runs away at the approach of teeth. Or the ropy pulled pork ($9 a half-pound) laced with caramelized bark and jiggly fat. Both wear mini- mal sauce, La Pianta’s preference, but are juicy enough to require the paper towel rolls on the table.
Brisket ($13 a half-pound) has a distinct pink smoke ring around the circumference; the loose grey interior is opalescent from “the reaction between the protein and the nitrites in the smoke. It’s as a result of collagen and fat being rendered out,” La Pianta explains.
I’m not surprised when, back at home, the cat steals a piece of my takeout order.
On the side Some would say a barbecue joint’s side dishes are as important as the meat. By that measure, Cherry St. is a mixed success ($4.50 for all sides).
Oil-and-vinegar coleslaw is basic and the potato salad is mealy. Barbecue beans, though, are deliciously laced with brisket burnt ends.
Mac ’n’ cheese is another winner: cavatappi, a.k.a. scoobi doo noodles, in a thin but potent sauce laced with garlic, paprika and jalapeno.
Despite the fancy minced chive garnish, La Pianta uses processed cheese.
“It has to be Velveeta. This is a fullon, American-style side dish,” he says.
Two all-beef patties The cherry on the top of the menu is the towering double cheeseburger ($11).
Brisket trimmings make for patties so tender they barely hold together.
The meat is stacked in a squishy potato bun with cheddar, onion, tomato, pickles, shredded lettuce and a certain kind of tangy sauce. It tastes like a Big Mac, only better. More sauce comes with tasty fried mini potatoes.
After this, the other sandwiches pale, even the juicy provolone sausage ($6.50) that gushes yellow fat — just like the cholesterol in my veins after a meal like this.
Not that I’m complaining. apataki@thestar.ca Twitter @amypataki