Fadel Faour, the Chef Of BIG T: ‘I don’t like fine dining’

by Sophie She

Fadel Faour, the Chef Of BIG T: ‘I don’t like fine dining’

18 May 2024

You could read about the juiciest brisket in town here, where we highly recommend you try that burger (and we still do). But for those seeking some metaphorical thought and meaning behind every bite — here is an exclusive interview with the one who doesn’t give his interviews to anyone. Dive into this research with Big T right away.

— She is going to do the new project [talks about a new girl that came in for the meeting], the new kitchen’s design. I like getting people who are starting off...

— Why do you think they are better?

— Because they have the passion! I know she wants to do best and she will. But if someone is already well-known and experienced, they will give their assistants the job. Of course, expertise is valued, but I value passion more than expertise.

— And you are no different to being in the shoes of a newbie, as I can see. You were talking about actually manufacturing your own soda drinks, is that right?

— Yes, I am looking into it. I still have zero experience in that though, so I am watching YouTube videos and reading mixology books. But the good thing is that I have a decent palate, so it might help in recognising what goes well together, and I will try to build something nice. It might happen, or it might not happen — we will see, and I will try at least. And I will try until I make one good bev, it is not rocket science, it is just juice [laughs].

— It is amazing you are already expanding product-wise. So, you opened in 2022 — do you remember that time? And what was the plan?

— We opened in December 2022, and I honestly did not expect this. I just wanted a lab to research my cooking, and that is why I hid this place. I didn't even want to put a sign, and I didn't have this seating area. Do you know the hallway where all the bottles are? That used to be the seating area. We only had like six tables that we bought from a scrapyard in Sharjah.

The first two photos — how it is now; the third one with the seating area — how it was

— What was the plan?

— The plan was just to open and research my cooking because I wanted to cook in peace and not have anyone bothering me. The goal was to maybe have a hundred customers eat my food so I could have zero waste, as I hate wasting food. I wanted to just cook in peace, and I thought if I closed at 3000 dirhams a day sales, I would be happy. But unexpectedly, it blew up.

You know, on the second week of our operation, I was like — yo, there is a line going all the way to the street, and we got to take care of these great people because my regulars are actually nice. I didn't want to disappoint them, so I made the seating area. Later, I ramped up my production, and we outgrew that kitchen, but we still managed, luckily. One mistake ruins the whole kitchen, so the team and I are really trying to control the place, although it is like a ticking bomb on the open days.

And actually that is why we are serving weekends only, as it is very difficult to keep things going at our rate, operating solely with our means and powers. And we are slowly expanding the team, but it takes time.

— Can you tell me a little bit more about the journey of yours?

— Born here in Dubai and of Palestinian origin. When I was a teenager, I said I wanted to open a restaurant. I have always had it in me. And so I told my dad, and my dad was like — no, you are not going to have a restaurant because it is not a prestigious job to be a chef; you will be an engineer, a doctor or a businessman.

I went to college to study business, which I wasn't good at, cause I had no interest in studying. And after that, I worked for a couple years at my dad’s chocolate business. I saved up a little money from that job and I went to America to learn how to cook.

I don't know why I picked the US, but I wasn't inclined towards Europe, as I never thought of Europe as the forefront of culinary arts, rather than an old school, and I thought America would be the new school. So I chose New York as my final goal, thinking that it is the new school of food, just from pop culture and stuff.

But I first landed in Los Angeles, stayed like six months, started travelling around California and Nevada, eating the food, and volunteering to get any experience at all. When the tourist visa expired, I came back home to get another visa and go back to the US. I went back to New York this time, and finally I got myself into culinary school, working in restaurants here and there for occasional cash, but mostly hustling.

— So you were in NY, but then how did you come around to Texas cuisine?

— I have a friend who is from Long Island, a funny, very Italian guy. He moved to Texas because he didn't like being in New York, where he had lived all his life. He went to Dallas and started barging on me, inviting me for a visit. In my head, Dallas was like farms and stuff and didn't know what it was about. I thought it was going to be like cowboys, boring and quiet.

