Kevin Gillespie has had an open fire in every restaurant he’s opened but one, and that was only because he couldn’t get the permitting approved.

Gillespie is the owner, mostly recently, of Nadair in Atlanta, where the fire is in an enclosed kitchen. “Humans are drawn to fire and cooking over fire. It gives you a competitive edge because we can access a flavor profile that’s incredibly nuanced,” he says.

“Fire adds so much energy to a space,” says Leif Billings, vice president, Northeast, Next Step Design, Annapolis, Md. “It’s this really intriguing thing, and it catches your eye and it’s never the same. And it’s the challenge; even though it’s such a simple thing, cooking with it is not simple.” Because of this, restaurants should make the fire as visible as possible, he says, and if every seat can’t see it, every patron should at least be able to see it upon arrival.

Gillespie’s fire has charcoal on the base of the hearth and whole logs piled at the back. The exterior of the fire area is built out of solid stainless steel, lined with firebricks that can be removed and replaced when needed, and there are strips up each side where he can lock in grill grates or hot plates at almost any distance from the fire.

There are four induction burners and an oven at Birch in Milwaukee. Otherwise, everything is cooked over the fire by chef and owner Kyle Knall.

Birch’s kitchen is completely open, and the fire can be seen by most seats and by all seats at the chef’s counter. The exterior of the building is all glass, too, so the flames can be seen by passersby.

The fire is built in an open frame surrounded by bricks in a 10-foot-wide space. The frame holds the burning logs, and coals sit to one side under a grill grate. Knall cooks directly in the flames, on grill plates, in metal baskets, and smokes or slow cooks ingredients higher up. The higher area is used more during prep, when pieces of meat might smoke for several hours or tomatoes smoke in a pan. Around 80% of dishes have fire in them, he says.

The Sifr fire was custom built and chef Sarkar can cook directly on the coals, on grills, on a robata grill, a shawarma attachment, or a hanging bar. Image courtesy of SifrThe Sifr fire was custom built and chef Sarkar can cook directly on the coals, on grills, on a robata grill, a shawarma attachment, or a hanging bar. Image courtesy of Sifr

Open Kitchen, Open Flames

Sujan Sarkar is the owner and chef at Sifr, Chicago, which has a wood fire in an open kitchen.

The fireplace was custom built. At the front, over the largest part, are coals and wood, where food can be cooked directly, or Sarkar also places grills over the top. At the back is a log-burning fire; there’s a steel burn box to create ember, a built-in robata grill to cook kebabs and a hanging bar up above. Sarkar also has a rotating shawarma spit attachment.

Sarkar piles fire bricks on the side of his fire to raise and lower his grills. When the fire bricks aren’t being used for the grills, he keeps them at the sides of the fire to retain the heat.

At BATA in Tucson, Ariz., the live fire is in an open kitchen, directly behind the drinks bar — which has no back bar — so all bar seats and most dining room seats can see the fire, and everyone can view it as they arrive.

The fire structure has a steel frame with an ash box at the bottom and coals and logs on top. A hand crank raises and lowers two grilling surfaces, but these aren’t the full depth of the fire, so chef and owner Tyler Fenton also sets up a yakitori grill using a stainless-steel mesh grill grate set on top of stacked fire bricks with coals directly below “to give us flexibility.”

Higher up, Fenton smokes and dries food on shelving that locks into grooved channels in the back wall, or he’ll hang foods on hooks. There’s something up there nearly all the time.

Finding the balance between smelling the live fire but ensuring guests don't leave smelling like they were at a campfire is an important considerations at restaurants like Nadair. Image courtesy of NadairFinding the balance between smelling the live fire but ensuring guests don't leave smelling like they were at a campfire is an important considerations at restaurants like Nadair. Image courtesy of Nadair

The Practicalities

Cooking with open flames is not for the faint of heart. There’s the very real possibility of things getting out of hand, with potentially devastating consequences. On top of that, it can take longer to get permitting approved, says Gillespie.

Gillespie estimates that with all the precautions that need to be taken, building a cookline for live fire costs around 50% more than a regular line. At Nadair, he has layered his walls to create a true fire wall behind the cookline. “The goal is, if that thing catches on fire, that fire will remain contained within the kitchen,” he explains.

Ideally, Billings says, restaurants have a full surround of refractory brick or a stainless-steel wall that goes as high as a couple of feet beyond the burning surface to shield everything around it. This does two things, he explains. “It concentrates the heat into the appliance, and it prevents the heat from damaging the surrounding finishes.” Another advantage of the brick, he points out, is that “it has the ruggedness of a typical fireplace.”

