Food and Drink

The new burger kings

By B.W. Liou (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-06-08 07:32

Recently opened Home Plate Bar-B-Que restaurant has attracted lots of customers with its delicious homemade versions of good old US barbecue favorites. Photos Provided to China Daily

Home Plate Bar-B-Que off ers a range of dishes, from succulent beef brisket to a classic beef burger, a huge cheeseburger and delicious chicken wings served with a tasty hot and sweet sauce.

Two enterprising, hard-working Americans overcame a host of hurdles to set up what has quickly developed into a thriving barbecue restaurant. B.W. Liou hears their story and samples their food.

The voice of Adam Murray, chef and co-owner of Home Plate Bar-B-Que, is heavy, friendly and laid-back, the kind of voice where you can hear echoes of "hey" long after he greets you. The voice of co-owner Seth Grossman, on the other hand, is light, somewhat chirpy but raspy.

It's been about two weeks since their barbecue restaurant opened in Sanyuanqiao and both of their voices are lilting. These days, when they discuss current hiccups or hang-ups with restaurant operations, there is relief and excitement about the unknown in the way they talk.

Murray, a 32-year-old Houston native, was calm and carefree as he talked last Friday about pulling all-nighters at the restaurant, sometimes sleeping next to the applewood smoker to check on the temperature of his beef brisket or ribs.

Grossman, a New Yorker who first came to Beijing more than a decade ago, is downright giddy as he laughed off a recent frantic lunch. "We only have enough seats for 45 and there were about maybe 100 today," the 40-year-old said.

These are clearly good problems for Murray and Grossman, yet challenges weren't so welcomed a few months ago. Back in March, the two were inundated with a truckload of logistical problems - a constant marathon, as Grossman called it. Both talked in frustrated, tired voices as they dealt with the numerous issues that come with opening a restaurant in Beijing at a time when a number of foreign-owned eateries were either closing, moving due to soaring rents or swallowing high food costs.

"This is really overwhelming right now," a hoarse Grossman said in April.

The story of how Grossman and Murray created Home Plate is indeed one of exhaustion and frustration but it is also an encouraging one. It's about two Americans who not only succeeded on foreign soil but who succeeded on their own terms.

The idea for Home Plate began in December 2009 before the two had met. With the aid of two friends and his girlfriend, Murray parlayed his experiences working at a number of restaurants in Texas and Memphis and began planning a delivery service of Southern barbecue for the Hepingli neighborhood. In April last year, Murray started pumping out briskets, ribs and wings from a tiny kitchen in his Xibahe flat, waking up at 9 am and working until midnight to meet what quickly became a loyal following.

"You're living and waking up and doing it day in and day out," Murray said.

A disagreement between the four temporarily shuttered the delivery service but about this time he met Grossman, already a fan of Home Plate, who immediately got on board. The delivery service grew so quickly that Grossman had to do some of the deliveries himself. As word spread, both thought it would be the perfect time to open up a restaurant. But how? And where would the money come from?

The initial idea of a taco truck was shot down when they were told a government permit would be impossible ("Which is really strange to me," Grossman said. "There are so many vendors on the street, some even in front of the police station."). A brick and mortar shop would have to be the way to go but Grossman and Murray would deal with a whole slew of new problems: hunting for loans in a post-recession United States, tapping friends and family for start-up capital, communication problems with contractors, dealing with hard-nosed chengguan who would spring out of nowhere with various construction restrictions, as well as the soaring costs of setting up shop in China's capital.

"Money was our biggest stumbling block," Grossman said. "We could have asked an investor but we wanted to do it ourselves."

Some of the problems were also self-inflicted. Murray insisted on cooking all the dishes in house, from the sauces and beef patties, to the tortilla chips and corn dogs. Although the burger and hot dog buns are farmed out to a local bakery, the recipe is Murray's.

Doing it their way has been tough but Home Plate is slowly getting into a rhythm. With good breaks along the way (the tables, chairs, fridge, sink, stove, dishwasher and oven were swooped up from the now defunct Cafe Europa) and perseverance, the two sound fortunate to have come this far.

"We knew we would be able to do it and we had a specific plan and vision," Murray said. "Time will tell what that says about us."

(China Daily 06/08/2011)