But finally, he got to me, and I visited him once and stayed at his place for a long time. The first day I got there, we tried barbecue at some bar. It wasn't even the best barbecue; it was a somewhat mediocre one. But the vibes are crazy. It is located in a park with benches, and nothing looks like the other; it is just a very random setting. They have drinks, they have barbecues, they have burgers. They pretty much just make stuff up as they go, and I absolutely loved that! That is a good vibe; I like that improvisational atmosphere in the place. Even though it was a bad barbecue, I thought — “Wow! This is what I want to do”. So, I started researching the places, and I found out about the Texas Top 50. Every month, they list the top 50 barbecue spots in Texas, and the top 1 always gets a six-hour wait. So, initially, you get a comfy chair and… food… to wait for your food…

Here [in Big T BBQ], we have a mini version of such a Texan spot. And I don't make anyone wait more than one hour; we are like an army here, even with growing demand. I extend my opening time in contrast to Texan guys, as all of them close at 2–3 o’clock, and they want to sell and close without caring too much about customer service. But to be honest, I like the fact that they are honest. In F&B, it is a common thing to have this fake, theatrical politeness, and in BBQ culture, you don’t have that. If you like it — you come, and if you don’t — don’t.

— Do you remember what your first thought was when you first tried the Texan BBQ? Like, what was the feeling? What did you think about?

— The first thing I noticed was the raw vibe. I like that when you walk into a barbecue place, you can see it is a craft. It is like you are walking into a woodwork or a welder workshop. It is not just like pretty chefs in white coats; people work here for 16 hours, perfecting their craft. I felt like I was related to this atmosphere, and I wanted to become a part of it. And so, I started learning about it, meeting the guys [the chefs and restaurant owners], talking to them. They are all humble people trying to make a living, simple living. They are all simple people, and I love it. I like their culture; they are all front about what they want and what they don't want. They are no fake people, and I wanted to be a part of that. I wanted to be like something humble, original, and nice. And I started researching. I wanted to see and understand it on a deeper level — what do they do and why? And I am not talking about the commercial places.

— And how did the research end up?

— Well, I tried to set it up in Texas, but it didn't work out due to visa complications, so the result was that I couldn’t stay there. At the same time, COVID-19 hit, and I have just bought my smoker. The thing is that I placed my order back in 2019, and right when COVID-19 came along, my smoker finally showed up. Then I came back here with my giant machine [smoker]. Simultaneously, my dad’s chocolate business closed, and we were left with this gigantic fridge.

Look at the wall, you get it? [points at the wall, implying the Big T BBQ place is actually a renovated gigantic fridge]. This used to be a chocolate factory behind that door [points at the back of the room], and my kitchen used to be a part of the fridge, but I made a wall here, and now it looks like a normal space. But it is still a fridge, and you don't need AC. We have one AC and multiple air filters, and even in summer, it is very chilly here.

And so I came back and started doing something here, but no one really believed in the project. But I just knew that I could make the best burger in the city, and my gut was saying it would pay off.

During COVID-19, I kept researching and experimenting with flavours, learning about equipment, and travelling back and forth to NY. And I was slowly purchasing the equipment and getting my technical stuff right at better prices.

— About the culture — was your life always meat-centric?

— Actually, my mom is 80 % vegetarian. She is from Palestine, and she lives a vegetarian lifestyle. But I always resisted it, and even though we didn’t have much, when I was growing up, I always managed to get the meatiest piece for myself, conquering my siblings. Meat is life for me.

— And what about the ingredients? How do you source them?

— It is all imported. It is hard to source things and you have to be flexible as a chef to cook, as you have to be able to change your salt every weekend, change your recipes to other ingredients. It is a nice challenge that always keeps you on your toes. But this also is about your network and now I have one, but in the beginning, I used to go around in Dubai and buy sodas and other things by hand from supermarkets.

— What is your perfect meal?

— My perfect meal consists of ingredients that are all less mechanical and more natural. I look for things that are made with passion. A real chef is behind putting his heart into it. And zero-waste is extremely important to me.

My goal is that at my place, if we are cooking, let's say, a potato, we use it from skin to skin. Soon we are going to have compost and a garden to grow from that compost.

In my brisket, nothing gets thrown — the fat becomes the oil, the oil we fry the potato in. I don't waste the trimmings — we make them burgers, we make them sausages, etc.

Instagram: @bigtbarbecue

— Can you tell me about the history of brisket?

