Big Poppa’s Bistro in Thiruvananthapuram delivers a tall order, serving delightful smoked beef brisket

Big Poppa’s Bistro in Thiruvananthapuram offers American-inspired dishes like smoked beef brisket and tallow fries.

The red, blue and white hues of Big Poppa’s Bistro in Kazhakuttam, Thiruvananthapuram, is a subtle tip of the hat to Uncle Sam by its owner, 26-year-old Steven Netto. The blue seats inside the individual booths invoke an image of a vintage diner, featured in multiple US sitcoms of the ‘90s but with a classy makeover. However, be it the booths or the portraits populated with the official colours of the States, none of them scream “USA”, but confidently conveys what the restaurant promises to deliver.  

Claiming to be the first cafe in the city to serve a smoked beef brisket, Big Poppa’s Bistro opened in late September this year and is “very New York” as intended by Steven.

Steven’s admiration for American rapper The Notorious B.I.G resulted in the cafe being named after a hit song by the artist. “I love the States for its arts, music, the Hollywood. Lot of the music I listen to comes from there. I was in New York last year, trying many places there. That’s where I decided I want something very much like a diner. But not the usual diner, something modern,” he says. 

The menu of Big Poppa’s Bistro features a variety of burgers, steaks and sandwiches along with other dishes. However, their specialty is beef brisket, which is served only during the weekends with corn bread, coleslaw and an in-house barbeque sauce. The brisket, a cut of meat from the lower chest of beef, is slow cooked for over a day in a custom-made smoker with a secret spice rub. “The brisket is smoked for 22 hours in the smoker, which uses mango and jackfruit wood, followed by a resting period of four hours,” says Steve Daniel, head of operations. 

Being the first place in the city to serve brisket, the chefs had also to deal with a lot of misinformation associated with the cooking of meat. “When people see pink meat, they fear whether it’s blood or not. I explain to them that it’s myoglobin,” says Steve, who also heads the kitchen. Myoglobin is a protein in beef which is responsible for the meat’s red colour

The slow-cooked brisket with a blush of pink on the sides is a perfect introduction for anyone who has not had it before. The seasoning rub which forms a bark around the meat as a result of the long cooking process, does not overpower but complements it. The tender slice of beef dipped in a mildly sweet barbeque sauce, placed between corn bread slices with a touch of coleslaw on top makes for a delightful bite. The rendered down pockets of fat in the meat provides a different textural experience. The briskets are currently priced ₹450 and ₹900 for 100 and 200 grams respectively.