Highway 61 RIBS

Muddy Waters traveled it. Bob Dylan revisited it. Robert Johnson sold his soul on its crossroad. The storied Highway 61 is the site of countless myths, endless music history, and a ton of culture. It's also the spot where real barbecue was born. And, little do many people know, this illustrious link to the south actually starts in Thunder Bay, Ontario. With the new Highway 61 restaurant at Bayview and Davisville, the link between Ontario and the American South is no longer purely geographical.

Kerry Knoll came up with the idea for Highway 61 after a lifetime of journalism, mineral exploration, and backyard barbecue. Despite having little to no restaurant experience, BBQ is in his blood. Knoll's father, a Major in the Canadian Army, developed his own BBQ sauce back in the 1960s. Since then, the secret family recipe, which uses 75% less sugar and 85% less salt then store-shelf brands, has become somewhat legendary. Knoll sold the sauce in St. Lawrence Market for a number of years, before his day job took over the bulk of his attention. Since then people have been demanding the return of the sauce.

So, when Kerry retired a year ago, opening his own barbeque joint seemed like the logical next step. Since he didn't know the first thing about opening a restaurant, Knoll enlisted Ken McGarrie (Hunt Club) and Nick Sinnett (Lakes, Sir Corp), both experienced restaurateurs. Taking over the former spot of Cluck, Grunt and Low, Highway 61 is aiming to bring some authentic smokery to a deprived Toronto BBQ market. "Highway 61 will be a bit of a destination," boasts Kerry. "Only because there's so little barbecue in Toronto. Kansas City has a population on fifth the size of Toronto, and yet it has over a hundred licensed barbecue joints. Toronto only has about four. We hope to open up the market a bit."

The starting point, of course, was the celebrated sauce, but in order to flesh out the menu, Kerry and his partners hit the road. That road was Highway 61. Taking bits of recipes and techniques from Memphis, St. Louis, and Mississippi, the restaurant takes BBQ tradition seriously, and as we all know, BBQ lovers are purists in the purest sense. The menu includes all the standards: Smoked Chicken, Beef and Pork Ribs (served sticky or dry), 15-hour Smoked Brisket, Collard Greens, Jalapeno Cornbread, and ginormous combo plates. Everything is smoked right in the restaurant, and according to Kerry, "we only serve what we smoke that day." That, of course, means that often the more popular dishes will run out, but that's the price you pay for freshness. After all, no one complains when a bakery runs out of bread (or at least, they shouldn't).

Quality of ingredients is just as important. Highway 61 gets all its meats from Rowe Farms, which in turn sources all its ingredients from 12 farms within an hour drive from Toronto. That means free range, hormone free, and devoid of antibiotics. Even the lettuce in the sandwiches and the beans in the chili are certified organic. Similarly, all nine beers on tap are craft breweries, all from Southern Ontario.

As you might guess from the name, there's also a strong focus on the blues. "Blues and barbecue just go together," says Kerry, a self-avowed blues nut. "Barbecue grew up out of the Memphis triangle, the same place that blues came from. The godfather of the Mississippi blues was named Barbeque Bob. The two things are inseparable." The 3000 song soundtrack to Highway 61 comes from Kerry's and Ken's personal collections (Ken was once a blues musician), the walls are adorned with more then 100 posters of old blues singers and movies, and eventually the upstairs bar area will host live blues. It's the perfect atmosphere for eating huge hunks of meat.

An authentic BBQ joint is surely not the most innovative idea in the history of the city. But in a recession-starved Toronto restaurant industry, it's exactly the cure we're looking for. Give me some Howlin' Wolf, a big rack of ribs, and a cold beer and I'm happy.

Highway 61, Toronto, BBQ, Leaside, Restaurant, Clubs in Toronto