— So, oil and gas were big things in Texas. And being a cowboy, having a rancho with cows was also a big thing. So the people in oil refineries have these big tankers of propane lying around, and the story goes that someone out there put a fire element to it and tried to smoke something for the first time with things that were lying around in that tanker. They didn't have highly skilled butchery like they would have in Europe or in the Middle East, and thus, they cooked the whole hog like that.

— Do you believe that GMO meat could be the future of the meat industry, and could it be inside of the smoke industry in some time?

— My gut tells me "no", but I could be wrong. Maybe down the line, a hundred years later, when we will learn how to achieve these incredible meat flavours, but not in the near future, I think.

— Where do you eat out when you are exhausted and don't want to cook?

— I like an Irani place called Rivas opposite Burj Al Arab in the Sunset Mall. Their lamb in pomegranate sauce is breathtaking.

I love Indian-Pakistani food, to be honest, Seher Karachi is my go to and their chicken karahi is really good. I like Wakha in Barsha, but not the Jumeirah branch, the Barsha branch.

— Can you describe a day in the life of a chef and restaurant owner? Just like walk us through it.

— Usually, I wake up in an emergency when someone calls me, saying, “Chef, this broke, chef, we don't have this ingredient”. So, I usually wake up like someone just slapped me. Next thing — I come here and fix this problem. Then, say hi to everyone. They usually find something dirty and send a message to the group chat asking to clean it. I am on my phone a lot, managing the provisions and else.

I am always sourcing stuff, and that is why Al Quoz is the best area in Dubai. You have everything, and everyone can be themselves around Al Quoz; it is raw. And I like that. Al Quoz is like an American style; when you are free, you can be yourself without posh smiles. So, I felt like this was the right place. But also, as this was supposed to be an experiment, I was just looking for the area to hide peacefully and this is the best neighbourhood for that.

— What's the best time to come here?

— Only avoid one time is Saturday 2 to 4. So maybe Sunday early morning works. We open at 12. Come right at opening, you are good, because the people didn't wake up yet.

— Do you have any favourites on the menu?

— All of them. Really. For the first time, I would recommend brisket, ribs, wings, burger, mac and cheese, and fries. I put my heart into these. And also the cheesecake. I got this recipe from a friend who runs her own cheesecake factory in the US. I am pro-family and pro-taste; thus, I guarantee anyone would leave happy.

— I cannot resist asking about the Time Out Award. Why did you break it?

— As I said, I think BBQ people are real in comparison with white-coated chefs. To start with, I don't like the culture of a fine dining career. You have to grow, and repetition is what makes you good, not the kitchen you work in. You cannot start at fine dining and say you are good, as it seems like a shortcut to credibility. For me, the fact that someone is from fine dining doesn’t mean anything else, than it is just another genre, from what I do. Even though, often, when someone says, “I’m from fine dining”, they automatically rank themselves higher than family-meal-chef, but for me it is absurd. I know chefs from fine dining that I love as people, but I don't respect the culture of fine dining as there is no challenge.

Plus, I don't respect it that much because it is a European coloniser mentality. Who are the French to tell me how to eat? Who are the Brits to tell me how to consume my food? Who is Gordon Ramsay to tell me what my menu should look like? Or who is Michelin to tell me how I should eat my food? I don't care how they eat. If you are French — you eat like one. But why should I serve it as the French would? I rather keep my format how it is and, for instance, if it is family style — I am going to serve it family style. I am not going to serve it French style to make them happy. For me, it feels like it is about forcing someone else's culture onto me, and I want to stay independent. If I ever want to serve little dishes, I will. That is why I don't respect European-influenced fine dining as much as I respect people with real food.

I smashed that Time Out award, and I don't care. And people say — oh, Big T, you are rude — but I don't care for what they think of me or for the award. I felt like smashing the thing at that point, and I did it. It was my pure emotion at that time.

I feel like they [Cuisine Committees at large] are trying to use me for their own gain because I am a big brand now, and I make good food. They are trying to put me in the nominees and make me lose, so the winner looks good in this context. And so I said that I am not going to be on the list. I hate these so-called “authorities”, and I don’t agree with their status. So, I decided to make a hate video on my main page. Whoever won’t come to my restaurant after that — so be it, but it is free speech, and I needed to highlight my position against such fake “experts.”

by Sophie She