San Francisco Chronicle
T-Rex to offer barbecue
GraceAnn Walden
Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Haig Krikorian has probably evolved more over the last two decades than any other East Bay chef/restaurateur. In the 20 years that he has operated Lalime's restaurant in Berkeley with his wife, Cindy, he and his staff have helped define California cuisine, with a menu of Mediterranean flavors and fresh, local ingredients.
Several years ago, the Krikorians opened Jimmy Bean's, a modern breakfast- lunch spot in San Francisco and Berkeley. Although the San Francisco one closed, the Berkeley branch is still going strong at 1290 Sixth St. (at Gilman). In 2002 they opened Fonda in Albany (1501A Solano Ave., at Curtis Street), a terrific restaurant with Latin American delights.

So, it's not terribly surprising that they're now poised to branch out into barbecue. This summer, the Krikorians will open T-Rex Bar B Q at 1000 10th Street (at Gilman). The design is by Kava Massih Architects and will encompass 150 seats on two floors. On a tip from chef Paul Bertolli, the Krikorians purchased two Enviro-Pak brand smokers, each of which can handle 650 pounds of meat. One can be cooled down to also cold-smoke salmon. Both use natural hardwood in a configuration that is done through a log burner and a wood chip dispenser.

"The units are computerized so that you can set the humidity airflow and temperature ahead of time...depending on the load," Haig Krikorian says. "It's the Ferrari of smokers."
Anthony Paone, who has worked at Fonda and Cafe Rouge in Berkeley, will be the chef. The preliminary menu includes bar snacks like barbecued peanuts and potato chips, smoked almonds, deviled eggs and housemade pickles. The regular menu will feature the usual suspects like brisket, pulled pork, hot links and chicken, plus oysters and fish.

To help develop the menu, the Krikorians sent Lalime's chef, Steve Jaramillo, on a whirlwind tour of barbecue places in Kansas City, Memphis and Austin. Nevertheless, Cindy Krikorian says they want T-Rex to be a California barbecue restaurant, not a copy of somewhere else.