E: Big Smoke Expands Beyond Deep South, Explore Sake Cocktails, and Fusion Bites

Connor Brennan and Gordon Kutil have deeply enjoyed dedicating the last few years to The Big Smoke Bistro, a southern style barbecue restaurant that has allowed them to dig into their roots. However the pair of managers  who hail from Texas and Tennessee, respectively  have also been hankering to experiment with other regional cuisines and drinks beyond that of their homeland. Enter E, a chic nookish eatery replacing their former Uncle Otis takeout adjacent to The Big Smoke, and focusing on the sort of sake and soju cocktails, along with fusion pub snacks, that can satisfy their more creative inklings. 

“We were sort of thinking the name E could refer to eatery and experiment, but that it could also be ambiguous enough to not peg us down to one thing,” Brennan tells the Beijinger of the new venue, which is in its soft opening now and will have a proper debut in the New Year (details of which hare still pending). Brennan adds: “At this restaurant we can have a small menu, and try to focus on a few particular food and drink offerings. Here we can let our hair down, experiment a bit, look into what’s really going on for food trends back in the US or Australia or Europe, then tweak it with our own style.”
 

Particularly, Brennan and Kutil are interested in those regions’ fusion cuisine. That’s apparent on E’s menu, a tightly focused range of six to eight items that are still being finalized, but are sure to feature RMB 45 Thai tacos, ground Mexican chorizo sausages paired with pickled pineapple (RMB 42), sautéed mushroom and spinach (RMB 42), crispy shitaki mushrooms (RMB 38), and more. Details for the tacos are still being finalized but Kutil  who is also one of E and Big Smoke’s co-owners  will combine the Tex-Mex style that is hugely popular in the Deep South with his family’s Thai heritage. Brennan, meanwhile, is particularly fond of the crispy mushrooms, saying they are picked and fried in spiced bread crumbs, then served with a generous side of ancho hollandaise sauce. 

A brief sampling of those those deep-fried mushrooms did indeed impress. Their batter is firm and crunchy without being flakey dry, and the mushrooms inside are cushiony and fragrant. Half a dozen of those crispy mushrooms come in one order, and the mild spices that they are dusted with, along with their colorfully flavored side of hollandaise sauce, gently evoke the salty tastiness that’s characteristic of Big Smoke, even as the Japanese shitaki fungi declares a bold new twist on Kutil and Brennan’s style.
 

That Japanese is even more apparent in E’s cocktail menu. Again, it’s a highly focused array of what would have been standard bar offerings, that are instead infused with fresh sake and soju twists. Kiwi sake mojitos (RMB 45), pomelo sake martinis (RMB 55), and Japanese soju tonics (RMB 40) are the most creative of the batch, while more conventional offerings like tried-and-true sake pots (RMB 45) are also on hand. 

Brennan says he and Kutil have so far focused on brands like Youjiayi and Baixue, adding that they are“looking to expand to some unfiltered and different varieties as we find ones we like.” He says bartending withthose Japanese spirits has proved to be a steep learning curve that is challenging and engaging, adding with a laugh: “It is like rediscovering wine  exciting but a long process. It’s actually a lot more involved than what I thought as a college student drinking sake at Tairyo.”

While the drinks and bites laudable, Brennan and Kutil’s greater feat may indeed be their revamp of the old Uncle Otis space. That mostly takeout and partially dine-in joint brought new meaning to phrase “no frills,” consisting of a few scant rickety metal tables and chairs splayed on a hugely uneven concrete floor. The room is now unrecognizable from that formerly sordid state, boasting a trendy, minimalist vibe complete with hardwood legless tables, sleek-yet-cushy chairs with form fitting contours, and soft lighting. Best of all: the expansive glass pane doors that encompass the entire entryway wall. They are completely collapsible, which will make E entirely airy and open in the summer, an attribute that fits nicely with an adjacent new small-but-sturdy concrete patio. This brings the venue up to snuff with recent regulations, which proved to be a massive nuisance for Big Smoke and many other restaurants last summer, who suddenly found themselves unable to provide their characteristic outdoor seating as the authorities cracked down.

“I’m really looking forward to that, because it was so tough last year, not only as a restaurateur but also as a customer. That’s such a huge part of Beijing summers, sitting out in the sun for dinner and drinks,” Brennan says, adding: “So we’re excited about having a proper new patio, because for this restaurant it’s all about openness  having your doors wide open for the nice weather, having a wide open vibe where people share nice bite sized food and drinks, and just feeling open and free and fun.”

E
Lee World Building (down the alley from Frost Nails), 57 Xingfucun Zhonglu, Chaoyang District (6416 5195)
朝阳区幸福村中路57号楼利世楼

Photos: Kyle Mullin