A two-hour fire wall is mandatory, but Nadair’s is five. This added a lot to the cost of building Nadair, Gillespie says, but there are other benefits beyond preventing the spread of fire. It acts as insulation, so the area stays warmer and the fire burns less wood and becomes more effective. It’s important to think about continual costs like these, he adds. The downside is that cooking at the fire station can get pretty toasty. Nadair has additional HVAC at that station, as well as fans.

While Nadair’s kitchen looks like a single continuous cooking line, it’s not. The fire is on one side, and a dividing stainless-steel wall — also to prevent the spread of any flames — separates it from the rest of the kitchen so the hood, ductwork and ventilation are all separate.

Any kitchen with a live fire needs to have a separate exhaust fan over it, no matter how many more are in the kitchen. The hoods that go over open fires are quite different from other exhaust hoods, says Billings, and more expensive. They need spark arrester filters or continuous cold water misting hoods (so if a spark gets through, it’s suppressed) and more CFM per linear foot. “The engineers will balance that out with how much air they need to drop back in,” he says.

Balancing out the air taken out and put in is essential, says Sarkar. “You want people to be greeted by the smell of smoke, but you don’t want them to leave smelling like they’ve been around a campfire for hours.”

Restaurants also need to be much more diligent about cleanings and inspections. When cooking with solid fuel, “you have a combination of grease and creosote, and when they combine, it creates a super fuel that burns at a lower temperature but burns much faster and is much harder to put out than regular grease,” Billings says. On top of professional cleanings, ductwork needs to be inspected and cleaned every quarter, he adds — and cleaning monthly is recommended. Kitchens also need to keep a regular hose and a bucket of sand within six feet of the appliance, he adds.
Billings also likes to add a fire cabinet. This cabinet has the hose, two fire extinguishers, regular hand extinguishers and a fire blanket. “The more safety, the better with solid fuel,” he says.

Wood is integrated into the design of BATA, but balanced with fabrics, bricks and a concrete floor. Image courtesy of BATAWood is integrated into the design of BATA, but balanced with fabrics, bricks and a concrete floor. Image courtesy of BATA

The Restaurant Design

Fire may be the main feature in a restaurant, but for the dining room, operators are taking different approaches.

Knall likes reflecting the fire through a display of wood in the restaurant, and his walls are dark, almost black. “That plays very well with cooking over fire,” he says. His drop-down ceiling has flecks of birch running through it “so wood’s tied into it.” And between the kitchen and the restaurant, he has a wall of subway tile to keep any smoke from moving out to the dining room.
At Sifr, Sarkar wanted the restaurant to be cooling and contrasting with the fire guests can see in the kitchen. He used white and light peach colors, along with some copper, and dark greens in the chairs provide some warmth.

Wood is very integrated at BATA. There’s a storage rack of wood, and the host stand is clad in burnt wood. Also made from wood is the soffit that frames the kitchen bar area. The bar face is wood, and the tables are walnut with an oak band running through them, tying in thematically with the oak that’s burned in the restaurant’s fire. BATA balances all the wood with fabric seats, two fabric-covered large banquettes, floor-to-ceiling drapery, a concrete floor, original brick walls and massive windows.

Fire can be daunting to many chefs and restaurant operators due to its unpredictability and its cost, says Gillespie, but starting small is a great way to get into fire without a huge investment. “Bring in a small piece of equipment, or purchase a smoker and see what that’s like,” he advises. “The point of entry doesn’t have to be prohibitively expensive, and the end result from a flavor perspective will be so satisfying.”

Building a cookline with a live fire element costs around 50% more, says Gillespie of Nadair. Image courtesy of NadairBuilding a cookline with a live fire element costs around 50% more, says Gillespie of Nadair. Image courtesy of Nadair

Tools Needed

Fire may be the simplest and earliest form of cooking, but a few tools can make the job easier. Chefs like to keep these nearby. Many of them can be purchased at a company that sells pizza ovens, says Kevin Gillespie, owner of Nadair, though his own were custom fabricated by a metalsmith “because I wanted specific sizes and weights.” But, he adds, “push comes to shove, you could go to the hardware store, but it may not last long because of the heat.”

  • A pair of tongs longer than 24 inches for moving logs
  • A poker to move the fire around so it breathes properly
  • A shovel to move cinders and coal
  • Shelving for resting meat or warming plates
  • Fans to literally fan the flames
  • Very heat-resistant gloves
  • Skewers
  • Tongs for food
  • Long tweezers, which are like tongs but more delicate
  • Pastry brushes
  • Mesh pans/grilling baskets, usually for cooking smaller vegetables

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