“Bōshi wasn’t a business plan,” says Ian Russell, a Culinary Institute of America-trained chef turned master of Smoke and Donut BBQ in Orlando’s Milk District. “It was something I felt I had to build on.”
Now about to enter “Session 12,” Bōshi Bar is a music-driven experience created around vinyl records and, of course, food and drink, with a growing Friday night presence within the barbecue joint, featuring a curated menu of ramen and other Japanese snacks (along with a meat-heavy menu of smoked & donuts).
But as the above sentence suggests, this is a music-first endeavor.
“My father was a touring folk singer,” Russell explains. “He played guitar, so we traveled all over the East Coast with him and went to wherever he had gigs.”
His older brother Russell, also a songwriter, performed many covers of rock from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, and opened for many lesser-known acts.
No wonder his son left his mark on the family’s impressive record collection.
“I grew up listening to records as a kid, so it was second nature to me. Cleaning records with a little velvet brush was the most thrilling thing for me,” he says with a laugh, but over the years he has refined his guitars. Russell admits that like many of us, he has moved away from listening to music the way he used to, as records have been replaced by digital formats that have changed our habits, even after holding them in our hands and busking them on the streets and subways.
“There’s no more accidental music discovery[with digital listening formats]. There’s nothing tactile…and not to mention the sound quality!”
However, this recognition was something like a coincidence. Because at the same time Russell was starting to connect with Orlando’s robust and growing vinyl, selector, and DJ community (“Live music doesn’t really work in the Smoke & Donuts space, but DJing totally works!”), he was also experimenting with new cuisines.
“I love ramen, but I had no idea how to make it,” he says. “That was a blind spot for me, so I was very interested.”
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So Russell learned how to make soup using high-quality protein extracts, which Smoke & Donuts already uses in gravy and other products, and consulted his friends at Lesser Panda Noodles about another key ingredient for ramen.
But RPN’s Elliott Hillis started paying attention to the restaurant’s latest stewpot, and as customers started coming in more often, especially on Friday nights, he volunteered to make his own rather than recommending it, and eventually passed his noodle knowledge on to Russell.
Recruiting musical collaborators Zach Lawrence and Luis Muñoz, the trio began creating what is now Bōshi Bar, guiding decisions around space and timbre rather than just sound, creating an intentional listening experience that brings atmosphere but doesn’t kill conversation, calling it an “alternative model of nightlife,” in an early press release from Russell.
The bar itself reflects a great aesthetic to another era and lends itself beautifully to spin. But it’s hip-hop and soul, funk and reggae, disco and Latin, and includes gems of ’70s AM gold that Russell’s father likely had in his cover rotation.
Smoke & Donuts itself takes on a completely different atmosphere after dark. Bōshi Bar’s small menu of soups, small plates, and appetizers gives it a different feel. If it gets off the ground, Russell says, who knows?
“It was never just meant to be a special event night at Smoke & Donuts; it’s something special in its own right!” he says. “My goal is to grow it as a pop-up until it bursts at the seams and then spin it out into its own free-standing location.”
Want to lend a hand? Find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram @amydroo or the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com. For more fun, join our Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook group.
Detailed information
Check us out on Fridays from 7pm to 11pm and follow us on Instagram (instagram.com/boshi_bar) to see who’s spinning what. Smoke & Donuts is located at 601 N. Primrose Ave. in Orlando’s Milk District. smoke and donuts.com
