Restaurant News

Hot Plates: Bordertown BBQ & Taqueria, Noosa

The holiday beach-town of Noosa scores a slick Southern-style blend of breakfast, tacos, burgers, booze and low and slow barbecue.

Bordertown's Harley James Special burger
Did you hear the one about the owners who poured their own bar? In this case it's a cool, straight-edged concrete beauty stretching slightly more than seven metres - almost the full length of Sunshine Coast newcomer Bordertown BBQ & Taqueria's river-facing digs.
The not-so-mean streets of Noosaville are the somewhat unlikely location for this hip, Southern-accented venture from Cam Birt, co-founder of classic cocktail bar The Bowery in Brisbane.
"It's ended up looking a bit sexier than we imagined," says Birt. "The original idea was to create something more down-home, rib-shack-chic in style. "It looks like an inner-city bar, which wasn't the intention - but it's what it is.
Birt knows a bit about inner-city bars, and to create Bordertown he's joined forces with his wife, CC Smith, a co-founder of ground-breaking Fortitude Valley music venue The Zoo, and with long-time friend Dan Bechly, a former co-owner of The Buffalo Club, the ambitious Fortitude Valley dégustation venue Birt originally opened with The Bowery's Steph Canfell in 2010.
The trio's new all-hands-to-the-pump offering couldn't be more different from the projects that have preceded it.
The 50-seater is an airy all-day prospect, bringing a blend of breakfast, tacos, burgers, booze, and low and slow barbecue to Noosa, with Birt temporarily in the kitchen alongside Lloyd Ringer, late of Pearl Café, Woolloongabba.
There's a 20-metre Acapulco deck out front that's becoming a popular morning spot for Padre coffee and, say, a breakfast 'sammich' with house-made chorizo, Velveeta cheese, bacon and a fried egg in a brioche bun, or 'elevensies', perhaps, of Texas one-inch toast with chilli beef, pico de gallo, sour cream and guacamole.
From midday until closing, a handful of nicely detailed tacos and burgers kick in - anything from pork carnitas with char-grilled pineapple salsa, to mushroom burgers with chipotle ketchup - or perhaps a Southern fried chicken number with slaw and pickles.
The drinks list will change frequently but for now there's a slew of freshly minted options that run from an alcoholic Bordertown Cola made in-house with sassafras, vermouth and Fernet Branca to the likes of a Cynar Julep, a jalapeño Margarita with yuzu jam, or a G&T made with house tonic. A Sunshine Coast-brewed saison from Brouhaha leads the craft beer line-up, and the wine list is short but quirky.
"Each drink will have its reference points to the southern states of the US or Mexico, or it will be something that I like to drink - like gin and tonic," says Birt. "Noosa doesn't really have any destination cocktail bars. There needs to be somewhere locals can get a fantastic drink made well - and we really hope Noosa can get accustomed to us being that option."
Bordertown BBQ & Taquería, 253 Gympie Tce, Noosaville, Qld, (07) 5442 4242, facebook.com/bordertownbarbeque*